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Loss Of Oil Pressure Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [50 messages per page] | View previous thread :: View next thread |
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Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9681 Location: So. Cal | The 361 in my '58 DeSoto died on me today. I was going up a small hill, giving it a semi-aggressive amount of fuel, when it started making a fluttering noise like fflifft-flifft etc. and was losing power. I looked down and saw it had no oil pressure. I let off the gas and the motor died on me before I could get it pulled over to the side of the road. I towed the car the rest of the way home. Any idea what the cause is? The motor doesn't want to start now, but I don't know if I should try to start it given the lack of oil pressure that occurred. But it wasn't making any catastrophic knocking sounds and it wasn't overheating so I am not sure where to start on it. It does have oil and does have fuel. | ||
FourFans |
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Regular Posts: 62 | I would get an oil pump rod that connects to an electric drill, Mopar makes one... and I would pull the distributor, back out the distributor gear, and see if you get oil pressure from spinning the pump with a drill. After that, I would likely be pulling the motor if you don't see a rise. Your sending unit could be bad as well. I use a manual gauge for testing. If you don't have a gauge, you can pull a valve cover and look for oil flowing through the valvetrain. If you really want to avoid pulling the motor, I would change the filter, try with the drill again, then mabe check plugs, compression, etc. Air Spark Fuel... If you have the last two, I would be worried about the oiling. | ||
58coupe |
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Expert Posts: 1740 Location: Alaska | Maybe your oil pump drive shaft may have stripped or broke. With no oil pressure, the lifters could start to collapse and cause the engine to die. | ||
Ray |
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Expert Posts: 1497 Location: Fairfax, Minnesota | I had this happen when my son poured in a quart of oil additive. It broght the oil level in the pan to a high point where the crank whipped up a foam. The oil then was full of compressable air bubbles- no pressure. | ||
BigBlockMopar |
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Expert Posts: 3575 Location: Netherlands | Pull the valve covers, check if all the pushrods are still seated. If a lifter jumped its bore then the oilpressure would drop to zero and the engine will run rough, depending on tune it might stall. | ||
Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9681 Location: So. Cal | Because it cranks over without making any bad noise, I decided to try running it again today. It started up without too much trouble today for some reason. At idle, there was no oil pressure for 4-5 seconds (not normal), but I revved it up a little bit and the needle suddenly jumped to 70-80 psi and stayed there afterward. Not sure what that means if the gauge was sticking or if there was a blockage that came loose or what. However, it is still making a bad noise on the left side of the motor so all is not well. Looks like I will take Herman's advice and pull the left valve cover to check it out. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like a bad lifter. It is more of a low thud so maybe a cam lobe is bad, or it might be the beginning stage of a bad crank bearing. If the valvetrain looks good, I will probably pull the motor and replace it with a running 440 that I have taking up space in my garage until I can rebuild the 361. Only problem is the crank flange. I didn't want to swap the transmission with it too. But I am planning to put a stroker crank into the 361 anyway, so I would need to figure out what to do about the trans eventually. Any aluminum push-button, big block 727's available anywhere? | ||
57chizler |
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Expert Posts: 3778 Location: NorCal | Timing chain broke. Pull the distributor cap and see if the rotor is turning while the starter is engaged. Edited by 57chizler 2016-12-12 6:18 PM | ||
Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9681 Location: So. Cal | It runs now, so the chain isn't broken. I'm not sure why it wouldn't start yesterday, but does today. But it is making more noise now than before. My gut tells me it is a bad bearing, and that the oil pressure loss was real. I probably won't have time to tear into it until later in the week. | ||
RUSTORICHES |
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Extreme Veteran Posts: 494 Location: Alberta | Did you ever find the problem with your 361, I'm thinking you may have had a bad lifter and it stuck creating an internal leak which will result in the the oil pressure dropping to near zero on your gauge. Hopefully you've found the problem and are back on the road by now | ||
Powerflite |
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Expert 5K+ Posts: 9681 Location: So. Cal | I have no idea what caused the oil pressure loss, but all the valvetrain seems to still work. A bad lifter does sound plausible, but it could have been just some blockage as well. There is a low knock coming from the bottom end that I am sure is a bad bearing so I am not doing anything with it until I can swap out the motor, which will be after I get the New Yorker running. | ||
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