Lost oil pressure!!
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From: Bozeman, MT
Lost oil pressure!!
Guys I need your help bad. I just swapped in a new Comp 280 cam and new 4bbl intake. Thats all I changed and the oil pressure just bottomed out, yet the pan reads full. Is there a chance that the sump may just be clogged? I had to drive it to work, 30 miles over a mountain pass and the pressure bottomed about 10 miles from town. I haven't had time to do much troubleshooting but I will pull the valve covers and see if its oiling up there. Oh and another thing, the starter has a hard time turning it over.......
Pk
Pk
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From: Eureka, Ca.
You may have dropped the oil shaft down in the pan. Pull the dist and look down in the hole and see if the oil pump drive shaft is sitting in the small hole next to the cam gear. If it is there then use a 1/4" long socket on an extension to turn it counter clockwise with a drill. you should feel resistance pretty quickly. If there isn't any resistance or the socket doesn't engage anything you wil have to pull the pan and remove the oil pump and see what is going on down there.
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From: Eureka, Ca.
Originally Posted by bertha66
Before you pull the dist. pull the cap and see if the rotor is turning. If it is then pull the dist. and check to see if shaft is there.
He stated that the starter is having a hard time turning it over as it is.
Post Fiend
Joined: Mar 2004
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From: Union, Washington
If the engine runs, it can't be the dist gear or a sheared gear pin. BTW, the main bearings are the least of your worries. The wrist pin end of the rod are what let's go in these engines after an oil pressure loss.
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From: Bozeman, MT
Well crap... I already lost one engine to wrist pin failure, is ther anything I can do short of rebuilding the girl to check and see if it might still be salvageable. It does still turn over by hand rather easy, so I'm not sure why the starter was groaning so much. I still haven't gotten around to dropping the pan, but after several attempts with the dip stick, I couldn't pull out any metal bits or anything. Damn, brand new 4bbl, new cam, and puke, its all over with. Life has far too many ironic moments.
Last edited by pkulaga; Aug 19, 2005 at 08:49 AM.
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From: Floriduh
You may have sheared the oil pump drive shaft. I would pull the dizzy and check to see if you still even HAVE a oil pump drive shaft sitting in there. If you do, pull it out and inspect it. That would be the most likely cause of oil pressure loss. Did it go away suddenly? or just over the course of like 5 minutes? or over the course of like 15 minutes? How quickly did it go away? You could have fried the cam bearings also. I had an engine with a similar problem and it turned out to be the cam bearings.
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From: Bozeman, MT
Well I swapped in the new cam and lifters with lots of cam lube. When I started it up for the first time, there was a more than usual amount of white smoke coming from the vent in the valve covers. I just figured it was the cam lube smoking a bit as the smoke did dissipate during the cam break in. I broke the cam in for like 20 min and had fine oil pressure. I had to drive the truck 30 miles or so to get to work so I took off nice and easy. Had great pressure for about 20 min, then it started to decline. Unfortuneately there was a good song on the radio and I forgot to pay attention to the gauges cause about 5-6 min later my pressure gauge bottomed and I started to hear some valvetrain noise. Immediately killed the engine and started to cry. I will be pulling the pan tonight, my suspision it that the oil pick up got clogged, from what I have no idea. I will check the oil pump shaft also. My major concern is if I spun a main bearing and the block needs to be honed again 
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maybe not
did you change your oil before you did the new cam break in?
just thinking maybe ..... well problly not
what weight oil are you running. It sounds like an oil pump to me or the pick up is clogged.
HEY just a thought but while you are in that thing... put a new pick, HV oil pump, and ARP oil pump drive shaft. might help you out in the long run.
but then again that is just me and my thoughts
-Brandon-
did you change your oil before you did the new cam break in?
just thinking maybe ..... well problly not
what weight oil are you running. It sounds like an oil pump to me or the pick up is clogged.
HEY just a thought but while you are in that thing... put a new pick, HV oil pump, and ARP oil pump drive shaft. might help you out in the long run.
but then again that is just me and my thoughts
-Brandon-
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From: Bozeman, MT
Im running Castrol 10W-40. I will most deffinately be instaling a new pickup and pump, even thought the pump is about 11 months old. First things first though, time to look for metal in the oil. If by chance I injured or spun a main bearing, what are the odds that I won't need to have the block honed?
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From: Union, Washington
Originally Posted by pkulaga
Well crap... I already lost one engine to wrist pin failure, is ther anything I can do short of rebuilding the girl to check and see if it might still be salvageable. It does still turn over by hand rather easy, so I'm not sure why the starter was groaning so much. I still haven't gotten around to dropping the pan, but after several attempts with the dip stick, I couldn't pull out any metal bits or anything. Damn, brand new 4bbl, new cam, and puke, its all over with. Life has far too many ironic moments.
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From: Bozeman, MT
Well, I drained the oil and pulled the pan and confirmed that its all over. The oil looked like the milky way, spots of silver everywhere, its actually kinda pretty. The oil pickup was clogged with some bits of RTV and a bunch of gooey black crud, not really sure what that is. As long as my valve guids are ok I should be able to clean everything and rebuild it without any machineing, well.... hopefully. How do you guys feel about not changing the cam bearings since they are a pain in the ****?