Oil Pressure is what???

Test drove an '04 today and was surprised to see the oil pressure at 5, even cruising with a warm engine at 3000 rpm. I thought it was supposed to be around three.

My 99' 3.4 runs the same.

Mine is always above four while driving at 3k or above

Mine is always around 5 while driving and usually 2.5-3 while at idle.

Normal.

mine seems to vary a little based on if oil is at low end or high end of dipstick - but 5 @ 3K is normal .... (if ti doesn't drop at idle - pressure sender could be stuck)

Quotes source post: 8919937

Ditto. Normal.

Quotes source post: 8919834

The oil pressure sensor/sender is not the most consistent of electronics so there's going to be some variation between otherwise similar cars. You see 5 bar at 3K rpms. Someone else will see 4.5bar at the same 3K rpms. Same at idle. Some will see a bit more or less than some other owner. No biggie. Also, there's some variability due to the oil used and how many miles is on the oil and how contaminated or not the oil is. Oil pressure is like oil consumption. There's a range that is normal. Sincerely, Macster.

I'll have to keep an eye tomorrow for 3,000 RPM oil pressure, just changed the oil a couple of days ago with Castrol Syntec 5W-40, it was likely Mobile 0W-40 in there before, the interesting thing I noticed is that oil pressure at hot idle used to be consistently around 1.5 bar, it is now around 1.1 to 1.2 after the oil change, it's a little bit disconcerning to me...... The million dollar question is if this is normal? TIA

Quotes source post: 8935788

Probably. It is rare for an engine to develop a serious oiling problem overnight. You have no history using Castrol oil so had you started with it instead of Mobil 1 0w-40 you might have been concerned seeing the oil pressure jump from 1.1 to 1.2 bar to 1.5 bar. Also, you have to be careful about ambient temperature. With my Turbo at different ambient temps or if I have the A/C on or off or even depending upon the type of driving I have just been doing, I see a few tenths of a bar of oil pressure difference. For instance I pull off the freeway and at the first stop light I check the oil level and pressure and say the oil pressure is 2 bar. Then I enter a parking lot and drive around until I find a suitable parking space. In the parking space I glance at the oil pressure and with the engine at idle the pressure now reads a bit (a needle's width or a bit more) under 2 bar to call it 1.8 or 1.75 bar. No biggie. The oil just got hotter driving around in 1st gear at slow speeds. Or today: Cool and rainy when I arrived at work. A/C off. Checked oil pressure. A bit over 2 bar. In short these engines run at a temp that varies some with ambient temp. As a result the oil temp varies and thus oil pressure. Or to put it another way, the constant is the idle or engine rpm. The oil temp is not constant. Sincerely, Macster.

Thanks Macster, been paying more attention to the oil pressre the last week, I've not seen the 1.1 to 1.2 bar which was when ambient was at 20 C, but usually around 1.5 to as high as 2 today with 16 C ambient temperature, all observed at idle RPM after the coolant temperature has reached 80+ C deg which is the normal coolant temperature.