What is the normal oil pressure reading on a 1992 Lebaron

GEEZER2949

MEMBER
1992 CHRYSLER LE BARON
43,000 MILES

This car was a gift from my wife's cousins to our son. It belonged to her Aunt but as she got older it was driven mostly by her caregivers for short distances. It's a convertible and seems to be in good shape and although I'm not certain about how it was maintained, I would think that given the fact that the aunt had plenty of money, that regular service was done. The only other things we can find that need attention are the rear-view mirror, brakes and no heat from the heater.

6 Replies

DRCRANKNWRENCH

MECHANIC
3,380 POSTS

The oil pressure sounds fine. It, and most gauges, stay about in the middle for proper working order. Of course the pressure will be higher when it is cold until the car warms up.
If the Anti-Freeze ahs not been serviced I cannot stress how important a full flush and even a pressure test with a new thermostat and cap is.
I have seen so many customers lose cars even when they have changed oil, but neglected to change anti-freeze every 2 years or 60,000 miles. It can lead to a head gasket failure or even a full engine rebuild.
So, it sounds like you have a good thing, just don't let any of the service items get overlooked as they are all very important and can lead to major repairs.
A thousand dolars in maintenance will save a thousand dollars in repair.
I believe we have an article that does the math in the coolant section.

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Sunday, March 25th, 2012 AT 4:11 AM

GEEZER2949

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Thank you for your timely response, much appreciated. I thnk I didn't make myself as clear as I should have. The gauge seems to stay in the low range but it does move higher when accelerating. We've only driven it a few times since we got it and the needle used to stay pretty much in the center. Today my son and my wife were out for a longer than usual drive and that's when the issue of the oil pressure showed up. I added a qt. Of oil that the car didn't seem to need according to the dipstick and then drove it on the freeway and noticed the needle staying in the lower range. Currently there is nothing in the coolant resevoir but we will take care that ASAP. There's no issue so far of overheating so it hasn't been a priority. So what would you suggest regarding low oil pressure reading? Anything to worry about?

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Sunday, March 25th, 2012 AT 4:29 AM

DRCRANKNWRENCH

MECHANIC
3,380 POSTS

Fill the coolant and see what happens.
As I spoke earlier not changiong the anti-freeze can blow a head gakset and cause problem with coolant getting into the firing chamner and oil getting into the coolant and oil leaks in the system.
You may want to replace the Oil pressure sensor as the car has sat a lot and it sould be failing.
It will rise and dropp with RPMs. As long as it reacts and the check engine light does not come on it should be okay.
If the light does come on turn it off immediatley.
I think you shgould tend to the cooling system soon as it may be the source of some of your issues.

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Sunday, March 25th, 2012 AT 4:33 AM

GEEZER2949

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4 POSTS

Thanks again for your timely response. I will check out everything mentioned. The check engine light did come on once so I will take it to a mechanic I trust and have him take a look.

Thanks again.

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Sunday, March 25th, 2012 AT 4:42 AM

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,754 POSTS

If you don't mind me sticking my nose in here, you're asking about an engine problem but haven't bothered to list the engine size. These cars came mostly with the Mitsubishi 3.0L engine and on those, 6 pounds of oil pressure is acceptable at idle. That is WAY too low for other engines but for that one, the oil pressure sending unit is calibrated for that low pressure. There was a common problem with the sending units reading erratically. They caused the gauges to fluctuate more than normal between idle and high speed. Some occasionally even caused the gauge to drop to half of its normal reading, then bounce back up when engine speed was increased. A new sending unit will solve that.

My old rusty trusty '88 Grand Caravan daily driver has the 3.0L engine and just turned 394,000 miles today. Oil pressure has never been a problem and I'm not going to tell you how many years it's been since I changed the oil. The doctor is right though about changing the coolant. The additives that neutralize the acids that normally build up in the system wear out after about two years.