Engine question for the penny pinchers.

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T

The Sasquach

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I'll give you the background first then the question.
My father bought a 90 Dodge D350 Pick up on Ebay tha was local to me ( He lives 500 miles from me). I didn't know about the purchase till it was made so I couldn't go check it out first, and asked me to go pick it up, told me to go ahead and register and tag it and he would pick it up some time in the future. No Problem I got it home and occasionally drive it a little and use it to pull a trailer from time to time. The truck is a 360 auto 4 speed auto trans with about 120K miles on it 100% stock. after probably 150 miles I have driven, I started noticing that when you start the truck up there is a second or two of slight bottom end rattle, and while driving all is quiet while accelerating or slowing down but while driving with the throttle in that neutral spot not speeding up or slowing down there is a very light rattle from the bottom end of the engine. another observation is the oil pressure gauge will read in the 3 to 5 PSI range at idle when the engine is at running temp. Now for the question
Am I looking at a worn out engine, a worn out oil pump, or do I need to run Some thicker oil? I do have two low mile '89 360's at my fathers ( 500 miles away) and I have built several engines and have no problem doing it I'm just trying to same a little cash on this one if it's possible. David
 
Sounds tired. Low oil pressure and start up rattle sounds like excessive bearing clearance.
 
Sounds like the bearings are worn.
 
I had the same problem with my 360 magnum I bought used; low oil pressure when hot but no rattle. Changed the oil pump to a high volume but it did not cure the low oil pressure. After 200 miles, it started knocking pretty bad on the highway. My buddy towed me back home, I pulled the oil pan to figure out I spun a rod bearing.

Sounds like a tired engine....
 
That is exactly where I was going with it. I had some of the Bow tie crowd telling me not to swap engines that all it needed was an oil pump and for some reason I started doubting my own knowledge and experience. Thank you all for bringing me back to my senses. David
 
If all the signs say it's worn, it's probably worn... the good news is it's an excellent core for someone and a replacement shouldnt be too hard to find or swap.
 
what everybody has commented is true but i will point out something else. you say that when you get the throttle to the neutral position that is not speeding up or slowing down that you get a bottom end rattle. for those that experience this and think replacing bearing and a pump will fix this it wont. this noise is caused by excessive wrist pin clearance in your pistons. over all a worn out engine in your case it sounds like
 
moper said:
the good news is it's an excellent core for someone and a replacement shouldnt be too hard to find or swap.
Click to expand...

I have two '89 W250's with 360's that were Salt/Snow Plow trucks from the National Parks service in NJ. the bodys' are completely rotted out the frames look like cheese cloth. one has 50K miles the other 62K miles both good engines so one of them will go in this one. and yes this will be the core for my Stroker project for my '72 Duster. David
 
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