Almost no oil pressure help

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This is dumb, but I have to ask. I had low pressure from a "rebuilt " but never fired engine once. The oil pan was mashed a tiny bit from where he had been setting it down in the shop. I pulled the engine back out and did what you are doing... I pulled the pan off and found the oil pump pickup had made a mark in the pan. It was blocked at the bottom. I put a better oil pump in, flattened out the pan and was money. I don't know what pickup he used but it was way too close to the bottom of the pan with the shroud missing.... It was sealed up on the pan. I chased that one for a week. Another thing, was it really rebuilt? I'd be pulling the pan and checking the screen.
 
Krazykuda that was next...going to take off the intake to see if they are there...

Dave ... Had a Frame changed to wix... No change on anything same symtoms
 
JeffreysDart said:
Krazykuda that was next...going to take off the intake to see if they are there...

Dave ... Had a Frame changed to wix... No change on anything same symtoms
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Is the pump at least sucking enough oil to fill the new filter???
 
Ok. so the pump does suck and pick up oil. That's a good start..

Now trace it through the engine to see where it stops....
 
Is it possible you have the WRONG lifters or possibly one of the blocks with oversize lifter holes? I assume you have swapped the oil pressure gauge and know it's correct
 
Mopar92 said:
This is dumb, but I have to ask. I had low pressure from a "rebuilt " but never fired engine once. The oil pan was mashed a tiny bit from where he had been setting it down in the shop. I pulled the engine back out and did what you are doing... I pulled the pan off and found the oil pump pickup had made a mark in the pan. It was blocked at the bottom. I put a better oil pump in, flattened out the pan and was money. I don't know what pickup he used but it was way too close to the bottom of the pan with the shroud missing.... It was sealed up on the pan. I chased that one for a week. Another thing, was it really rebuilt? I'd be pulling the pan and checking the screen.
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This is not dumb and could all be very possible... It was my initial thought so I may just start with that as well.

The heads are crystal clean with shinny valve springs... If those aren't new the only other way would have it severally power washed.
 
Wonder if he put roller lifters in? Is it a roller setup? I know I've read where the roller lifters come up and bleed out somehow. I'm not familiar with them so I won't comment. But I've read about that.
 
67Dart273 said:
Is it possible you have the WRONG lifters or possibly one of the blocks with oversize lifter holes? I assume you have swapped the oil pressure gauge and know it's correct
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im not sure about the lifter situation, as i did not rebuild it.....

as far as the gauge.... the oil pressure light was on and stayed on and then i added the gauge... i guess another test would be swapping the gauge to double check the first gauge....
 
I would hand turn the eng with a 1&1/4" socket/breaker bar CW till the closest dist tooth is dead even with the magnet & note which dist cap plug wire the rotor is pointing to (makes for easy reassembly) then pull the dist & intergear & prime the pump with a 5/16 hex shaft CW in your drill & see if you get good psi on a gauge screwed into the NPT port on the top of the eng where the oil psi sender currently is. I like to smooth the hex right where it goes thru the intergear bushing & wrap some black electrical tape around it (just my OCD!). and when you pull the dist you can see if the 3/8 NPT pipe plug is in place in the pic the gentleman posted. If the 1/2" mini cup plug ain't installed enbetween the 2 horizontle oil passages to/from the filter boss you will still get psi (maybe even a hair more) as there is no filter restriction cuz there ain't no filtering being done (common when a chebby shop does a Mopar SB) and what happens is the eng has an early demise years later due to no filtering & all the while you are thinking you are being proactive with frequent oil/filter changes! and no clue as to what (really) caused it! Holler with what you find out
 
Tonight when i get home from work, I will prime and make notes and report with pics... ill try number of things as mentioned here. I'll even get another mechanical gauge and go direct to the port.

I do not know if the pump has ARP studs... or if the engine has ARP internal studs bolts.
 
I had that happen on a rebuild one time, the new lifters were not soaked in oil before install and the engine was fired up without priming sytem. The engine clacked allot on start up before settling down, oil light on, did this several times on start up and then eventually stopped doing it. Never had a problem with it after the lifters got all the air pumped out of them.
 
This is VERY easy to diagnose. Get an electric drill and the Mopar priming tool and hand prime it with the drill. If it has very little or no oil pressure, you will feel little to no resistance against the drill. If it slows the drill down dramatically, the gauge is

W R O N G.

"I" would also remove the gauge fitting from the block while priming it. If the oil pressure is as low as you describe, you will get very little out of that gallery.
 
JeffreysDart said:
Ok let me also add that I had to change the oil filter after initial fire up from a long filter to a short filter to accommodate the exhaust system from TTI exhaust and the oil filter was 1/2 full... So I believe some oil is going somewhere..
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If you had no oil, you would not have gotten this far. But it certainly is not adequate.

I'd get an oil pump drive hex shaft (you can make one from a piece of 3/8" steel rod) and a drill and spin the pump from the distributor hole; you pull up the gear and oil pump shaft that is down in the distributor hole to get to the oil pump drive.

When you get this gear and shaft out, inspect the hex on the bottom end of this shaft; that is what engages an equivalent hexagonal hole the oil pump. See if the corners on this hex on the shaft are rounded off; that would cause the oil pump to not be properly driven. If this is rounded off, it needs to be replaced and the pump replaced too.

If this is good, then use the hex drive shaft and drill to turn the pump with the drill at about 1000 RPM (600 minimum). You should see good pressure (like 30-60 PSI cold with 10W30); if not, then the next step is to start an inspection with the pan off.

BTW, what filter part number and brand did you put on? We need to be sure it is the right one.
 
RustyRatRod said:
This is VERY easy to diagnose. Get an electric drill and the Mopar priming tool and hand prime it with the drill. If it has very little or no oil pressure, you will feel little to no resistance against the drill. If it slows the drill down dramatically, the gauge is

W R O N G.

"I" would also remove the gauge fitting from the block while priming it. If the oil pressure is as low as you describe, you will get very little out of that gallery.
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I would do this. It's the best way to see if you are actually making pressure and sending oil anywhere without damaging the engine by potentially running it without oil.
 
so far Rusty has the best diagnostic... i was able to sneak away at lunch and do a prime with the my no gear shaft tool and with an open oil galley to the top of the block... on the first prime i had some spurts with oil chunks and black... on the 2nd prime i had new fresh flowing oil and a quality amount.... now i have to get to the auto store and get a gauge for the port and prime to see what I'm making in psi and if that looks half decent ill fire her up for a reading....
 
You may have just solved your problem. You said black chunks came out? There may have been a blockage going to the oil pressure gauge port that you evacuated when you primed it. That would certainly cause the gauge to read incorrectly while the engine had adequate oil pressure.
 
rustyratrod said:
you may have just solved your problem. You said black chunks came out? There may have been a blockage going to the oil pressure gauge port that you evacuated when you primed it. That would certainly cause the gauge to read incorrectly while the engine had adequate oil pressure.
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x2
 
RustyRatRod said:
You may have just solved your problem. You said black chunks came out? There may have been a blockage going to the oil pressure gauge port that you evacuated when you primed it. That would certainly cause the gauge to read incorrectly while the engine had adequate oil pressure.
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x3
 
JeffreysDart said:
Just oil globs
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Sounds like sludge remaining after cleanup, or some that had broken loose and lodged in the oil pressure gauge gallery. What kind of pressure is the gauge showing now?
 
JeffreysDart said:
Just oil globs
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Make sure it is JUST that. If there was improper cleanup done that sludge could be full of stuff that got caught. I would check it to make sure there's no metal chunks. Your pan and filter should be checked regularly as well. Make sure whatever broke loose didn't have any fillings in it and what not.
 
Well I'm sad to report no success.....

added 2 different gauges.... no oil pressure at all on idle or even rev...

took off valve cover and primed oil pump with no success in seeing any oil....

all around no success....

we are down to taking off the pan and checking pump and the 2 front plugs..... :(
 
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