Higher than normal Engine Oil Pressure - do i worry?

martin

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Hi All

I have a pair of Volvo D11 670 EVC-C2 engines in a Princess 50 that were recently serviced in Palma. I took her out for a pre season shake down cruise this weekend and all was good except.....

As I left the Marina , I moved the revs up to 1.5k rpm and the oil pressure went up to 5.6 bar on both engines. The Volvo manual states "During operations the oil pressure gauge should normally show 4-5.5 bar" and that's pretty much how it was last 3 years.

I briefly took the revs up to 1.8k and the pressure went to 5.8 and then stopped the boat and turned round.

I emailed the service engineers and they said its all fine, depnding on many factors but pressure should be ok up to 7 bar.

So my question is...

Anyone got any ideas why a boat should suddenly have increased pressure on both engines and does that pressure sound right for those revs...should I be worried ?

Any thoughts / assistance greatly appreciated..
Martin
 
Is this your 1st service episode with the boat ?
I mean what experience are you drawing on ?
New oil is thicker
Cold oil after a long standing period is thicker .
It takes a while say 1/ 2 hr to warm up - say wait until water is 60 degrees then ease up the rpm to ,turbos kicking in and singing say 14-1500 rpm then as things hot up say @1800rpm + the oil gets hot 90 degrees ( do you have a oil temp gauge ?) -
When all of the above s been done the oil pressure then drops back in line with hot engines .

Did you dip them before starting and where they different to previous ,times ?

Have you seen the invoice - correct oil ? Gone in it’s the 1st number that relates to cold viscosity.
 
Given Palma has been quite chilly ( I have been back in the Uk for 40 minutes!) at circa 10 degrees ish and 5 ish over night and in summer it is much warmer I would probably go with needing a longer warm up period as a first guess before getting too worried.

If you don't want to accelerate then plod down in the Portals Vells direction at 10 knots for 10 minutes and the water temps are mid 80s ( that is where mine tend to sit) and see what happens.
 
Oil pressure varies depending on the temperature of the oil ,so id guess its just becaue its colder than normal and you didnt give the engines long enough to get the oil up to normal operating temperature.

Go for a longer run and see if the oil presure shows more normal values.

If the oil pressure is still too high when the oil is at normal operating temperature,then you might have a problem.

The max pressures in the manual are usually quoted when the oil is up to temperature and at normal cruising revs. 4-4.5 bar is the typical hot oil pressure at normal crusing revs for most engines. If the oil is colder than normal running temperature you will see higher pressures.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for all the info, I will take her out again and get her properly warmed up ...
Sorry for the delay in getting back.. had tech issues
 
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