Oil pressure relief spring woes.

Recently we came across a problem involving an aftermarket oil pressure relief spring and decided to make our discoveries public. An engine we had built using this new spring showed only minimal oil pressure after initial startup and would not increase pressure at higher RPM's. The final oil pressure settled in around 20PSI, which is not too good for a brand new engine. Removal of the spring from the engine revealed that it had collapsed significantly and would not be serviceable.

The aftermarket spring is shown on the right with a factory original and related parts on the left. Note that the aftermarket spring has sagged significantly. Additionally, the aftermarket spring has not sagged evenly but shows the coils closer together on each end and especially on the bottom end of the spring in this photo. Needless to say, a spring which fails before the engine has had more than one hours worth of running on it is not a high quality piece. Be aware that these products exist in the market place and can lead to these problems. There is nothing like a factory original part when available.

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