I was waiting to see what you found with your exploratory surgery on the pump and the bearings. I'm trying to resolve the flashing oil light problem on our '99 which persists after changing the sender. No other issues with it - runs well, no misfires or codes - just the sporadic flickering oil light. At this point I'm more inclined to just run a heavier weight (straight 30W) and see if that holds it over. I dropped a quart out today and dropped some Lucas Oil Stabilizer in it (no flame wars re: snake oil additives, please!) to boost the viscosity as a test. Will find out more as I drive it in the coming days. I really didn't want to dig in to the depths you have if I didn't have to.

And thanks for taking the time to post the updates on you, errr.. adventure. ;-)

 

I got the bearings rolled out last night. Once the main cap was removed I gave each bearing a tap with a thin screwdriver opposite the tang side and was able to use a needle nose to just pull/rotate the bearing out. The crankshaft was supported by the transmission and a bar clamp on the snout end going up to the water pump.
The bearings did not show up yesterday so my fingers are crossed for today.

Really this was not that difficult except for all the other stuff I have been through. I have been working on the exhaust lately because I had to cut a bolt off, so I had to remove a cast elbow between the cross over pipe and the rear manifold. Well, I ended up cutting a bolt there because it was a straight shot with a drill to remove that bolt... needless to say that's pretty hard so I'm stuck at this point until I figure out a way to drill that out. I had a lot of choice words aftyer I broke 3 drill bits without making a scratch in the bolt.
An Oxy-Acetylene torch with a cutting tip could blow that bolt out in 30 seconds if I had one.

Douggro, I still have to check out the sender today. But I'm pretty sure it's fine. The sender is 3/8 NPT so I can put in a 'T' and run a gauge as well as the switch.

 

2 hours of drilling and I got the exhaust stud out. Main bearings are in and the oil pump is back on. I should check the main clearance but I'm just ready to get this back together. Depending on my mood tomorrow I might check them. I should do it right though.

 

The mains did not get checked because the pickup was in the way. I'm such a slacker.
Down to replacing the water pump and it's ready to go.
The wife is hounding me on getting the car running again so I might not be doing a compression test either. Next post is either a victory or defeat as far as oil pressure goes.

 

New member name: IH8DGE

Got the water pump changed and timing belt on. It's down to accessory belts, thermostat and upper plenum. I ended up throwing wrenches around the garage yesterday so it's TBD if I make it back to the car this evening.
Do I need to know anything special as far as bleeding the cooling system on this car or is it just a fill and top-off as the air works out?

Can't wait to get back to my uber-simple 1990 GMC pickup.

 

Started the car up today. Worked and after letting it run a while the lifter tick is still present but so far oil light has not come on. I didn't get it up to operating temperature so that's yet to be determined. I'll keep everyone posted. But I think I'm going to give up at this point. Not worth my time anymore and just run it until it's dead. Those lash adjusters are a different kind of animal that I have not figured out yet. It seems they should work just like normal lifters. I'll admit I did not pre-fill them when I went through and checked them.

 

Please, keep supplying the updates. I'm still getting sporadic flickering, usually when the engine is at full temp to the point where the fans will kick in. Still not 100% of the time though - it's a fickle issue. Just ran a 200 mile freeway trip with ours so I'm anxious to see if that may have helped in some weird fashion..

 

That's about the time this one does it as well. But nothing I looked at or tried made any difference so it has to be lubrication circuit related. I did notice that this engine does not have the oil squirters for the pistons so that's one thing I can cross off the list. So far here's a list of potential points of oil pressure loss:
*Oil Pump - Good
*Pressure relief valve - TBD
*Oil filter - Good
*Pressure switch/filter bracket - Good
*Main Bearings - Good
*Rod bearings - Within spec
*Cam bearings - ??
*Lash adjusters - ??

Any point on that list can cause the low oil pressure. While the engine is running, a lot of oil squirts out of the rocker arms coming through the lash adjusters... at least what I can see through the oil cap hole.

I'm going to try driving the car for the rest of the week and see what happens as far as the oil pressure and misfire codes. It will see stop&go traffic as well as some interstate time after reaching temp so this will test all conditions assuming I can get it to operating temp long enough on my drive.

 

Bad news... wife took the cat today and the oil light still comes on. So I either continue looking at the valvetrain or else give up on this thing.

 

I just went back and re-read this entire thread. Then I dug into the Chrysler Service Manual for the 2.5 liter engine and found this passage regarding the oil pressure and the sending unit:
"Check oil pressure using gauge at oil pressure
switch location. Oil pressure should be 41 kPa (6
psi.) at idle or 241 to 517 kPa (35 to 75 psi.) at 3000
RPM."

6psi. __SIX__ psi.

Huh. Wonder what those sending units are tripping at. ????