I just put the top end back together on my 87 6.9174k miles passenger head gasket started to leak replaced the head gaskets and used ARP head studsI was very carefull to make sure nothing got into the lifter valleyfirst fire up I hear a poping thru the intake shut it down pull the covers off and fire it back up to watch the rocker arms not moving like they should and not as much oil as there should beIP(new) and intake come back off and pull the lifters(I ordered 2 valley pans just incase )lifters are not collapsing and keeping the valves open after disassembly and inspection, reinstalled the lifters(very little wear and clean)pushrod tubes are straight and clear of blockagefired the truck back up (left covers off)no poping, even idle considering air in the lines stillbut no oil at the rocker armsshut it down factory oil pressure gauge is at the "r" in Normalengine hasnt been past idle and ran no longer than 1 minute, soon as I seen no oil at the rockers shut it down. this has me pulling my hair out 1987 F-250 4wd 5spd 4:10

 

73couple,
Welcome to FTE and the IDI diesel forum.

My first comment has to be that the stock oil pressure gauge don't really mean much.

Is the gauge sitting about the same place it did before the head gasket job?

Can you use a mechanical oil pressure gauge to see what you really have for oil pressure?

 

Is the oil presure gauge the same setup ans the 91-94 trucks? If so its just an on off 7psi swich.

 

1986 has a diaphragm connected to a variable resistor inside the case of the sensor (opened one up once). My oil pressure gauges on both my 86 trucks seem to read logical. Higher when working cold, and lower when idling after a hot run. But without verifying that against a mechanical gauge that doesn't mean a whole lot.

 

used a liquid filled 0-100psi gauge
aproxx 50-55psi this is from the stock sending unit location
some vibration from being mounted on the engine

tomorrow going to start the truck up again after squirting oil on the rockers and around tubes keep thing lubed and take the rpm up some oil pump may have lost prime after sitting

 

Thats not a bad reading, but did you allow the engine to run up to temperature? As the oil heats up the pressure will drop.

 

In some cases when lifters are replaced........new or used but soaked in oil there is a tendancy to stay fully expanded...... this will cause the valve to open fully or beyond and may cause the pushrod to bend......

I was always told to rotate the engine by hand numerous rotations slowly before starting....... this allows the lifter(s) to bleed off gently.

 

Oil pump is fully primed and working if you have 50 psi. The lifters feed oil up the pushrods to librcate the valvetrain. may take a bit to get oil up there. Your rockers were probly fully bled down when it started the first time. I lube everything with a good asembly lube and runit awhile. Although I have never noticed oil coming up when I've ran egines with out the valve cover.

 

took about 8 minutes of running to get the oil to the rockers

lifters were fully collapsed since I had disassembled them for inspection

road test is tomorrow decided to go thru the braking system found a few lines about to give out

 

Test run went well will need to bleed more air from the fuel system

smokes just a bit more than it used to when I throttle it up
now have to find a place to have it properly timed