Very Low Oil Pressure In Flight

[Stetson20]

3 hours ago, Cyril Gibb said:

Some unasked questions that may narrow down where you go from here:

How much oil was in the crankcase when you landed?  The POH would probably say 6 qts minimum, but Lycoming says (per certification standards) that 2 qts is the safe minimum.  If you still had at least 2 qts on landing and didn't perform any aerobatic maneuvers, your oil pickup wouldn't have been unported.  If it was less than 2 qts, the bearings would now be suspect.

Did your oil temperature increase as the pressure decreased, or did it stay more or less stable?

Oil temp stayed stable. My A&P is looking at it. I had to leave, so not sure what the landing oil level was. I couldn't wait for it to cool and settle before I had to go. My A&P seems to think we should investigate the prop governor first. I trust him. I'll keep y'all posted.

[Stetson20]

4 hours ago, wpbarnar said:

Inspect the ball and seat of the oil pressure regulator.    A very small piece of trash between the ball and seat can cause a large drop in oil pressure.   If no trash is found rotate the ball 180 degrees as it will wear slightly were it contacts the seat.

Bill

We are looking at this as well. Thank you. Appreciate everyone's input!

[flyboy0681]

4 hours ago, Cyril Gibb said:

 

Did your oil temperature increase as the pressure decreased, or did it stay more or less stable?

This, as I found out, is not a reliable indicator of engine health. When I lost oil pressure the first thing that I did was check its temperature on the gauge and the JPI to see if it was starting to climb. For the most part it was normal ,however, as time went on, it actually dropped - significantly. When I asked my A&P what was up with that, he said that the oil temperature probe is located high on the case and since oil wasn't reaching it, the ambient air temperature hitting the case brought it down. When I downloaded the JPI data, it showed the oil temp dropped down to 140.

Now you know the rest of the story.