When to worry about engine noises?

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Website shows 10W-30 non synthetic for oil on the roller cam engines. Link to website attached

Roller Camshaft Engines:
BluePrint Part #BPP710 or a 10W30, non-synthetic oil. A zinc additive, or break-in oils are not necessary, but can be used.

Tech Tips
Can not understand that. The OEMs have pretty much all gone to synthetic oils and roller cams.
 
Not 100% up on Rotella any more, but using a diesel formulated oil in a gasoline engine is very bad policy.

I’m not going to type out all the reasons why because a quick search of the web will explain it.

Think of this. You don’t hear of diesel guys running gasoline formulated oils in their engines do you?

Two completely different lubrication scenarios.

The oil probably isn’t your noise issue, but it’s still the wrong oil.

And 20 pounds of idle oil pressure is WRONG. That’s at the gauge. You probably have 5 pounds of pressure at the rods and zero at the rockers.

Go up a grade or two in oil.
Well, Rotella does have a gasoline grade oil. Just bought some to change into the Dakota 3.9. Yes the diesel oils have a diesel specific additive package, but should be fine in the older flat tappet cam engines. Generally the detergent package part is changed to deal with the higher particulates of soot that get by the rings.
 
been using royal purple 10- 30 on all my roller builds never a problem. My 340 FT Iḿ using valvoline 10-30 w racing oill never had a noise unless i forgetto shift and hit 7500+ then get some tick for a minute but it goes . Use the right oil and don´t use cork gaskets if you use syn oil might help . been using synthetic sice 1981 and all my car get to 400,000 miles before i get rid of them have yet to have any engine related failures , with my cars or the trucks and mobile cranes I maintained for 30 years before i retired
 
been using royal purple 10- 30 on all my roller builds never a problem. My 340 FT Iḿ using valvoline 10-30 w racing oill never had a noise unless i forgetto shift and hit 7500+ then get some tick for a minute but it goes . Use the right oil and don´t use cork gaskets if you use syn oil might help . been using synthetic sice 1981 and all my car get to 400,000 miles before i get rid of them have yet to have any engine related failures , with my cars or the trucks and mobile cranes I maintained for 30 years before i retired
Racing oils have a different and normally premium additive package. Most include ZDDP for FT cams and to help protect other parts from metal to metal contact under high RPM use.
 
Racing oils have a different and normally premium additive package. Most include ZDDP for FT cams and to help protect other parts from metal to metal contact under high RPM use.


All engine oils have some form of phosphated zinc in them. All of them.

The question is how much and why? Because that affect the entire formula of the oil.
 
All engine oils have some form of phosphated zinc in them. All of them.

The question is how much and why? Because that affect the entire formula of the oil.
Yes, different formulations for different service or costs.
For my Dakota I purchased the Rotella gasoline oil. I will have to look at what is in it. It is a full synthetic. I like the low and high temperature capabilities. Since emissions regulations, some engine parts can get very hot, rspecially in southern areas. In central Alberta we can get 40°C in the summer or winter. That is -40°F in winter and 104°F in the summer. For us that 100+ is extreme and feels even hotter than it is because we rarely get that hot. Normal summer day is 65°F to 70°F. The oils in motorhomes or trucks pulling trailers gets a workout. The synthetics really shine for that.
 
I recall a U-Tube video of "Nick's Garage" where he couldn't establish over 25 psi at idle in a 318 he was trying to dyno test. He eventually established that the engine had at one time been fitted with AMC style hollow pushrods, which drained off oil pressure to the point where overall engine pressure was too low.
Not sure if this applies in your case, but may be worth considering.

I'm sure that's part of the issue as I'm using factory Magnum roller lifters which oil through the pushrods, along with hollow pushrods to give extra oil to the pushrod cups in my factory stamped LA rocker arms. I'm doing that because the engine has a .550" lift Racer Brown custom grind hyd roller cam and from what I've read here, stock stamped LA rockers are borderline for that. I just want them to last until I have the money for some decent roller rockers. I do know though I can restrict the oil feed to the shafts because they're getting constant full-pressure oil unlike the factory setup which is "timed" through the holes in the cam journals.

Also when I put together this engine I mistakenly cheaped out (in hindsight) by not putting in new cam bearings as the ones already in there didn't look too good. In fact I did nothing with this high-mileage 5.9 Magnum short block aside from install new rod bearings. Still runs like a champ but I knock on wood every time I say that lol.
 
I was able to take the car for a drive today and once fully warmed up, I noticed that when steady cruising at 50mph (2500 rpm) the engine made just about 43psi. When hot (200+F water temp), oil pressure dropped to 15ish at idle. Now I’m pretty worried about this.

So I will give BPE another call tomorrow or soon thereafter but If damage has already been done, would an oil analysis prove this? I saved a sample of my break-in oil and I can certainly collect some from the current oil as well.

The engine still runs great and pulls hard.
 
I was able to take the car for a drive today and once fully warmed up, I noticed that when steady cruising at 50mph (2500 rpm) the engine made just about 43psi. When hot (200+F water temp), oil pressure dropped to 15ish at idle. Now I’m pretty worried about this.

So I will give BPE another call tomorrow or soon thereafter but If damage has already been done, would an oil analysis prove this? I saved a sample of my break-in oil and I can certainly collect some from the current oil as well.

The engine still runs great and pulls hard.

With what oil and grade?
 
I would not be ok with that oil pressure (especially if accompanied by some engine noise) regardless of what oil is in it. Stop running it, take oil samples, maybe cut open an oil filter and contact blueprint.
 
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I solved my friend's oil problem today. Low oil pressure it would drop to nothing and bounce back up do all kinds of weird stuff. Brand new Dakota digital gauges and sensors.
I gave him a brand new mechanical gauge I had and helped him install it... His oil pressure is perfectly fine...
I would call blueprint and do as told ..
 
I was able to take the car for a drive today and once fully warmed up, I noticed that when steady cruising at 50mph (2500 rpm) the engine made just about 43psi. When hot (200+F water temp), oil pressure dropped to 15ish at idle. Now I’m pretty worried about this.

So I will give BPE another call tomorrow or soon thereafter but If damage has already been done, would an oil analysis prove this? I saved a sample of my break-in oil and I can certainly collect some from the current oil as well.

The engine still runs great and pulls hard.
I'm not tryin to be a dillhole, but what all kinda diagnosis have you actually done? Your first post was last Wednesday and here we are 5 pages later and I see no diagnosis or verification. We're trying to help here......you did ask, after all. Try another manual pressure gauge.
 
I was able to take the car for a drive today and once fully warmed up, I noticed that when steady cruising at 50mph (2500 rpm) the engine made just about 43psi. When hot (200+F water temp), oil pressure dropped to 15ish at idle. Now I’m pretty worried about this.

So I will give BPE another call tomorrow or soon thereafter but If damage has already been done, would an oil analysis prove this? I saved a sample of my break-in oil and I can certainly collect some from the current oil as well.

The engine still runs great and pulls hard.
For the record, I did send a PM and haven't seen a response. Step #1 is to verify with a mechanical gauge. This engine showing low or not, we REGULARLY see electric senders with almost no reading at idle psi, then they magically swing to 40 with any rpm. Have we checked rocker arms? Have we checked for good oil flow to the rocker arms? Drained the oil and/or checked the filter for material?
As stated previously I'm happy to personally help, but let's put a little diagnosis into it. Believe me, I more than get it. You paid hard earned money and you deserve the good running engine that you paid for, but at this point, lets keep in mind it's "running great" and I havent seen anything diagnosed. I will gladly repair it if there is a problem, but we need to go through our normal process to establish there is even anything wrong. Am I saying i love 15 psi at idle? No. But again...gauge sender, oil type, even oil filter, etc. Lets cross some T's and dot some I's before we go pulling the engine. We had a thread a few years back where a customer was irate with us because a engine ate the bearings. Turns out he had an old box of Fram oil filters that had some thick "high mileage" goup installed in them from the factory, and it all came loose at once like axle grease and plugged up the engine. We still fixed it for free.

Threads like this tend to go sideways fast and I really just want to help you get it figured out and make it right. If your schedule doesn't allow you to call during business hours, respond to my pm and I will send you my cell. Let's all hope it's something "easy", and If it's not, we'll work through it.

Johnny Mac
 
I definitely appreciate all of the help and input. Just for the record as they say, I have two kids in diapers and a job that requires my phone to be completely off while I’m working…with blocks of about 10 minutes (if I don’t run long) when I could talk to anyone. It’s not as if I don’t plan to diagnose this by any means necessary but there is a reason why someone in my situation buys a crate engine. :)

Johnny, sorry I didn’t mention that you sent a PM. Thanks for doing that. I will call as soon as possible.

I’m using a mechanical oil pressure gauge in the car. I’m fine with using an external gauge for diagnostics but I have yet to buy a nice enough one that would be more credible than the one that is in the car (which is a petty standard auto parts store/ Bosch branded gauge). Any recommendations on which one to buy would be welcome.

I’ve only run Wix filters so far. I don’t have a lot of faith in Fram but it’s shocking to hear that such commonly used filters could be so negligently made. That’s chilling. Very cool of Blueprint to take care of this customer but I hope they were in turn helped out by Fram.
 
I recall a U-Tube video of "Nick's Garage" where he couldn't establish over 25 psi at idle in a 318 he was trying to dyno test. He eventually established that the engine had at one time been fitted with AMC style hollow pushrods, which drained off oil pressure to the point where overall engine pressure was too low.
Not sure if this applies in your case, but may be worth considering.
THIS RIGHT HERE, is the reason the internet is able to spread bad information. The engine you are referring to, had a crankshaft ground .010 under on the mains, and the "engine builder" installed std bearings without checking clearance. It had ZERO to do with the lifters or pushrods. Oil is metered through the lifters, and it's not just a open leak.
 
I definitely appreciate all of the help and input. Just for the record as they say, I have two kids in diapers and a job that requires my phone to be completely off while I’m working…with blocks of about 10 minutes (if I don’t run long) when I could talk to anyone. It’s not as if I don’t plan to diagnose this by any means necessary but there is a reason why someone in my situation buys a crate engine. :)

Johnny, sorry I didn’t mention that you sent a PM. Thanks for doing that. I will call as soon as possible.

I’m using a mechanical oil pressure gauge in the car. I’m fine with using an external gauge for diagnostics but I have yet to buy a nice enough one that would be more credible than the one that is in the car (which is a petty standard auto parts store/ Bosch branded gauge). Any recommendations on which one to buy would be welcome.

I’ve only run Wix filters so far. I don’t have a lot of faith in Fram but it’s shocking to hear that such commonly used filters could be so negligently made. That’s chilling. Very cool of Blueprint to take care of this customer but I hope they were in turn helped out by Fram.
When you do PM back, please send me your serial # off your paperwork. It'll greatly speed up the process. I'll even send you some of our 10w30 oil to try, but again...lets pop the valve covers, and do some diag. I didn't realize you had a mechanical gauge on it. not that they all are accurate, but better chance of it being "good" than an electrical. A local Autozone will usually rent you tools like an oil pressure gauge, for just a $20 deposit, and refund in full when you return it. But before we get too deep, lets all remember this is a magnum based engine, with pushrod oiling. A few loose rockers, and it could be bleeding off pressure at the lifer/pushrod or Pushrod/rocker. Would have to be really loose, but I've seen more than one experienced racer make a pass that just "sounded a little off" and found a rocker arm laying in the head.
 
For the record, I did send a PM and haven't seen a response. Step #1 is to verify with a mechanical gauge. This engine showing low or not, we REGULARLY see electric senders with almost no reading at idle psi, then they magically swing to 40 with any rpm. Have we checked rocker arms? Have we checked for good oil flow to the rocker arms? Drained the oil and/or checked the filter for material?
As stated previously I'm happy to personally help, but let's put a little diagnosis into it. Believe me, I more than get it. You paid hard earned money and you deserve the good running engine that you paid for, but at this point, lets keep in mind it's "running great" and I havent seen anything diagnosed. I will gladly repair it if there is a problem, but we need to go through our normal process to establish there is even anything wrong. Am I saying i love 15 psi at idle? No. But again...gauge sender, oil type, even oil filter, etc. Lets cross some T's and dot some I's before we go pulling the engine. We had a thread a few years back where a customer was irate with us because a engine ate the bearings. Turns out he had an old box of Fram oil filters that had some thick "high mileage" goup installed in them from the factory, and it all came loose at once like axle grease and plugged up the engine. We still fixed it for free.

Threads like this tend to go sideways fast and I really just want to help you get it figured out and make it right. If your schedule doesn't allow you to call during business hours, respond to my pm and I will send you my cell. Let's all hope it's something "easy", and If it's not, we'll work through it.

Johnny Mac
Amen on the sideways quick.,..
LOL verify with a mechanical gauge.,
Call blueprint they will help you...
I wonder what internet ya-hoo gave that advice... :rolleyes:
 
Amen on the sideways quick.,..
LOL verify with a mechanical gauge.,
Call blueprint they will help you...
I wonder what internet ya-hoo gave that advice... :rolleyes:
Just when I think you're dumb you go ahead and prove it. Don't overthink it, enjoy your engine? I feel bad for your co-workers


The whole great thing about a blueprint engine is the warranty...
They don't build the stroker motors for people to Grandma them to the grocery store...
Don't let the internet gurus get in your head LOL half them don't even have a car or a V8...
While they sound very sure of themselves and very convincing he'd be shocked at what they don't know....
Extractable Hot rod magazine and some good positive writing skills and you can be an internet guru too... LOL
Enjoy your engine and don't overthink it you got a warranty if need be use it that's what you paid for...
 
Just want to add one more thing, performance in no way should be an indicator of whether or not there is an oiling issue. The fact that it runs good and “pulls hard” has no bearing on IF there could be an oiling problem. It will run awesome right up to the point that it snags a bearing and spits a rod out, if it does in fact have low oil pressure.
 
Just want to add one more thing, performance in no way should be an indicator of whether or not there is an oiling issue. The fact that it runs good and “pulls hard” has no bearing on IF there could be an oiling problem. It will run awesome right up to the point that it snags a bearing and spits a rod out, if it does in fact have low oil pressure.
I agree, but I think what Johnny was gettin at was that it showed no signs of trouble "anywhere else".
 
I agree, but I think what Johnny was gettin at was that it showed no signs of trouble "anywhere else".
Oh yea I agree, I was paraphrasing the OP. Lots of people think that because it runs good it won’t have a problem and that can be very very deceptive.
 
I solved my friend's oil problem today. Low oil pressure it would drop to nothing and bounce back up do all kinds of weird stuff. Brand new Dakota digital gauges and sensors.
I gave him a brand new mechanical gauge I had and helped him install it... His oil pressure is perfectly fine...
I would call blueprint and do as told ..
A mechanical guage confirms the oil pressure is good. The Dakota Digital guage drops to nothing and then comes back. I would suggest that probably the pressure sender is kapput. Determine the ohms range of the Dakota sender and procure one from a parts store. Also probably a good idea to check the wiring for broken or poor terminal crimp or grounded.
By the description of erratic reading, I doubt the engine or the instruments have an issue.
 
Oh yea I agree, I was paraphrasing the OP. Lots of people think that because it runs good it won’t have a problem and that can be very very deceptive.
Yup I get what you're saying. All good here. They can also run "ok" on 7 cylinders with an exhaust rocker laying in the head. lol. To add some humor to the thread, I once pulled the car into the trailer with only 4 plug wires on it. I thought, man that ran like crap, and started hard. But it ran NOWHERE near as bad as you would think with literally zero fire in 4 holes. Was just the Dummy driver that forgot to put the plug wires back on the plugs after reading.
 
Yup I get what you're saying. All good here. They can also run "ok" on 7 cylinders with an exhaust rocker laying in the head. lol. To add some humor to the thread, I once pulled the car into the trailer with only 4 plug wires on it. I thought, man that ran like crap, and started hard. But it ran NOWHERE near as bad as you would think with literally zero fire in 4 holes. Was just the Dummy driver that forgot to put the plug wires back on the plugs after reading.

The previous 360 in my Duster ran pretty good on 7 cylinders with a cracked cylinder, broken ring land and seized piston pin. Spewed coolant steam out the exhaust and the oil was vanilla milkshake but it still pulled hard when I goosed the throttle lmao.
 
Due to work and kids, it will likely be a few days before I can start the car again but I will double check my oil pressure. Even if the gauge is inaccurate, it's the same one that was hooked to the last motor and this one is reading consistently lower. Again, the tech I spoke with last summer said that it was within the safe range so it appears that it doesn't cross some level of concern for Blueprint.

It has Doug's headers and new gaskets. I retorqued all of the header bolts last summer when trying to track down the noise but it's worth checking them again. I don't believe it's an exhaust leak unfortunately.

As for the oil choice, I hope it's that simple and that no damage has been done.

Shell Rotella is rated for gasoline engines too. While it wouldn't be the oil I would ordinarily choose, using it in gasoline engines is certainly not unheard of. The extra zinc is something that is widely understood to be needed for flat tappet motors but (unless I TOTALLY missed it) there was nothing in the document stating that it would hurt roller motors. I specifically picked it to make sure I was obeying the recommendations.



The 4spd only has about 200 miles on it! The clutch is still being broken in. As for the miles with the old 904, I was have been weary of high RPM. Don't get me wrong, it has seen 5k but not often and not for long.

In any case, the motor seems to be running strong so I'm optimistic that it's not fatally wounded by whatever is going on.
it might be worth checking oil pickup to pan clearance you should have at least 10 psi per thousand rpm
 
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