A Coupla Oil Problems

[Andrew Duane USG/PE <duane@zk3.dec.com>]

Recently, my '89 100Q has developed three (unrelated) little
problems relating to the oil system.

1) Low pressure.  With a warm engine, idle oil pressure is right:
2 bar. But at cruising speed, it only goes up to about 2.5-3 bar,
instead of the usual 4+ bar. The level and temperature are fine.
Could this be just the "winter" 10W30 oil not doing too well now
that spring is here? Or can oil pumps get weak at high speed?

2) Water on cap.  Last oil change I noticed a small swirl of the
white oil/water mix on my oil cap. No problems in the engine.
Could this be related to #1?

3) Leaky plug.  I have a drain valve (which is great), but it
weeps around the threads. I'm pretty sure the threads on the
oil pan were stripped by a grease monkey 2 years ago. What kind
of gasket or epoxy material could I use to seal this up? Since
it is a valve, I won't need to remove it ever again. Alternatively,
I may need to replace the pan gasket too. Should I just get a new
pan with the gasket?

-- 

Andrew L. Duane (JOT-7)			duane@zk3.dec.com
Digital Equipment Corporation		(603)-881-1294
110 Spit Brook Road			http://www.zk3.dec.com/~duane
M/S ZKO3-3/U14
Nashua, NH    03062-2698

Only my cat shares my opinions, and she's pretty slippery.