Normal oil pressure reading on a BBC Dually?

[ratty65]

So just have a quick question. What is the normal operating range for the oil pressure on a 454 bbc? This engine is in a 1987 GMC DRW. the engine is supposed to be bored .030 over and has an Edelbrock carb with Edelbrock peformer 2.0 intake. Also what is the normal operating temp? right now it seems to run around 210 or so and when stopped these last few days in 90 defgree weather it gets up to about 215 or 220 but i get no boilover at all. Is this normal?

[Cherub]

humm that seems kinda high. i get around 50 psi on oil and 190 on temp

[ratty65]

I get around 25 at idle and at start up around 75. I wonder if I need to burp my cooling system or possibly get a cooler thermostat

[SCOTI]

I would typically have about 40psi @ start-up & 50-60psi @ speed. For temp it would be between 180-195°F.

I've been struggling w/cooling issues since March though. It appears I had a head gasket seeping into the engine on the exhaust side so the water level would drop w/o external indicators. Recently (Friday night), it would appear to have breached into the crank-case side as my oil pressure was diluted to near zero & the motor siezed. Working on swapping it out as I write this....

I would make sure your radiator is fresh as well as replace your hoses & t-stat.

[tucsonjwt]

In my 83 C20 BB 454 I normally show 40-50 psi oil pressure, pretty much constant in that range. Temperature is 180-190 degrees - never goes over 200 degrees, even in 115 degree ambient desert heat. I just have a Goodwrench rebuilt 454 with slight bore over from GM (forget how much) and stock Qjet - totally stock setup with Ready Rad thicker 3 core radiator (about the thickness of a 4 core) with stock engine oil cooler. I have had more cooling issues with my small block 350 than the two 454 squares I have owned. It has a factory 7 quart oil pan. I did have a slight external leak at the front of the intake manifold but some stop leak tablets seems to have stopped that, and it never caused overheating, just a little coolant loss.

[Goldfinger]

My 85 runs 30 at idle 45 at highways but with the overdrive gear i don't see very high rpm's if i dog it i get 60+. Mine never gets above 160 tempature wise

[jimbonice]

My '77 in the sig is 50 plus pounds on start up, 25 at idle hot. It runs 180 with a 180 thermostat and 195 with a 195 thermostat. It never waivers much from there.

[jonessmc87]

In my 89, it came with a 210 thermostat. she would sit at 210 all day long on the highway, then in heavy traffic, it would creep to 220. it would smell hot all the time, but it never gave me any issues. that being said, I didnt like that one bit so i swapped in a 180 thermostat, and now she runs a 180 all the time and never gets above 190 no matter what im doin to it. as far as oil pressure, i run 50psi or so at start up. hot idle is right around 15 psi, and hot driving at 2100 rpm on the highway is about 22 psi