Before I begin, my truck saved my family's life in Harvey, so not fixing it or getting a new one is out of the question.

My oil pump gave up the ghost. I thought it was just the sensor, I was wrong, I drove about 30 miles on it like that. Oops.

The engine DID NOT lock. The pump came back on after I restarted it, then died again. I killed it instantly, then restarted again and let it run 5 minutes with the oil pump working to help prevent locking.

Yeah, I know, I screwed up BAD. I know that I have to replace the oil pump, and while I am there I might as well check the rod bearings, I expect to find them shot.

What I need help with is the jack, all I have is a trolley jack. I can put it on some concrete blocks to help, but will it be enough and stable enough to lift the engine by the harmonic balance?

Can anyone give me pointers on taking the pan out? Anything to watch out for? I have been dreading pulling it for a LONG time because I know it is a cast iron B***H.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Lifting the engine by the balancer is not a good idea! Get a block of wood and put it under the pan bolts then use the jack to lift it(motor mount unbolted of course). You may not need a pump but the pick up screen gets clogged and will stop oil from getting to the pump. This sounds like your issue.

 

If you ran it for any appreciable length of time with no pressure, you are going to need to replace, or rebuild the motor. Sure, you could just throw a pump at it, (and deal with the pickup) but, you are living on borrowed time. The damage has already been done.

 

How sure are you that it's the pump? Why would it "come back on" after you restarted it? It's mechanical gear pump attached to the distributor, either spins or doesn't. I did mine last year as a 200k maintenance item and the new one acts the same way as the old one which looked just fine. Really hard to kill a pump. Did you test the sensor circuit or at least try 2 new sensors (often bad from the box)?

I'm sure getting the pan off on a Durango is a bear. Mine just slipped right off on a Ram, no jacking or nothing. Definitely only jack from the pan but then how do you get the pan off? And you've got trans clearance and other issues then. Ugh.

Did the pump grenade and spew chunks into the oil? If you didn't run it long "without a pump," you may still be okay. There was still oil in it which was getting to some things, especially the crank. Lifters may have been hurt. What type of oil did you use? High quality blend or synthetic would be best.

Does anybody remember the Cash for Clunkers days? Most 2nd gens disappeared in this stupid government program and there were many stories of how the Magnums were the hardest to kill. They would drain oil, then run them until seized to ensure they were 'off the market.' Well, videos proved that the Magnums could run a long, long time without any oil and they would have to put sand or something horrid in the engines to finally kill them. It was sad but also made a lot of us proud that we kept our original Mopars!

 

Well, I got it done! I tore the engine apart and finally got the pump swapped out. It was more than a little bit of a cast iron bitch. Here are a few tips:

1) Be patient. This took me 3 days to complete.
2) Have a GREAT degreaser on hand. For you, not the truck.
3) Clear glasses. **** WILL get in your eyes.
4) You will have to remove and replace the mounts over and over. Just take the tires off and be done.
5) Get a ball joint puller. You will need it for the steering parts. It is impossible to remove them otherwise.
6) Take each and every rod and shake the hell out of it. If it removes, you have to replace the bearing.
7) You have time, and you are there anyway, you might as well do the front engine oil seal.
8) Rotate the crank by hand, several full rotations, and listen for sound that should not be there. Investigate.

Thank you all for your help.

 

Number 2 cracked me up. That is just SO true......

 

Why is this thread is in the Second Gen Ram section and not the Durango section?

 

Because the moderator is too lazy to move it.