[wed68]

yes new cam bearings, I am going to drop the pan tomorrow and start checking bearings! I think I spun one or something!

Bill

[SkyMan9600]

Have you made sure that your oil pickup tube in the oil pan is not sucking itself to the bottom of the oil pan??? It would not get oil then and my brother has had that happen before, just a thought! The easy way to tell that is take a valve cover off (either side) and if it's not spitting oil into the head and it's not the sending unit then chances are it's probebly the pickup tube in the pan... Just my worthless two cents

*Edit* - Sorry, didn't see your post right above this one, if you're going to drop the pan, go ahead and check it when you drop the pan, you might be surprised at what could be going on...

[85 vette]

A while back someone wrote in an interesting way to check main shaft bearing pressure. I'm not sure if it's even valid but most people that read it seemed impressed by the logic. Basically, you pick an rpm, say 2000, then you do a standing brake rev, bringing the rpm's to 2000 . Don't let the wheels spin. Note the oil pressure at 2000 rpm. Next, put the car in neutral, bring the rpm's to 2000, again noting the oil pressure. Supposedly, if your oil pressure is higher in neutral at 2000 rpm than under brake rev pressure at 2000 rpm , then your bearings are losing pressure. The lower the pressure when brake revving, the worse the bearings are. Sounds feasible. I guess normal would be when both readings are the same. Maybe there is someone out there with knowledge of this theory that could corroborate or dispel it. Rick

[78 monte]

If you've ruled out the gauge.Drain the oil and examine it for metal particals.Then stick a coat hanger in the drain hole to see if the pickup is laying in the bottom of the pan.I had that happen on a new motor w/ 10k. Had like 45psi moving and 4psi idling.If thats the problem you'll have to drop the pan and put the pickup back in and have it tacked to the pump.Also should prolly pull a few caps and check for wear if thats the case.

[NAIRB]

If you have metal in the filter and you have no oil pressure at idle, you have an internal problem. There is no quick fix, so I would stop starting the engine, as you are going to tear something up even worse by doing so.

Pull the engine and start over.

[SkyMan9600]

Thanks 78, I was beginning to wonder if my theory would be correct with his problem also... I'm just surprised no-one said it way before me, that's why I didn't know if it was feasible. When it happened to my bro's car, it had no oil pressure period, lol.

[arch]

Surprised nobody said anything about the pump itself... Is it a new pump? or the old one? maybe something broke on the pump itself?

[tresi]

Originally Posted by NAIRB

If you have metal in the filter and you have no oil pressure at idle, you have an internal problem. There is no quick fix, so I would stop starting the engine, as you are going to tear something up even worse by doing so.

Pull the engine and start over.

I'll second that. I'll add that just becuase the machine shop cleaned the block doesn't mean that you can call it clean and put it together. Some machine shops will hand wash the block with hot soapy water and rifle brush the galleys but they often charge extra for that on top of the normal block cleaning charge.

[wed68]

I dropped the pan and found what I had been expecting, all bearings rod and main were scarred bad! I will pull the engine and start over, new crank and such!

What could have caused this, I believe that due to the fact that all bearings were scarred that I must have started the engine with trach still in it, I pulled the ultimate f>>> up I did not clean the oil gallerys before assembly, I thought the vat was enough!

I will keep yall posted!

Thanks for the Help!

Bill

[edge]

Originally Posted by wed68

What could have caused this, ...

Regarding the bearing damage - No oil pressure at idle. The question should be, why did you lose oil pressure to start with? Ed