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High pressure Indication

Asked by: 1570 views Student Pilot

Hello,

Here are some questions about oil pressure

  1. What causes the High Pressure?
  2. Is there other way except the gauge to notice High pressure during flight?

Thank you.

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1 Answers



  1. Bryan on Jul 22, 2022

    In a typical piston engine, oil travels from the sump at the bottom of the engine through a strainer, through the pump, through an oil cooler, through the filter, then into the various parts of the engine to lubricate, cool, and clean, then back down to the sump for another trip. If the pump is working well but any other part of that loop is dirty or contaminated (including the valves that sometimes isolate the oil cooler if that function isn’t needed), you will end up with high oil pressure. It’s just indicating that the pump is working but the oil isn’t moving freely through the system.

    The answer to your second question then is that high oil pressure will cause the oil to not do its jobs as well–clean, cool, and lubricate. There’s no way to notice whether the oil is cleaning or not in flight–but you may notice the other two. If you have high oil pressure, it may not cool as effectively so you may see higher engine temps, depending on what instrumentation you have to monitor that. If you run it with high oil pressure long enough, the less effective lubrication could also begin to rob you of power until the engine fails outright.

    So if you’re seeing an oil pressure indication that is higher than normal for the plane you’re flying, the best advice is to get on the ground as soon as is practical and have a mechanic see what’s going on.

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