Red Oil Pressure Light comes on when idling (right after rod bearing replacement)

[bimmer]

If you bought the wrong ones, contact FCP and they may still work with you. I've heard of them honoring the warranty in situations where the part isn't exactly the same but similar and the same price. It's worth a shot to save the cash - I've been nothing but pleasantly surprised every time I've had to work with their customer service team.

Also the FCP warranty is no BS. I f'ed up and damaged two differential pinion seals, two days in a row when trying to install them. I used to live 15 min from Milford where they are located....walked back in and warranty replaced both of them with no questions asked.

[Icecream]

If you bought the wrong ones, contact FCP and they may still work with you. I've heard of them honoring the warranty in situations where the part isn't exactly the same but similar and the same price. It's worth a shot to save the cash - I've been nothing but pleasantly surprised every time I've had to work with their customer service team.

Also the FCP warranty is no BS. I f'ed up and damaged two differential pinion seals, two days in a row when trying to install them. I used to live 15 min from Milford where they are located....walked back in and warranty replaced both of them with no questions asked.

Yup, always pleasant to work with too.

[ATB88]

Worst case you’re out 400 for new bearings if you simply bought the wrong ones.

In fact, FCP are really nice about swapping between similar/equivalent parts on the same car. For example, if you buy Bosch ignition coils from them, and then decide you'd rather switch to the Eldor OEM ones or even OE BMW instead, they'll let you do a warranty exchange and you only have to pay any price difference between what you had and what you're getting (in the case that what you're getting as a replacement costs more). So if you call them up and explain the situation, I'd bet that they'd be willing to let you exchange them for the normal clearance bearings under warranty. If not, fair enough, but I bet they'd do it based on my experience.

[eacmen]

I have a hard time believing that extra clearance rod bearings would have a noticeable effect on oil pressure.

However I have been wrong before.

[Slideways]

You are correct, I purchased and had the extra clearance ones installed. My question is would the extra clearance bearings cause me to have low oil pressure when idling compared to stock bearings?

If it was normal before changing out the bearings, it's either that or something went wrong during the installation, possibly with the oil pump. Was the O-ring replaced on the larger pipe going to the oil pump?

Did you choose the extra clearance bearings or were you going for standard?

[eacmen]

I have a hard time believing that extra clearance rod bearings would have a noticeable effect on oil pressure.

However I have been wrong before.

Looks like I might be wrong. Interesting article:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-01-15-0101150132-story.html

[MTiz]

If it was normal before changing out the bearings, it's either that or something went wrong during the installation, possibly with the oil pump. Was the O-ring replaced on the larger pipe going to the oil pump?

Did you choose the extra clearance bearings or were you going for standard?

I'm not sure which o-ring you're referencing. Everything that came in this kit: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...-1124783440kt1 was done though, do you see what you're mentioning listed?

Admittedly I ordered the first kit that FCP said would fit my car and didn't find out about the larger clearances until today. However, I don't believe the larger clearances would cause me to lose pressure at low idle but the article that eacmen posted makes it seem like a possibility. It appears that this would be a non-issue on track cars use to seeing high RPMs all the time, but on my street driven car it's causing me this headache. I'm seriously regretting everything at this point

[eacmen]

I'm not sure which o-ring you're referencing. Everything that came in this kit: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...-1124783440kt1 was done though, do you see what you're mentioning listed?

Admittedly I ordered the first kit that FCP said would fit my car and didn't find out about the larger clearances until today. However, I don't believe the larger clearances would cause me to lose pressure at low idle but the article that eacmen posted makes it seem like a possibility. It appears that this would be a non-issue on track cars use to seeing high RPMs all the time, but on my street driven car it's causing me this headache. I'm seriously regretting everything at this point

You could raise the idle rpm. What rpm does the low pressure light turn off at?

[MTiz]

You could raise the idle rpm. What rpm does the low pressure light turn off at?

That's not a bad idea. The low-pressure light turns off at 1000-1100 RPMs

[eacmen]

That's not a bad idea. The low-pressure light turns off at 1000-1100 RPMs

I don’t think that’s crazy high. I’ve raised my idle rpm on the last car to 1150 since it had a lightweight flywheel and chattered like mad.

Requires modification to a couple tables in the DME.

[Icecream]

That's not a bad idea. The low-pressure light turns off at 1000-1100 RPMs

Am I the only one that thinks this is a bad idea?

[heinzboehmer]

Am I the only one that thinks this is a bad idea?

Yeah if the loss in oil pressure is actually coming from the increased clearance in the bearings then I wouldn't want to be running my engine like that. The oil film thickness is probably the most important bit in the rod bearings. If it's not what it was designed to be then the bearings will wear faster.

Any bored mechanical engineers/people with experience designing systems like these want to run the calculations to see how much 0.025mm of extra clearance will affect the pressure lol?

[Slideways]

I'm not sure which o-ring you're referencing. Everything that came in this kit: https://www.fcpeuro.com/products/bmw...-1124783440kt1 was done though, do you see what you're mentioning listed?

Admittedly I ordered the first kit that FCP said would fit my car and didn't find out about the larger clearances until today. However, I don't believe the larger clearances would cause me to lose pressure at low idle but the article that eacmen posted makes it seem like a possibility. It appears that this would be a non-issue on track cars use to seeing high RPMs all the time, but on my street driven car it's causing me this headache. I'm seriously regretting everything at this point

Unfortunately, it is not included, but it is strongly suggested to replace it. I'm not sure why FCP suggested two pointless items in that kit, one being the oil pan cover and the other being the dipstick tube seal (both can be reused), and they left out one of the critical o-rings.

My guess is the extra clearance is causing the low oil pressure at idle issue since it is the only aftermarket spec part.

Number 9 -

[eacmen]

Am I the only one that thinks this is a bad idea?

If I was to choose between running an engine at low oil pressure or normal, I would choose normal.

Not arguing that this is an ideal solution, but may allow the op some time to save up for another rod bearing job.

I think either way a rod bearing job is likely in the op’s near future. But if planning to run it, I would raise the idle to prevent damage to there rest of the engine internals.

[Icecream]

If I was to choose between running an engine at low oil pressure or normal, I would choose normal.

Not arguing that this is an ideal solution, but may allow the op some time to save up for another rod bearing job.

I think either way a rod bearing job is likely in the op’s near future. But if planning to run it, I would raise the idle to prevent damage to there rest of the engine internals.

I really think that is asking for trouble. We don’t know why the pressure is low for certain. If it were mine, it would be coming apart immediately, as much as it sucks.