Is 20w 50 safe for a LT1?
Is 20w 50 safe for a LT1?
My car has around 117k miles on it and at around 5 thousand rpm's on up the oil pressure spikes to around 20psi. I'm running 5w 30, any one running 20w 50?
oh wow I didn't even see the pro charger I was gonna say maybe there was a chance of the sending unit to be bad but yeah chances are you bearings are messed up, but the thicker oil may buy you some time so start saving for a rebuild.
When its cold at idle the pressure is around 15psi, once it gets hot, it drops below the first line but not in the red. It looks like its around 10 -12. it just gradually climbs up to 20psi and does'nt go past that. I had never realy looked at the oil pressure once the procharger was on and when i looked down and seen 20psi at 6 thousand rpm's my heart sunk! I thought it was going to come apart then but its still staying together. I know the boost has caused and will continue to cause stess and wear on the bearings but I wonder if the increased air temp from the blower is also playing a role, not just the bearing clearances. I bought the twin high flow system, and it just realy does not cool the air down much.
Last edited by pro94lt; May 29, 2008 at 09:32 PM.
Air temp will not affect your oil pressure that much.
First off, did you check your oil level to make sure it is full?
Second, do you still have the stock oil cooler on there? If you do, remove and bypass it immediately.
First off, did you check your oil level to make sure it is full?
Second, do you still have the stock oil cooler on there? If you do, remove and bypass it immediately.
As it's been said already, running a thicker oil is just covering up your big problem. Chances are the boost has been slowly destroying your bearings. The LT1 was built by GM with very tight bearing clearances, which can cause premature failure when too much stress is put on the engine, i.e. a supercharger. Running the thicker oil can't hurt it more than it already is, but get ready to rebuild the engine. This time boost friendly
.
.


