High Oil Pressure | What it Means | Causes & Prevention

Car engines can take up a hefty load when the vehicle is run daily or for long drive hours. This situation may cause an increasing oil pressure causing the engine to fail or to break down at any moment. The oil pressure in any car engine plays a vital role to lubricate the camshaft and the balance shaft bearings. This helps to reduce the wear and tear of the vital components in the engine.

Having a stable oil pressure can prevent these parts from overheating. If the oil gauge is high in reading, it is a severe time to make the necessary repairs. Keeping the oil pressure at a perfect balance is the key to make the car run longer and provide a stable performance all over.

What Exactly Does High Oil Pressure Mean?

High oil pressure happens when the oil requires an external force to pump through the engine. The amount of pressure required to push the oil through the engine is set to a default parameter. Whenever the pressure breaks the parameters, it can indicate high oil pressure.

In any normal situation, the pressure bar for the oil should read at 25 to 60 psi. Any deflection from this range will mean that there is a high and low oil pressure inside the filter. If the reading is slightly touching 80 psi or more, it indicates that you need to immediately consider a repair.

The Role of the Oil Pressure

The oil pressure is responsible for lubricating the mechanical components of the vehicle. This will always improve the life-span of the mechanical parts that will include some like camshaft and balance shaft bearing. It is very important for your engine to always acquire the right oil pressure for your needs.

How To Fix High Oil Pressure

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What Can Cause the High Oil Pressure?

Blocked Passage

One of the most common causes of high oil pressure is the blocked passage inside the engine. Because of any blockage, there can be an oil leak in the cam assembly at any time. This may result in an excessive increase in oil pressure. The sludge or the carbon deposits in the filter may block the passages at any time. This is common because the oil tends to be thick and it may start to cause failure problems inside the engine.

Dry Oil Filter

Often, the oil filter of the engine comes with a micro-blocking mesh. This mesh blocks multiple types of dust and other particles to enter the engine. However, the specks of dust and these particles can easily start to clog the filter over time. This allows the oil to start flowing at a slower rate. When the flow rate starts to decrease, the oil requires extra pressure to pass through the engine. As a result of this, you must keep the filter clean for daily uses.

Engine Temperature

Just like the pressure, the engine temperature can also increase at any time. To be fair, the engine temperature always heats up during the start up. After just 15 to 20 minutes of the run, the temperature reaches a peak, and then it continues running at an optimal level. The opposite happens when you switch off the engine and it starts to cool down. But when this temperature becomes excessive, the pressure of the engine oil seemingly increases.

Oil Quality

Another major reason why the oil pressure increases is because of the oil quality that you are using while dealing with the engine. Needless to say that there are multiple types of engine oils available on the market and not every one of them can deliver the best performance. So you must be specific about the type of product that you choose and the oil brand. All the reputable brands can seek service level oils which is a great way to deliver your needs.

Oil Sending Malfunction

Though it is not a common problem that happens, it’s neither an impossible thing to consider. Any car engine will have multiple computational sensors. They may get damaged at any time and there may be multiple problems while oil sending. Moreover, the fault may be because of any type of blockage or it may be because of the sensors which are not giving accurate results. For better results, you can always run a diagnosis scan on the engine to check every sensor is working properly or not.

Relief Valve Problems

The main job role of the relief valve is to protect the piping and the vehicle from any type of high pressure formed within the engine. This mainly happens when you start to drive and yet the pressure valve fails to respond. As a result of this, you need to remove the valve and then clean it again before installing it. If the pressure is set back to normal, it is supposed to be a problem with the relief valve. If this does not work well for you, you may have to change the relief valve completely to make sure that everything works out well.

Final Talk

Keeping an eye on the oil pressure is always important while you are driving or going for a long ride. There’s a particular gauge in the dashboard that will always provide you the accurate results. Drastic changes in the oil temperature and the pressure may pose a risk to the engine. As a result of this, it will start disrupting the proper flow and lubrication of the engine.

You may experience multiple problems with the product if you do not consider the necessary changes. Do let us know if you are still facing problems with the high oil temperature even after doing the particular repairs.