Technical Oil pressure from cold start issue?

[dac69er]

I may be worrying about nothing, but since the colder weather, my oil pressure sometimes takes a little longer than Usual to come up. Oil light takes about 3 seconds to go off and you can hear the oil isn't in the top of the engine straight away.

Once the oil pressure is there, if I turn it off and restart after say 10 mins, it's fine. It's only when it's been left overnight or a long time during the day.

I changed the oil from 15w-40 to 10w-40 and fitted a Bosch filter.

I thought the problem had gone away, but sometimes when starting from cold, I still have the issue.

Any ideas? When running it is fine and the engine sounds sweet. I'm just a bit concerned by it!!!

 

[Xylaquin]

I'd stick to 15w40 as advised in the owner handbook. What you're describing sounds pretty normal.

I havn't timed it though I'd say my light goes out a little sooner. But there's definitely times when I've turned on the cold engine and heard the valve train for a few seconds before it quietens down.

 

[David C]

You haven't said which engine you have, but I ran my 899 Cinq on Shell Ultra 5W40.

Originally I did use 15W40 at the first oil change I did, but it was like running on treacle...
Soon changed to 10W40 and it ran much better.
A few years on and Shell Ultra 5W40 was on sale at such a low price that it was impossible to ignore, so gave that a try, fully prepared to change back to 10W40 if there was excessive consumption or pressure issues, but it was fine, ran even batter.

 

[dac69er]

Sorry, it's a 1.2 8v spi engine.

I swapped the oil filter out yesterday and it seems ok so far. I will keep an eye on it.

I expect a slight top end rattle from cold start in the morning, this just seemed to go on longer than expected which was worrying.

 

[Ralf S.]

It could be your previous filter didn't have an anti-drain valve. What brand was it?

Use a genooiune Fiat filter (made by "UFI" or sometimes "Clean Filters") or a better brand (Bosch, Mahle etc.) rather than anything unbranded or cheap.

The drain valve keeps oil in the filter, so the car can get pressure much more quickly. As long as you don't boot it too hard while the pressure is low, then the oil that's in the head would usually hang on long enough to protect the top-end.. but a few quid more on a filter once a year is good value.

Ralf S.

 

[jimboy]

Yes indeed, some forget about oil filters, as said it’s a wise move to use a quality one.

 

[dac69er]

It still seems ok, but I would really like some colder weather again to make sure.

It had a Bosch filter and I swapped it for a mahle one so not a cheap filter.
Could have been faulty I guess!?!