I'll try to make this brief. 1981 245, ran great but suddenly when you got to a certain rpm the oil light would come on. After some investigating turns out when the oil light would come on you could hear clacking from the engine, sounds like the bottom end although a friend told me it could be valve noise.

Researching leads me to believe its an oil pump dying on me but someone else said it could be worn bearings. So this weekend im pulling the pan to see what I can see and clean up the oil pump and see if that fixes it.

So anyone have any ideas on what im facing? Pulling the oil pan hard? My chiltons seems to make it seem easy, no jacking up the engine or anything. Im gonna check the bearings as well for wear, anything I should look for on them?

Any advice or hints and tips are greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

I never understood how worn out bearings could cause low oil pressure but that seems to be what's happening to my friend's Thunderbird. I couldn't begin to tell you how to diagnose the problem though.

 

If'n it makes you feel better, I don't understand it either.

 

Click on the link below,this will show you how to remove the pan in the car.(easier than me typing it out)

http://www.autozone.com/autozone/rep...00c15280063f50

Check the o-rings on the delivery pipe,these can fail and cause low oil pressure.You also need to check for bearing damage(rod and main).If the engine has a lot of miles on it,I would change the rod and main bearings and install a new pump.

Excessively worn bearings in the pic.




[quote=Sofar.;222437]I never understood how worn out bearings could cause low oil pressure.


Excessive bearing clearance.



Dan

 

You'll have both oil pump AND bottom end bearing problems if you have the oil light come on at higher rpms. be prepared to replace all the bearings and oil pump.
bearings that have run dry will have either smeared bearing material onto the crank journals or ground into the journals if the bearing overlay has wiped out. Please post photos of the bearings and we'll say yes/no.
Something else to look for on a redblock is pump O rings blowing out, this is a prime candidate in your case.
Worn bearings cause low oil pressure because the crankshaft doesn't actually run on the bearing surface, the crank journals ride on a wedge of pressurised oil. If the clearance between bearing and crank journal becomes too large, the oil leaks away faster and you lose oil pressure. If the clearance becomes too great, the oil pressure drops too much and you wipe out bearings.
Good explanation of hydrodynamic wedge:
http://www.marinediesels.info/2_stro...ubrication.htm

Regards, Andrew.

 

Great advice so far guys, thanks a bunch. If it does turn out that I need to replace the bearings would it be best just to pull the whole engine or is it possible with the engine still in?

Last time I did bearings I was helping a buddy on his 69 ford f350, little more engine compartment room in that guy (although that volvo is better than 2/3 of cars I've worked on). That was about 10 years ago, so im kinda rusy

 

If the bearings are toast, I'd pull the engine. It's not much more work than dropping an oilpan in car and working on it above your head and then you get to replace all the gaskets, seals etc.
If you pull engine and trans as a unit it's even easier.

Regards, Andrew.

 

Is the delivery pipe an actual pipe or is it more like a hose?
Thanks!

 

its a pipe with a rubber sleeve

 

Thank you!

Is it likely that you would have to buy a new one or would it get ground up if it fell off while the engine is running? How likely is that?

I should say that while going down the hiway at about 60 mph, the engine suddenly started clicking and then seized. Later it would start again, but clicked like crazy so we shut it off and towed it home. When we pulled the pan, it appeared that the oil pipe had disintegrated.

the oil pump itself looks just fine.

 

Does anyone have any clue how to find the number for this part? This part is shown in the oil pump diagram in the alldata do it yourself site, but it is not shown in other drawings about the oil pump.

Thanks for looking!