318 oil pressure

My first reaction is check for a clogged oil pump suction screen or air leakage into the suction piping.

40 years ago a buddy of mine bought a 9U D-6 that kids had beaten the gauges out of...he replaced the oil gauge with a cheap parts house one because it was about 1/4 the price of a CAT gauge... and then he had a panic attack...almost no oil pressure. Finally convenced him to buy the old red/green CAT gauge and it would peg the hand...problem solved.

If you used a good oil pressure test gauge, disregard the above and start looking for your problem.

I will let him know to check the pickup screen and suction tube. Thank you.

He did an oil change on it last night because the oil looked like water. This morning when he fired up it has 35lbs idle, 25lbs full throttle. Much better.

One would assume an owner operator of that kind of equipment would know enough to use the correct viscosity oils........wrong again!!!!

At least it was an easy fix.

He just bought the machine and was told it had maybe 20 hrs on a fresh oil change. Makes you wonder about some people.

Hey Gang,

Is it possible that the oil was thinned out by diesel? Is there something else going on that he should be looking for?-glen

He just bought the machine and was told it had maybe 20 hrs on a fresh oil change. Makes you wonder about some people.

The oil change was "maybe 20 engine hours" ago, but maybe that was back in 1993 when the oil was changed and the tractor has sat outside in the rain the past 20 years?😆😆 If I bought a old Cat from EDB, or Ozdozer, or Billy I'd believe everything they told me about the old Cat I was buying, but if you don't know the seller that well it only takes a few minutes to slide under a crawler to crack open the various drain plugs to check for water and oil quality, and the old Cats I buy get a diesel flush in the compartments just to be on the safe side to help wash out the 80 year old sludge.
regards
Mike