1948 Styled D Low Oil Pressure (video)

tmloos · Jul 4, 2015

Howdy,
I have just gotten my Styled D running and it has low oil pressure. Just
barely above the Stop line at full throttle. Verified with another known
good gauge. I have been reading other posts about the same issue and did
some troubleshooting. I pulled the crankcase cover and blew air in the
oil pressure tube from a compressor. I took a video and posted it to
YouTube because this does not look right. Is this the dreaded warped oil
filter housing from over tightening? I'm not sure where it's leaking
from. First test at 20lbs and second at around 10-15lbs of air pressure.
What do the experts say?

Thanks for your help and advice!
(Please let me know if you can't view the video)
Low oil pressure troubleshooting video

M-MAN · Jul 4, 2015

Not an expert by any means but it looks like the air bubbles are coming from around the pressure relief spring area. Do a little more searching. You may need to rebuild that and or add washers or a new spring to bring the pressure up.

tmloos · Jul 4, 2015

I did a little more digging. Drained the oil and took the small shield off of the top of the filter housing. It looks to me like the pressure regulating screw is backed all the way out and it seems like this is where the air is coming from when I inject via the pressure feed tube. It also looks like a lock bolt is missing meant to prevent the regulating screw from moving. What do you all think?

bill mart · Jul 4, 2015

could the engine oil possibly need changing as well? Bill

tmloos · Jul 4, 2015

Engine oil is brand new.

bill mart · Jul 4, 2015

just looked kinda thin in the video. Bill

John Deere D · Jul 5, 2015

I had to pull the OIL suction screen and remove all crap out of the screen on all my JD "Ds"
Item # 15
The last four styled D's I turned item # 16 in three turns as these machines are old and the maintenance history is sketchy. Hot under load the oil pressure stays at H on the gauge. Warm at idle the needle is just touching the H. If you remove the pressure regulating valve you shall finde a BALL that may have foreign material on it or a broken spring, or a badle deformed ball not seating....ITEM # 16.
Bob...

John Deere D · Jul 5, 2015

You are missing item # 23 & 24
Bob

tmloos · Jul 5, 2015

Bill,
I took out that ball - it is rough and probably not seating but I believe that this has nothing to do with pressure. I think it's a check valve that prevents the oil lines from draining when sitting allowing oil to lubricate faster on startup. I will replace the ball however. Good advice to check that.

When you say three turns in on the pressure regulating screw, do you mean three turns from its "as found" position?

I turned mine in 3.5 turns (what a pain) and blew some more air in the oil pressure tube. Still air coming from (I think) the metal reed. If I expect 15 lbs. of pressure, should I expect that reed to hold 15 lbs. of air pressure or is it not a perfect seal? I would hate to have to remove those metal reeds to clean up the surfaces. I think I would have to remove the pressure head to do that.
Thanks for your help!

tmloos · Jul 22, 2015

Just wanted to close the loop - I turned in the pressure adjusting screw five turns and now at idle I have between M and H pressure. Full throttle is close to H. My rod bearings are new but the crank bearings have not been checked so maybe they have some wear.

1948 Styled D Low Oil Pressure (video)

tmloos

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M-MAN

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tmloos

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bill mart

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tmloos

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bill mart

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John Deere D

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John Deere D

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tmloos

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tmloos

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