I recently bought a 2001 Dodge Ram 1500 Ext cab 2WD 318 5.2 The truck ran great with no problems what so ever. I decided to change the oil a month into purchasing it since I wasnt sure when it was last done. I put Castrol GTX high mileage 10W30 and a can of Engine Restorer. Well.. after that a few days later the oil pressure gauge would drop to zero then shoot back up to 35 to 40 at stop lights or idle and after the engine came up to operating temperature, it begins to tap about 1500 rpms and up. Well.. I let about 2 weeks go by and its still doing the same thing. I was told it could be the Engine restorer loosen up some sludge and its blocking the pickup. Instead of diving off to remove the oil pan, I wanted to try to do the Engine flush, then change the oil. I did that yesterday and everything worked great, sounded great till it warmed up and she began to tap again. The oil pressure gauge fell as well at the stoplight. Im more worried about that tapping sound.. Any idea what it is? Rocker arms maybe? Just wondering if I need to go to a thicker oil or something. Any help or advice would be great.

Thanks

 

The engine restore was a mistake...... that will cause more problems than it solves in the long run. Nothing to be done about that now though......

Best bet would be to put a mechanical oil pressure gauge on it, and see what the pressure is REALLY doing. The sending units do fail, and what you are describing sounds like one of many failure modes.

Can you isolate where the tapping is coming from?

Welcome to DF!

 

it may be a lifter tick can you tell were it is coming form?

 

Its hard to tell exactly but ill get someone to jump out and listen exactly where it is coming from after its warmed up. Ive always put that stuff in my engines before with no problem.. but apparently this engine didnt like it. My guess is some oil passage is getting blocked and the top end of the motor isnt getting lubricated like it should. I may be wrong. Ill try to get a mechanical gauge on there to see. At least it will be peace of mind knowing its actually ok and just the sending unit or gauge. Is it possible for an oil pump start going bad? or do they just go out all together?

 

Ill describe the tapping noise.. Well try to.. ha Sounds good at idle. Press the gas and when it gets above 1400-1500rpm's rougly it begins to tap pretty good, then when it shifts to second and goes back down in rpm you dont hear it. Then on its way up the rpm starts tapping again until it shifts to 3rd. Maybe that helps.

Thanks

 

How bad is it if you have lifter tick what should he do if that is what it is?

 

bad pcv valves will make an annoying tapping sound when driving... make sure to check that out too on the passenger valve cover.... Although it wouldn't explain the gauge dropping out

welcome to df! first august member I've seen

 

Just throwing this out there..
Are we sure it's not ping?
I know it has nothing to do with the psi dropping.
Higher rpm + plugged CAT= PING

 

If anything, I think the lifter would tick more at idle if the oil pressure truly is dropping. Check the pressure with a mechanical gauge to be sure, but I think you're going to have to pull the pan, unfortunately. If the pick-up is clear, I'd replace the oil pump, they aren't that expensive. Might want to replace the rear main seal while your that deep into it.

When I dropped my pan to fix my rear main seal, there was some metal slag in the pick up tube. I assume it was probably casting flash, as it had that bubbly, deformed shape.

 

replace them,,, i replaced mine,,, you also can get lucky and try to clean them if them are not pumping up


bigred, if you have this problem just side that cam in and buy new lifter, becuase you will want new lifter with a new cam