This afternoon i took advantage of the nice weather and did some body work on my fiero. I pulled the car out of the garage and took a look at the oil pressure gauge and it was pegged which it has done since i bought the car in 2016 (I thought the gauge was just not working correctly so I thought nothing of it). Out of curiosity I pulled out my oil pressure tester and put it on the car and it read 79 psi which is way too high at idle. Also the oil also hasn't been changed since 2016 (it currently has 5W-30) and the car gets the occasional start and heat cycle but not much driving as i have not even put 100 km on it but the oil still looks like new. I will be changing the oil this week regardless as it probably wouldn't hurt. If anyone has any ideas where to start that would be great as i personally doubt the oil would cause that issue but I look forward to hear any feedback.

Maybe too much oil? Esp. with clean oil, the dipstick is very hard to read on my car, so I have to check multiple times.

Does it stay high at idle when warmed up?

quote Originally posted by Betty67: Out of curiosity I pulled out my oil pressure tester and put it on the car and it read 79 psi which is way too high at idle.

IOW a mechanical gauge on the engine?
V6 should be 30-45 PSIG Oil pressure should stay within the specified range at all RPM whether the engine is hot or not. In very cold weather, oil pressure may be a bit higher than normal until the engine warms up a bit.

Yes, OP high can be bad. Even if Oil Filter can doesn't bust, the top where it meets the engine can fail and leak or worse.

Often High pressure means:
Oil Pump has problems. Most OP have the regulator in/on them and reg is bad/blocked.
Some fool installed HV/HP pump because they believe BS hype.

------------------
Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave

quote Originally posted by Gall757: Maybe too much oil? Esp. with clean oil, the dipstick is very hard to read on my car, so I have to check multiple times.

That is possible. Last oil change i just poured a 5 liter jug in that might be too much... I'll change it this week and double check. Thanks!

Five litre shouldn't hurt it. That's what I always run in my engines. All my engines have shown much higher oil pressure at cold start than at warm idle.

Got any oil leaking around the distributor too?
I had the same thoughts about the accuracy of my oil pressure gauge. It has bounced between 40 and 80 since I bought it last Nov.
I had the oil changed at a quick lube place and the oil is on the high side of the crosshatch on the dipstick. So, I thought the oil level was fine.
I have oil shooting out from where the distributor meets the block when under load (flooring it).
I changed the o-ring and gasket twice. Still leaks.
My next course of action is to do my own oil change with the correct amount of 5w30.

[This message has been edited by 0z (edited 06-18-2019).]

Extra oil wouldn't cause your distributor leak problem. There is a small hole in the side of the block where the O-ring seal is located. It's part of the oil galley and is under pressure from the pump. If you have a leak, as long as you have enough oil to have oil pressure, you will still have a leak. Sometimes distributors don't seat all the way down so you may have a poor seal.

[This message has been edited by fierofool (edited 06-18-2019).]

Our Formula pretty much pegs the needle on cold startup til warm. Reads higher pressure than any other car I have had, no probs. Also the needle moves a lot if you rev, more than some other cars.
Could be the gauge is a little off could be part of it reading "high".
Run it for at about 30 mins if you want a true warm oil temp. Some people put a different gauge on the oil pressure to test it and see how much the factory gauge may be off.
Your oil weight you use matters too.