Cummins oil pressure

[See3win7]

Can anyone tell me what the "normal" oil pressure for a 96 12v cummins with
96,000 should be.
Mine runs just under 40 psi at 2000 rpm when the engine is hot, but drops to
about 20 psi at idle speed--is this "normal" pressure band?
Thanks all
Len
God Bless America

[ho...@nospamextremejeep.com]

What oil are you using?

I have 150k miles on my Cummins and the oil pressure is always at or
slightly above 40psi. Might be a bad sending unit on your engine? Just
want to make sure you're using the right oil, too.

See3win7 <see3...@aol.com> wrote:

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Hogan Whittall
__________________________________________________________________
This is formal notice under California Assembly Bill 1629, enacted
9/26/98 that any UCE sent to my email address will be billed $50
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[DSMDealer1]

My 12V usually does the same thing when I'm getting close to the 3000 mile
point and it's ready for an oil change. As soon as I change the oil, the
pressure hangs right at 40 psi or slightly above.

Josh

[ho...@nospamextremejeep.com]

Weird, I've never had that problem and I go 6k between changes.

You guys using a 15w40 oil rated CF-4 or better (Which would be CG-4 or
CH-4)?

DSMDealer1 <dsmde...@aol.com> wrote:

> Josh

--

[John]

when do most of you change your oil?

i have a daily 25 mile commute to work,
and 25 mile home.... The last two I change at 5000 miles....

Would I be better going 3k or 4k? I thought about 4k...

<ho...@NOSPAMextremejeep.com> wrote in message
news:Allv7.210$2r2...@rubicon.extremejeep.com...

[DSMDealer1]

I guess I'm just a fanatic, however, I change mine every 3000 miles (with
filter). Only takes about 25 minutes, and costs what? $30-$40? I just look
at it as cheap insurance. The motor may not mind the extra contaminants in the
oil, however, the turbo bearings are very close tolerance. I just look at it
as cheap insurance. I had planned on keeping it until its dying days, so I
was/am really picky about maintainance, however, now I'm selling it, but I
still figure that I might as well keep it in nice shape for the next person.
Hopefully, they'll keep up the ritual.

Josh
'96 Dodge Ram 3500 ext. cab
'87 Dodge Ram D-50 (Mitsu 4G63 Turbo waiting to go in...)
'92 Galant VR4 (wife's 300 h.p. daily)
'91 Galant VR4 (11 second innocuous-looking 4-door)
'89 Mirage (4G63T transplant...can you say 2200lbs 450+ whp? ;-) )
...etc...

[See3win7]

I use Shell Rotella 15w-40 and fleetguard oil filters.
When is the oil pressure to low? Is it ok until the low pressure light comes
on?
Len

[ho...@nospamextremejeep.com]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry about it. I don't know how often the oil pressure
sending units go bad on the Cummins, it's possible the connector needs to
be cleaned or it might just be reading low, but I can't say.

If you haven't been there already, check out
http://www.turbodieselregister.com, a lot of useful info there.

As for when it's too low, I wouldn't let it drop below 20psi at idle, the
engines are under a lot of stress. For a typical gasoline engine you
really want 10psi per 1000rpm, with a diesel I'd expect you want a bit
more due to the higher compression and forces of ignition.

I've been using Delo 400 and Mobil 1 filters, with the exception of my
last oil change where I used Valvoline (Cummins) Premium Blue, both 15w40.

Good luck!

See3win7 <see3...@aol.com> wrote:

--

[Fitch R. Williams]

"John" <jlip...@yahoo.com> wrote:

>when do most of you change your oil?
>
>i have a daily 25 mile commute to work,
>and 25 mile home.... The last two I change at 5000 miles....
>
>Would I be better going 3k or 4k? I thought about 4k...

You can go 6,000 easy. We did that for 170K with the 1995 truck, which
had long average trip length like you do. The engine at trade in was in
perfect condition as determined by oil analysis and performance.

Fitch

[Jeff]

You can go 5 or 6k easily if you're running empty. I go 5k on mine,
sometimes 6 if i've been on a road trip or two...

Jeff

John wrote in message <0znv7.256$5V3...@news.more.net>...

[DSMDealer1]

>You can go 5 or 6k easily if you're running empty. I go 5k on mine,
>sometimes 6 if i've been on a road trip or two...

I realize that you *can* go that long in between oil changes, however, to me
it's cheap insurance to change it more regularly. The combination of a diesel
motor (read "dirty, inasfar as oil is concerned) and a turbocharger (read
"*VERY* touchy about needing clean oil) just gives me more incentive to change
it every 3K. Most likely every 5 or 6 K would be fine, but it doesn't cost me
all that much to change it, so I just do it every 3K.

Josh

[Roy]

I have to point something out. I've worked for the railroad for 30 years and
have watched as oil has improved over those years. Use to change the oil in
a locomotive every 90 day's, that is about 250 gallons. Now as oil has
improved the filters are changed every 45 day's and the oil per analysis
which can be months. This also applies the those with a Cummins donkey in
passenger use as well. Keep in mind that these puppies are not babied and
some are running 24/7.
The touchy thing about a turbo is cooling before shut down.

I think Fitch is nuts on with his post, in fact he is probably being
conservative at 6K. Stop and think, when and who first advanced the 3K oil
change. Yup, the oil companies.

I suppose if you want to be really secure you could change it every 1,500
miles, or super secure and drop it at 500 miles or be totally safe and don't
drive it. <BFG>

Seriously though, people can get real anal about the engine and never change
the oil in the transmission or diffs. Go figure...

Later,
Roy
"DSMDealer1" <dsmde...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20011009082511...@mb-bj.aol.com...

[Jeff]

I'm not saying you can't change it every 3000 miles, just that you don't
need to. Oil additives and filters are better than they used to be. My
old outboard engine says to mix 32:1 gas and oil, but the manufacturer says
to run 50:1, because todays 2 cycle oils are better now than they were in
the '50s. The same is true for 4 cycle oils, but to each his own.

Jeff