I had a machine shop rebuild a turbo block engine (salvaged from a 90 or slightly earlier LeBaron) and converted it to non turbo rods and standard higher compression non turbo pistons because the vehicle that it was being installed into was not a turbo vehicle.

(The vehicle is actually a 1990 Utilimaster Aeromate that came factory equipped with a 2.5 and 3 speed trans. It's a smaller version of a full size step van and it's an ice cream truck. They made them from '89 - ''94 all with either the 2.5 4L or 3.0 V6 Chrysler FWD engines and transmissions.)


Everything is new including pistons, rings bearings, a new casting head, ARP head stud kit, steel shimmed head gasket, new cam kit, Melling oil pump, oil pick up tube, timing belt/tensioner, water pump, oil pan - everything is new and yet the oil pressure is extremely low. The engine sounds fine remarkably.

At idle the oil pressure is barely above 0 if that and the analogue/mechanical gauge does go up slowly to approximately 10-15 psi when the engine is revved a little but no higher. It should be at 60 psi I believe.

I'm wondering if something was missed such as a plug somewhere that would enhance oil pressure.

Also, with the radiator cap off the coolant gushes out every few seconds and I don't know why this problem exists either. Perhaps coolant hoses are in the incorrect inlets/outlets positions. I just don't know yet.

I should say that the experience at this shop was hostile, they were complete jerks and they tied up my vehicle for almost 4 weeks.

The short block was rebuilt at a reputable machine shop and the garage was given the task of installing the new top end, oil pump, oil pick-up tube, oil pan, timing belt, tensioner, water pump, exhaust and intake and installing the engine and getting it started and breaking in the camshaft.

Any tips and suggestions of where to look for why these problems exist would be great.

Thanks everyone.

 

Put a mechanical pressure gauge on it, and see what oil pressure is really doing. Go from there.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'll do that when I have time to bring it to a reputable" garage. The oil pressure gauge is brand new btw.

The machine shop old me that since it is a turbo block to research if something should have been plugged to create the proper pressure necessary. I find that a strange suggestion but maybe not out of the question.

Since the shop that I went to has such a bad reputation and since they fostered an extremely hostile relationship with me, I'm wondering if "THEY" didn't cause sabotage and partially block an oil galley or place a marble in the oil pick-up tube. They blamed the turbo block, the new oil pump, the fact that I swapped out the factory turbo rods for non turbo rods, the machine shop. They didn't even bother to call the machine shop and ask what they might suggest

The coolant is gushing out of the radiator cap filler hole every 10 seconds. I think that they have the hoses for the heater (it's bypassed) reversed. I mean, what else cold cause that problem? The head gasket is steel shimmed so I don't think that it couldn't be compression leakage. The old engine had leakage into the cooling system and it just bubbled exhaust and fuel out the filler hole or into the overflow tank.

I think that they did sabotage. They have a very bad reputation and I didn't know of it until after I was caught up in their web. They're all family, like a clan.

Thanks for your advice and anything else that you might think of.

The Ice Cream Man