No Oil Pressure ???

[87stanggt]

Driving today a I hear valves tapping away like crazy, so I look down a there is no oil pressure, pull over right away and shut it down, check oil and there is plenty in there. Only a block away from my house so i restart and drive home. Call a buddy of mine and he says that a rocker may have popped off and could be starving the top end. Sound is coming from the top end for sure, not a rod knock or any thing like that. So where do I start to look for problems, and is this motor trashed??

[jhorton]

Pull the distributor and put a 1/4 inch deep socket on the oil pump drive,rotate the drive counterclockwise and it should be hard to turn and it should build oil pressure. If it doesn't I would pull the oil pan and check the pump and drive. Since you drove the car with out oil pressure the motor is probably hurt.

[5.0Mav]

ya, that was a bad move even letting it idle with no pressure

one rocker poping loose wouldnt cause the sensor to read a low pressure nor would it starve the other 15 rockers

the pickup may have came loose or became clogged up too

[Quick88Tbird]

It's also a possibility that the oil pump may have failed and the oil pump shaft sheared...that happened in my old car...before it was mine. The car was driven for 45 minutes with the oil pressure light on and the engine was knocking away...I got the car and tore down the old engine after replacing it...the bearings, cam, etc didn't look too bad...suprisingly. Not to say that you'll be as lucky, I wouldn't doubt something being very unhappy now.

Good luck,
Don

[87stanggt]

Thanks for the advice guys, guess i won't know how bad it really is until i take it apart. Just don't have the time these days. Probably just going to throw another stock bottom end together until i can finish my 331/347 build.

[psychotexan]

Driving today a I hear valves tapping away like crazy, so I look down a there is no oil pressure, pull over right away and shut it down, check oil and there is plenty in there. Only a block away from my house so i restart and drive home. Call a buddy of mine and he says that a rocker may have popped off and could be starving the top end. Sound is coming from the top end for sure, not a rod knock or any thing like that. So where do I start to look for problems, and is this motor trashed??
i went against what my dad said was a rod knock,becuase a old engine builder was saying it was topend noise about 1 month to 11/2 months later the motor went to hell.in everysince of the word.if i had only listened to my pops!

[87stanggt]

got a stock replacement long block for now! Hope to be on the road in the next 1-2 weeks.

[psychotexan]

thats good.