Oil pressure dropping. I think I killed her...

We had a power outage at work Monday. Bunch of dead machines and the bosses were about to start passing out brooms, so I took off...

I went to a local lake that some of the 4 wheeler clubs frequent. We're in a drought so all the lakes are dried up but there's a few good hills to climb.

Played on the hills for a little bit and saw a pretty good size mud hole. I noticed there weren't any recent tire tracks going in or out of it, which is usually a sign that's it's eaten a few trucks and everybody is staying out of it.

Poked around at it with a big stick to see how deep the water was, how deep was the mud, how hard the bottom was... was there a bottom..

Felt like about a foot of water, a foot of clay mud and a hard bottom... so I rolled on in... dumbass.

the rear wheels were just getting into the mud when the right front of the truck took a dive... I should have checked depth on the OTHER side of the hole...

http://i1379.photobucket.com/albums/...ps19c58a70.jpg

Ever since my step sons started driving and hanging out with their idiot friends... tearing their trucks up at the lakes.. I've been preaching to them about NOT thrashing their vehicles... If you're stuck, DON'T make it worse by breaking your stuff... shut her down and call somebody, don't drive with your testicles.

Well.... when the truck took a dive I knew it was too late to back out, tried to power through... back up, power through, back up, power through... you know the drill...
The whole time thinking.. there is NO WAY I'm calling those two to come pull me out...
Yup. My testicles thrashed it pretty hard getting out of there.

The mud fountains coming up from the shifter holes were pretty impressive though.

Needless to say it ran like crap after that. Took a day for the clutch to feel right again. The brakes still don't feel right. It was steadily loosing power all the way home. And after about 10 miles the oil pressure started dropping. usually runs about 30 psi. Dropped to about 20 and hung there.

There are only 2 screws holding the distributor cap on, so I'm sure some water got in there. I pulled the cap and cleaned contact points in the cap and on the rotor. Cleaned the points and reset the gap, it was down to about .012.
As far as the ignition goes, it runs better now than when I got it.

The next morning I started the truck up to go to work and it shows 0 oil pressure for about 15 or 20 seconds... rocker arms clattering away, then pressure comes up and it quiets down. Went on to work and everything was fine until about 3 miles from work, 10 from the house, and oil pressure started dropping to about 10 pounds and hung there.
After work I started it up and same thing, no pressure for 20 seconds and then it comes up.

I changed the oil and filter... again. I've changed the oil and filter 3 times in the last month. And it's sludge every time.

At first I was thinking maybe they used cheap oil or something, lots of buildup breaking loose..

Now.. I'm thinking the bearings are going out and me thrashing on it sped the process up.

I was using 10w40 Rotella. I put 5w30 Quaker State in today. It was 23 degrees today, was hoping the thinner oil might help... I know that 90w in the gear train feels like cement till it warms up. Same thing, rattled for a little bit then pressure comes up. Then after 10 miles or so it drops and hangs at 8 or 10 psi.

Guess I'll start hunting down another vehicle to drive and figure out if I want to rebuild the 6 or swap in a v8

POOR truck............

Could your oil pickup filter be clogged?

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Originally Posted by srpowdercoating

Could your oil pickup filter be clogged?

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Hadn't thought of that, could be. Oil pressure stayed up more this morning on the way to work. Dropped to about 20. Still rattled pretty good at start up.

As sludgy as the oil has been getting I can see a fine mesh getting clogged. Don't know what kind of screen these things have.

Told my wife to start shopping for her a new car. I'll drive her old GTP and figure out what I want to do with the truck...

Yeah... poor truck.

If you have an oil analysis lab in your area, I'd send them a sample. You then will know if it's an oil circulation issue or a wear issue (bearing material).

just cut the filter open and open up the filter media,it will tell the story quickly

Definitely metal. Every time I've changed the oil there were globs of sludgy goop sticking to the magnet on the plug. Not just "spaghetti on the wall" stuck. No huge chunks, just had that color and consistency that screams "BEARINGS! BAD BEARINGS YOU DUMMY!"

This morning I think some trash got in the carb. Sputtering, coughing, backfiring. Got about a mile from the house and I knew it wasn't gonna make it. Turned around and it petered out in the middle of the road.

She's telling me to let her rest... I pushed it to a side street and walked back to the house, got my wife's car and went to work.

These things are absolutely NO fun to push.

My wife is already on a mission to buy a car that she likes so I guess I'm in the GTP for the duration.
I'll get the 715 home and leave her parked till after the holidays then figure out a game plan.

Von,
Sorry to hear about the truck.
About every 45 to 50 years or so, these things gotta be rebuilt.

Jeepdan would be a really good guy to ask how much a bearing set and gasket set costs.
He is doing that right now, and I'm sure the pricing is fresh in his mind.

If you caught it early enough, it just might be bearings , seals and gaskets...
besides the normal cleaning and inspecting, fixing the cam oil tube fitting and I would think at worst... rings.

Sounds like its a "pull it", get it on the stand, and start getting greasy for a few days.
At least you will know where you stand at that point.

If You decide to go another route, with another motor, at least the Tornado is already pulled.

I would think it would be cheapest to just fix the Tornado, and keep the existing transmission, driveline, mounts etc.

It might be faster as well, actually to go that route... and you dont have to source, find buy and transport another engine. Then figure mounts, bellhousngs, tranny's etc...

Winter is a really good time to find parts for these trucks.
Spring, the supply seems to dry up a bit, through the summer.

You wanted to buy and engine stand and hoist anyway...

I think its your best bet, no matter what you decide, to just go ahead and pull the front clip and pull the engine... take your time and get Her ready for spring.

If I had another Tornado, I would offer it to you... at least for parts.

Best of Luck.

it might not be as bad as You imagine.
these trucks are tougher than most everything out there.

but every 50 years....

it just needs "reset"

Its probably just getting broke in, honestly.

Jeepdan's Tornado build thread: ( this Year )

http://www.m715zone.com/vb/showthread.php?t=26387

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Originally Posted by Blitz

Jeepdan's Tornado build thread: ( this Year )

http://www.m715zone.com/vb/showthread.php?t=26387

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Thanks Blitz.
Read a little bit of that thread yesterday after doing a search for a source for a replacement cam. I need to read the whole thing.
I haven't heard any rod knock but with all that noise coming from the top on startup... I can't imagine the cam and bearings being in very good shape at all. I was wondering earlier today if it acting the way it was this morning wasn't the carb but maybe a few lobes were sheared off.

Had a Chevy 350 die a similar death in a 72 Jimmy years ago...

Was thinking about rebuilding the 6 and going with 4.56 gears, maybe a locker and some hubs... a dizzy with a vacuum advance and a 2 barrel carb...

The Tornado is a pretty cool engine. But sources for parts is an issue. I plan on driving this thing... a lot.

But yeah, I do need to tear it down and see what's what before i make any decisions.

I was off monday and tuesday but was busy doing the salesman/manager shuffle and paperwork on my wife's new car. 2011 Nissan Maxima with 31k miles. Black/black, leather, sunroof, sat radio... all that stuff. Super nice car. She'll be happy with it for a good many years. Newest, nicest car she's ever had and I stayed out of the picking process.

I went out this morning and pulled the valve cover. All the lobes are still there and it's still in one piece. Definitely some wear on the lobe/ rocker arm contact points. No galling or gouges but more wear than I'm comfortable with.

I crack me up sometimes...
While I was turning the motor over with the cover off I realized it was in gear, the truck wasn't moving and there was weird noises coming from the bottom of the motor. I remembered a guy at work saying "Oh ya could've busted the crank... I've seen it happen"
I pulled the flywheel cover off since that was easier than draining the oil and pulling the pan. Turned it some more and the flywheel turns too.
I think the drive gear on the starter was stuck engaged with the flywheel and that's what the weird noise was...

My mailman stopped by while I was doing that and we got to pontificating on why I could turn the engine with it in gear and not meet any resistance from the drive train. He had to get back to his route and left.
... Duh. It was in 1st gear. It's geared so low I had to turn the engine a while before it actually started to turn the wheels.

I'll have to tell my 4 wheeling mailman about that.

Messed with the carb a little bit and tried to start it. No go. Then checked the points I reset last week... Guess I didn't get the lockdown screw tight enough, they'd closed up. Reset them again and it started up.

Still no oil pressure for a few at start up.

Since I have the Pontiac to drive and what with the 715 shedding bearing material, I think I'll park it till after the holidays and go from there.

It'll be a lot easier to get into the back yard under it's own power...
I'd give up a few body parts for a real shop and some room..

Since you say no oil pressure, I didn't see whether you put a mechanical gauge on the thing. Do you know there is no oil pressure or is the electronic gauge just saying no oil pressure? I had that issue with my Grand Cherokee and it was the sender, not the engine.

I know this sounds simple and I am sorry if you have already checked that. But I sincerely hope that is the problem. I know that when I start my truck after it has been sitting, I see no oil pressure. A snap of the finger on the gauge and it jumps up to 60 or so PSI (I forget exactly the amount).

Just hoping!

I didn't verify with a mechanical gauge. I've seen the electric gauge stick before and tried thumping it on startup.

Just from the sounds the engine was making I believe the gauge. Some serious rattling and occasional knock that subsided when the pressure came up on the gauge.
that and the condition of the oil on the last several changes.

I'm off next week. If I get bored and the weather is decent I might drop the pan and clean everything good, put new oil and filter in and see how it does.
Maybe check some clearances.

There looks to be plenty of room to drop the oil pan without lifting the engine, is that correct?

You know Don, I took your advice and tapped on my fuel gauge today while the truck was running. It jumped from empty to full and now it's staying in the full position. I know the tank is about half empty, so I'm not sure what's going on. The oil pressure gauge is still sitting at 0 though. Truck idles perfectly and is as quiet as can be. This oil gauge has been acting up for a while now. I did notice under the dash though, a connector hanging down, not plugged into one of the gauges. This may be why my oil gauge stopped working suddenly. I will check it out when the weather warms a little.