no oil pressure

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jacksdodges

jacksdodges

jacksdodges
Joined
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Little Rock Ar,
Got a new crate engine and it runs great. Then after only 270 miles I pulled into a parking lot had 40 lbs oil pressure. Went in the store came back out fires it up. Heard a strange noise looked at my oil pressure gauge and no oil pressure, Shut it off checked oil pressure lines to my gauge they were all good but the clear plastic lines had only spots of oil in it. Cranked it over no oil in the line. Started it up and valves rattled bad shut it back off. Yes it had oil in the motor. Could the oil pump intermediate shaft have broken? I am waiting till Monday to call the dealer about it before I start tearing it down. is the only thing I can think of. Any more ideas.
 
If the intermediate shaft is broken, then take off the distributor cap and see if the rotor spins when you crank it over. If the shaft is broken, the distributor rotor should not turn when the engine is cranked.


Otherwise, I would suspect the pressure relief spring may be stuck in the oil pump. If it gets stuck between open and close, you get no pressure...
 
Sounds like pump or drive failure - yes. Maybe the pickup broke off... Hard to say until the pan's off but there's only so much that can go wrong there.
 
krazykuda said:
If the intermediate shaft is broken, then take off the distributor cap and see if the rotor spins when you crank it over. If the shaft is broken, the distributor rotor should not turn when the engine is cranked.


Otherwise, I would suspect the pressure relief spring may be stuck in the oil pump. If it gets stuck between open and close, you get no pressure...
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Ignition may still work depending where the shaft broke. Usually the hex end in the pump shears - and the engine will run fine because the cam is driving the gear just like normal.
 
Stem to oil pump could break. The pump would need to lock up causing it. As bad as it sounds... I would drain the oil and have a look at it. Lets hope its not loaded with metals.
 
moper said:
Ignition may still work depending where the shaft broke. Usually the hex end in the pump shears - and the engine will run fine because the cam is driving the gear just like normal.
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Yes, that is true. But I was trying to give him a quick check. If the rotor does not turn, then you know it is in the drive gear for sure. It depends on how the shaft broke as you said.

I had the two gears "crash" on the camshaft and distributor shaft, and the rotor would not turn. It's an easy check. If the rotor does not turn, then the oil pump should be ok, the problem should be in the shaft somewhere. If it still turns and no oil pressure, then you may want to tear it down and inspect the oil pump and shaft for problems.

I was just trying to start out simple and work towards the "harder" more labor intensive fixes.
 
The motor will start. I though maybe the pickup or the screen came off. Not going to touch it till Monday. Talked to the builder and he will get back with me Monday.
 
I have thrown a lifter out of the hole due to bent pushrod and lost oil pressure
 
Also, just so you know spots of oil in the pressure line is normal.
 
jacksdodges said:
The motor will start. I though maybe the pickup or the screen came off. Not going to touch it till Monday. Talked to the builder and he will get back with me Monday.
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If it starts, then the rotor is turning.


I would look into the oil pump/pickup tube...
 
Should take you about 3 minutes to find this out. YANK out the distributor. Take a screwdriver and TURN the distributor drive gear. I forget which way but it won't take long to find out. One direction will result in it "walking" itself up and out off the cam. Bend a coat hanger and hook under and pull it out. You will soon know if it's broken.

The cam gear can drive the distributor, but the oil pump is BELOW that

Very first thing out of the pump is the filter. If you get nothing with the filter removed, you have no oil pressure at all
 
As others have said,, and you'll likely be asked to do..

pull the valve covers hoping to find a pushrod out of place, and a lifter popped out,..,,

next would be to pull the pump drive..
 
With the lifters all collapsed and ticking, he's not getting oil....


I think that he's going to have to pull the pan and pump to find what he needs to fix this.


I had my lifters all collapse once 30 years ago, my NEW TRW oil pump had a stuck pressure relief valve. TRW tried to push it off on me, and I haven't bought any TRW parts since.

Their diagnosis was and I quote, "tiny minute particles small enough to fit through the stock pick-up tube screen had lodged and stuck the oil pressure relief valve"...

They rebuilt the pump for me at no cost... (how nice of them). They wouldn't cover my losses on the engine. I sold it to someone for $25 after telling them the story and said, "If anything happens, you're on your own. Take it up with TRW, I warned you." I have never had a problem with Mellings.

If the TRW pump can't handle what the stock pick up tube screen can't filter out, it is junk as far as I'm concerned. "NO TRW FOR ME" - in the soup Nazi voice....
 
I am going to wait till Monday after I talk to the builder before I start tearing it down. This didn't happen while driving down the road. It had good oil pressure when I shut It off in the parking lot then when I restarted it 30 min. later it didn't have any. It seems like something had to break to happen that way. I know the little bubbles in the oil line are ok but not when you crank it over and they don't move something is wrong. thanks
 
The most likely scenario is a lifter/push rod/rocker arm problem. Once a lifter gets kicked out of the hole you have zero oil pressure. Seeing as how this is a new engine the ability to kick a lifter out is very likely. I would start buy pulling the valve covers. Second if everything looks good there, I would pull the distributor and oil pump drive shaft and inspect the shaft for being broke. Next i would use a priming shaft to spin the oil pump. If you still haven't found the problem, the oil pan needs to come off.
 
Are you using Fram filter ? I saw this happend at the drag strip , the filter element fragmented and clogged the oil pickup with filter element paper .
 
pull the pass side valve cover that's where the mail oil galley is ,I have seen them come out of the drivers side (solid lifters) and only have a engine miss, or back firing through the carb.
 
I am using MOPAR filters. Its hard to believe its a lifter when it was all good till I shut it off then restart it 30 min later and it had no oil pressure. I start on it tomorrow after I talk to the builder. I don't want to mess up my warranty. Know what I mean. Besides it 70 miles from home. I still gotta go get it.
 
mopar jimmie said:
Are you using Fram filter ? I saw this happend at the drag strip , the filter element fragmented and clogged the oil pickup with filter element paper .
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Holy ****!!!


I've had this problem with Fram filters also. I blew up 3 engines because of the "guts blowing out". I just figured that it was because my filters were over 10 years old. :banghead:


Now I'm definitely not going to run Fram filters again.
 
krazykuda said:
Holy ****!!!


I've had this problem with Fram filters also. I blew up 3 engines because of the "guts blowing out". I just figured that it was because my filters were over 10 years old. :banghead:


Now I'm definitely not going to run Fram filters again.
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They are notorious for blowing apart inside. I quit using them some time ago.
 
My engine guy will not use fram. He had one fail on the dyno. Took the whole motor apart and couldn't find an issue. Changed it to a wix and all was good!! Happened a second time with a fram so he changed it right away and saved many headaches. But really sounds like the pump drive. Hope it all works out for ya.
 
I've been down on Fram since the 70's My Dad used to sell Hastings, Wix, and AC Filters. The Wix guy used to show up and go out and buy a Fram filter (and others) and cut them open. It was an eye opener. Even AC was not impressive looking internally.

There are others, but Wix used to be good. In the last couple of years I've heard a couple of guys had problems with Wix but I think this is fairly isolated. Wix is same as NAPA

Hastings used to be good if you can get them, as are Purolator and Baldwin.
 
are you all using the fram hp1 filters? because this is all I've used with out problems .would like to know which part numbers.
 
jacksdodges said:
I am going to wait till Monday after I talk to the builder before I start tearing it down.
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Best bet yet. I wouldn't lift a finger and risk any warranties. No oil pressure could be anything. Too many to mention here. I've even seen oil pump bolts laying in the bottom of the pan. If I've seen one bolt, someone else has seen two.
 
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