Oil pressure issue.....Any ideas???? (Read 1,625 times)

[holdenboy]

Once again the beast has throwen me a real curve ball. After checking all the obvious causes....like is there oil in the tank ;D My oil pressure has up and left the building. The pressure dropped after our second race. This resulted in the system being flushed and a new filter added.... the old one was blocked, hence the first issue.(now solved) Oil pressure has been fine for the next meeting run and had no probs for 3 races... now after sitting for a week and half..... no oil pressure!!!!! The car in question is a mod, running 406 chev with a barnes dry sump system. Has any one else experienced issues with this type of system?

[Autopete55]

Is your gauge reading and working correctly???

What blocked your filter in the first place???

I suspect that maybe that the relief valve has greebles in it and has jammed open.
Any debris of any sort is no no in any engine.I would pluck the engine out and do a bearing check just so you know its all OK.

Do a clearance check and if possible have a look at those pesky cam bearings.
That rubbish that blocked your filter has to have come from somewhere as Im sure the engine builder didnt design and assemble the engine with it in there!!!

Keep us up to speed with what you find.

[holdenboy]

The old filter was blocked with sludgy oil... more restricking than blocking... no signs of any copper. It was also very small compared to the replacement one i now have.
I have arranged another oil gauge to test that one out tommorow, its a good point as the needle tends to jump around a bit but was holding above 50 pound all last meeting.
If the gauge checks out ok... then its motor out

Fingers cossed.. will up date with findings

[porry41]

g/day there just been though this senario lost oil pressure & temp went up 1/2 way though our first race w.t.f we thought back to workshop on a rover as you no oil pumps external so after 4 oil pumps & changing springs etc we had a bit of volume but no pressure gauge still wouldnt move hooked up another gauge still nothing changed filters & one was a bit heavy ? but still nothing so dropped sump to see if pickup was ok & it was w.t.f we thought again so we lifted the engine up a bit no mean feat as headers had to come off & took the sump off an shone a torch up it got mike to turn engine over & got a face full of oil so after a cup of dima had another looky and wot did we find no3 cam bearing had moved back exposing the oil lube hole after 1/2 bottle of j/b it was motor out & back to engine shop to cut along storie short we got it back we had a few teething probs to much pressure etc etc but cutting heavy filter open was full of grease did u prime your oil pump ? on chevies & rovers its a BIG no no but u can do it ok on the holden v8s etc causes a massive surg of oil through the motor & if it dosnt lock up the bearings which will leak down after a while but will blow out the cam bearings we live & lean but this info from the engine builder that built my motor in the uk which is a stroker rover .have a think cheers .hic ;D lets no

[holdenboy]

Here is the first update
Fitted new gauge with clear line. Cranked over engine...oil came up line (looking promising) gauge went up 5 pound or so (so thats about 25 pound) then dropped and oil went back down line......
So shes motor out time No racing for us this weekend

Any info on barnes dry sump system would be great help...we have very little info.
Basicly there is a tank on back of seat... one line out one line in going directly to the sump..... Are all the bits that make it work in the sump??? What hazards are going to appear once the sump is off...... Do we have to take motor out to remove sump with this setup?

[Autopete55]

The sludgy oil raises hair on the back of my neck!!!
The oil pressure dropping away is a sure sign of bearing troubles.

Porry's story is all too familiar in any V8 engine.

Oil doesnt go sludgy on its own and I really think theres something going on in there.

I suggest a full pull down and clean up and full bearing check.

As for the Barnes pump,check out the web and google Barnes Pumps and see if you can gleen any info.
There is 2,3,4,5,& 6 stage pumps available.Two pressure and two scavenge(suck) elements to a 4 stage pump.Two scavenge and 1 pressure in a three stage pump.Get it now??
Oil should be sucked from the bottom of your tank and there will be a return near the top plus a breather on the tank.

I suggest maybe a trip to a decent engine builder that you get on well with.The engine is too dam expensive to be played with without a confident approach.

There will be crank scrapers and a windage tray in the sump and normally the scavange side is on the right hand side front and rear for an oval track motor.

Let me know how you get on. ;D

[holdenboy]

Update #2 Perhaps this is one for the x files

Long story shortened.... I had the random idea to change oil filter last night on the off chance that the NEW replacement one was causing the issue.
Old (New) filter off..... New filter on and we have oil pressure

The oil looked ok, but changed it any way (Penzoil starting to love me) Still have good pressure.

Will update after tonights meeting to let ya all know if the problem is solved.

[Autopete55]

Jeez,Mulder, that is one from outer space!!

Make sure you're running reputable brand filters such as Fram,Wix etc.
Some of these after market 'Double Gumboot' type ones dont have anywhere near enough filter materials in them.
May look the goods but 9 times out of 10 you'll find you would be better filtering the oil through an old sock!!!!

Good Luck and if it does work out,Buy a Lotto ticket coz you have ended up onto a winner as far as the back pocket is concerned!!!

[holdenboy]

Update #3 All is well

Just to keep ya all up to speed..... No oil pressure issues at all on Saturday night ;D

Thanks for the tips.

[Autopete55]

All righty then!!! Well Done and that was good news Huh??

Now go and get that Lotto ticket and when you win the big one(You will coz with luck that you had with your engine) just PM me and I'll come over and give you a hand at Lotto HQ to pick up your winnings!!

Have a great season and have fun~!!!!!!! ;D

[porry41]

choice wondered about our new filter right from the word go .got 1 & 1/2 races in sunday at 2 ks 1 eye on oil gauge ;D was fine but blew the g/box up instead no wonder we drink a lot of dilmar !!! ;D

[Autopete55]

I used to sell oil filters and have been on many courses dealing with alot of different types of units and doing comparisons.

If you cut open some of these after market foreign branded units,you will find all sorts of junk inside them that do NOTHING for your engine.

Ive been a part of 6 court cases where engines have crapped themselves after these poor type filters havent done their job and have seized or run bearings and the engine builder/garage etc have just done a service or rebuilt the engine.

These six cases NEVER involved a brand like Ryco,Fram,Wix,Fleetguard,Moroso or any other easily recognised brand.
Some outfits buy cheap filters on a bulk buy system,not knowing the implications of what could happen.

All Im trying to say is run the best oil you can afford and the best filter money can buy and change them together when doing an oil change on your race motor.

"PAY PEANUTS AND YOU'LL GET MONKEYS!!!"

[Superstock 68R]

Hi Porry

How did you go about fixing the issue with too much oil pressure?

[porry41]

in a rover u can get a veriety of different springs for the oil pumps on start up our oil pressure is still going of the clock but once engine is warmed up it comes right just dont rev it when shes cold um in your case or in our 350 chevies that gave that problem we fitted a stock 400 pump & 20/50 vavoline seemed to do the trick .hic ;D

[Superstock 68R]

Thanks Porry. Wish wed checked it out sooner, turned out the pump was binding, and now its destroyed the gear on the cam and dizzy so i have no timing