spiking oil pressure

[jonflies]

Just noticed my oil pressure gage is spiking and maxing out, when I push for any more than 2K RPM. Nursed it home last night on the highway. I'm thinking it is the OPS/sender, (I changed it during my last IP change, about 10K miles ago, and it is more sensitive) but wondered if a bad turbo seal could cause this. This turbo has over 200,000 miles on it now.

[Robyn]

If the gauge is rapidly spiking and generally not stable, my suspicion is the sender.

The turbo gets its oil from the RH lifter gallery oil feed. The turbo has a bronze bushing with holes in it that allow oil to flow thorugh and then drain back to the crankcase. The seals are like little piston rings that have interlocking ends. The seals just keep any extra oil from slobering into the exhaust or the inlet.

No real way for the turbo to affect the oil pressure, UNLESS the bearing fails, then you could see a marked drop in pressure.

Change the OPS and I will bet that the issue goes away. If not, T in a regular manual gauge and see wasssup. The dash gauge could be going south, but my best is the sender.

Missy