M103 oil pressure at startup
 

The latest trouble with my 89 300TE is that it takes a few seconds for the oil pressure gauge to register pressure. It just seems to be a bit too long after sitting overnight. Once running, I have no concerns with pressure.

It has over 179k miles (odometer is dead), so I figure the first thing to check is if the electrical gauge is working by using a manual pressure gauge instead.

Any other suggestions?

Thx -CTH

i believe the consensus is that if it goes to 3 upon acceleration you are ok

on my 104...it drops to 0 at idle when it is warm...but immediately goes to 3 upon acceleration. on the 103 it is slightly above 0 at warm

The 103 engine requires an oil filter with a check valve. Cheap filters typically dont have one. Without one oil will drain out of the filter as it sits, taking longer to come up to pressure on a cold start.

check the oil pressure sender unit. my oil pressure would shoot up to 3 when I was accelerating, but at idle it would rest at 0. eventually it only went up to 2.5 while accelerating past 40 mph. I replaced the sender unit and now it goes up to 3 when accelerating and is at 2 - 1.5 when idling.