Camaro9781

iTrader: (1)

So the other night I take my car out on the back roads for a little cruise and am testing out the new tick adjustable master cylinder I just put on. So needless to say I'm not just shifting at 2500 RPMS. Well on my way home I look down and notice my oil pressure is dropping very fast and hear a ticking/scrapping noise. No knocking at all. By the time I make it home and shut the car off and turn it back on my oil pressure is at 0 psi. I check the oil and it is clean with no metal shavings or anything abnormal and it is where it is supposed to be on the dipstick. I did an oil change about 1200 miles before this happened and I noticed fine metal shavings on the drain plug and it worried me but I did not think I should pull the engine out and tear it down because of it.

The next night I drain the oil/coolant, pull the valve covers and the intake and on the drain plug there is a needle and those fine metal shavings again. I think the needle is from one of my rocker arms BUT I could not fine any rocker arms that were blown out. But there were 2 rocker arms with a good amount of play in them. The rest also have a little bit of play.

What I am going to do is install the trunion upgrade and put everything back together and pray this fixes the problem. I am thinking those metal shavings could be from the bearing wearing on the bad rocker arms.

I am going to post a picture of my drain plug. Just let me know what you guys think. Thanks.

conan

iTrader: (5)

Something else happened if you have no oil pressure. Fixing the rockers isn't the only thing your going to have to address. I would start by pulling the rockers and finding out how many needle bearings you have lost VS recovered in the drain plug.

blk00ss

iTrader: (66)

Lost a lifter.

Camaro9781

iTrader: (1)

Thanks guys. I'm really hoping it's just a liftee. But I looked at all of my rocker arms and couldn't find any missing needles. I also turned the motor over and didn't see any signs of a collapsed lifter. They were all moving the same ammount of distance

blk00ss

iTrader: (66)

Thought you said you had one that you could lift up off the valve tip a good bit?

64post

iTrader: (5)

Total loss of pressure may have nothing to do with that needle roller, you may need an oil pump. A Friend had an issue like this once with a `01 6.0 truck, it just lost oil pressure and ended up getting an oil pump and o-rings. You have work to do, that much is certain.

wayland1985

Would an oil pump have needle bearings as well? Curious.

blk00ss

iTrader: (66)

Nope.

Camaro9781

iTrader: (1)

I'm sorry I didn't explain it right. Some of my rocker arms have a lot of side to side movement and I rotated the engine and everything was moving properly.

Taxman20

iTrader: (11)

If you get away with just a couple of rockers and an oil pump I'll be shocked. If there is 0 oil pressure, I am going to bet you need a rebuild because most likely you have a bad main bearing. Even if it was the pump you drove it without oil pressure. And restarted it. Good luck with a simple fix, but I doubt seriously its all you need.

Camaro9781

iTrader: (1)

Yeah that's what's been going through my head. The engine was rebuilt before I bought it with JUST a GM timing chain, new main/rod bearings, 1 new rod, and a new crank because it threw a rod. But I really don't think its a rod because there isn't any knocking. My initial assumption was a spun main. If the bottom end is bad I'm just going to get an lq4 with my ls6 intake and a custom grind cam. Can also do 243s but don't know how they would do with the lq4 because I'm not to fimiliar with the truck motors. Besides the dish pistons

redbird555

iTrader: (14)

243s would be fine on an lq4 but personally i'd hate to add 100lbs to my car especially on the nose. I'd hold out for an aluminum ls2 or atleast an lq9 if you didnt care about weight

Camaro9781

iTrader: (1)

What I care about is money. Whatever is the most reliable while making about the same amount of power my engine was making for the best price is what I am going to do UNLESS I just need a whole new valve train. But I want to stay away from machining because I know a long with parts it can add up.

Camaro9781

iTrader: (1)

I am going to school right now for Automotive Technology and some of the teachers over at High Performacne also think I lost a lifter and might have spun a cam bearing. I am really hoping the cam bearing didn't do any damage to the block. Guess I have to work on pulling it. Anyone have any expierience pulling it from the top? I know a friend of mine tore it down to a short block and then pulled it from the top which is what I'm thinking about doing

blk00ss

iTrader: (66)

I always pull from the top and I own a lift. You can leave the heads on. Even the balancer if you want. Pull the headers, manifold, all accessories, unbolt all the grounds. Then hook your cherry picker up to the engine and lift it enough to get pressure off the motor mount bolts. Knock them out and continue carefully jacking the engine out of the bay. Be mindful of where everything is at all times. Really simple.

Camaro9781

iTrader: (1)

Alright thanks. Now I know you have to worry about the PCM wiring when pulling it from the bottom. Do I need to worry about that if I take the wires off the heads and pull the heads off before I pull it from the top?