Trojan Boat Forum

I am out of ideas. My Trojan's 1977, 440 Chrysler engine isn't getting oil to the lifters or oil gage sending unit. We disconnected the oil hose down at the oil pump and the oil pump had pressure. The bottom side of the engine sounds like it is getting oil. I changed the oil filter, put two cans of gunk in, and even tried adding extra oil. The engine starts right up and runs fine except for the tapping of the lifters. We took one valve cover off and no oil is making it to the top. The exhaust appears normal. Does anyone have any ideas?

What kind of oil pressuer do to have ? you said no oil to the sender ? if you you have no pressuer and good oil flow at the line you pulled off you could have a pluged cooler . also you can have good flow but still have low pressuer . a broken oil pressuer releaf spring could be a . cause also .A internal engine issue may also cause this .

The cooler has been removed. The line is ran right back into the pump. The other engine has a cooler on it but this one was removed some time in the past. The tube going to the oil pressure sender gage has almost no pressure. I could blow air down it with no problem. Could the oil pressure relief valve cause it to have no oil pressure up top?

Yes it could. I don't belive it would be hard to replace the valve and pump on that engine

Well, we took out the pressure relief valve and spring. It looked fine so we put some extra washers in it to give it more pressure. No change.... What the heck is wrong here? The engine runs great besides the rocker noise.

If I'm not mistaken, the oil pump runs off the drive from the cam gear or directly off the distributor gear. No parts manual in front of me at the moment...

If you pull the distributor, you may be able to inspect the lower part of the drive. Possible that the oil pump drive shaft or gear has sheared.

The gear is on the inermediate shaft if the gear was bad it would not run
but if the shaft is damaged could cause issues If it was mine I would insp the shaft (or replace) and replace the oil pump . if this won't fix it its time to pull the Engine and go thru it .
heres a picture of the shaft


http://www.440source.com/ishafts.htm

What part/parts inside the engine could cause a total loss of oil pressure when the oil pump is good?

Bearings , main or cam bearings are the most common . rember just becuse you have good oil flow dosen't mean you have good presure . flow ans pressure are not the same . Lets say the pump drive shaft is worn badly where it goes in to the pump it could slip when trying build up presure but still flow great when you pull off the hose .



I don't think you know your oil pumps good . you said it has good pressure ,did you check with a gauge or just see the flow ?

And another thing...I have seen pin holes, cracked pick-up tubes in the pan-between the pump and screen. It'll suck air, very little oil. Then again, you may have an issue with the screen it self.