Oh... Yeah, that'd be pretty lame if the pump cover bolts loosened up....

I've already picked up my T- adapter for the oil pressure sensor and my gauge. We'll see what time I get home tonight and might go ahead and get that put in and wired up so I can verify the oil pressure drop.
Only seems to do it when the RPMs drop below 1k.

New oil pan and gasket are supposed to be here on Saturday - so might get to pull the pan this weekend and can check out the pickup screen and what-not at that time as well.

Finally, it's looking like I'll be making my own headlight relay harnesses... The company emailed me today stating that the harnesses were on back order and I could expect to wait 40-45 business days before getting them - so got refunded and now just need to figure out the ends I'll need to get and buy some wire.

 

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...ml#post3578199
Posted this for another member. Built a headlight setup awhile back. Worked out quite well.

 

Oh nice! Thanks for the link!

So got the oil pressure gauge installed and fired the truck up.

initial start:
High idle @ 1500 RPM
oil pressure: 50

As the idle slowly came down the oil pressure decreased...

​​​​​​1k RPM was about 30psi
when idle dropped to 650-700 the pressure dropped to about 18...

reved the engine up to 1k again and got mid 20's...
Idles down to 700 and had 15psi

Shut her down...

Looking like I may have to tear down to the oil pump cover?

 

You can shim the oil pump relief springs a bit to boost the warm oil PSI. It's not a bad idea to drop the pan to check that the oil pump pickup isn't impeded by sludge, too.

 

So if I were to try that....
Would you happen to know what size of washer - or what to use to shim the relief spring? How much to shim it?

Definitely going to be pulling the pan - hopefully replacing it this weekend so I'll be looking into the pickup at that time for sure!

 

Don't forget to check the screws for that back plate on the pump. I *think* you can get to them with the pan down, but, not 100% on that.

 

Oh man, that would be so cool if that was the case! I'll definitely see what I can do about that when the pan is off as well then!

Just got an alert that the gasket has been delivered! Checked tracking a few minutes ago and the pan is supposed to be delivered today as well. Not sure if I'll be getting to that tonight because I need to stay late and work on a machine after the operator leaves... But if I can get home at a decent time I'd like to at least start digging into it.

 

The crank passes through the oil pump, no doing much without pulling timing cover. Little T-25/T-30 screws.
If you read back in the forums over the years, low indicated pressure very common to these engines. They still ran. May have been built in, no idea. That big Allen head plug in cover hides the pressure relief, shim with whatever small washer fits on top that spring. Or stretch spring a bit.
Be lifting engine to pull pan.

 

Oops. Scrap what I said. Didn't realize that this is a V10 that you're working on. The configuration of the oil pump is different from the other engines I typically work on.

 

Yeah it's set up like industrial sized motors. like semis. The LS and Hemi also have a snout driven pump. I looks a lot like a pump that's in an automatic trans. As 69_XS29L said you need to pull the front cover to get at the screws. It's definitely worth the peace of mind to check them out and add some loctite.