Loosing oil pressure ?

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yellow73dart

yellow73dart

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lovington , new mexico
Ok heres what happened. I was cruising around the out skirts of town, in my yellow 73 dart, doing about 65 mph when I was cut off by a little old lady. I had to slam the brakes hard to keep from hitting her. I managed to put a hole in the oil pan of my 440. The car ended up sitting for a few months before I was able to put another oil pan on it. Once I did, I had no oil pressure. A friend told me to re prime the pump. I bought the tool to prime the pump with a drill. I thought it worked because I had about 50psi after I was done. I got the dart tuned back up and the oil pressure stayed up the whole time. Well the car sat for another few days and when I went to start it again, NO OIL PRESSURE! What is going on here. If any of you can help me out I would greatly appreciate it.
 
Did it crush the pan much when it happened? Is it possible it pushed the pick-up and cracked the pipe up next to the block causing it to suck air?
 
No, but even so. I went with a miloden pan instead of the moroso that was on it. It looks like it has better ground clearance. Anyway I had to replace the pickup tube with the one for the new pan.
 
Did you get it screwed in tightly? It's pipe thread so it has to be in rather tight to seal the threads.
 
moper said:
Did you get it screwed in tightly? It's pipe thread so it has to be in rather tight to seal the threads.
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I was thinking I did, but I'm second guessing myself now. I'm going to go ahead and pull the pan off again. I would feel better if I made sure
 
oldkimmer said:
...............Change the oil pump 1st..............kim........
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I agree, put on a new pump and look at the shaft end from the distributor gear that drives the pump to make sure its not rounding off.
 
is it a high yolume pump?
if so, did you use a hardened drive?

even if the pick up was loose and you could bat it back and forth..it would still have good oil psi.
 
As soon as I get a break from work I'm going to take the pan off. I'm thinking I'll take the pump off too. Just to look things over. I do appreciate the advice on this. It just go's with what I've always said."you can't change just one thing, It always starts a chain reaction that requires you to change several". That go's for my house too!
 
Somethin else that's been known to happen to big blocks....the oil pump bodies can crack and actually break right where the shaft housing meets the rotor housing. It's cast as all one piece from the factory, but I've seen both old and new pumps fail there. That will make oil pressure drop and could make it drop gradually over time as the crack gets worse and oil is pumped through it right back into the crankcase. This is why I magnaflux EVERY pump I use. Also considering I rebuild all my pumps to save money as well. I have found some cracked ones, too.
 
StrokerScamp said:
Somethin else that's been known to happen to big blocks....the oil pump bodies can crack and actually break right where the shaft housing meets the rotor housing. It's cast as all one piece from the factory, but I've seen both old and new pumps fail there. That will make oil pressure drop and could make it drop gradually over time as the crack gets worse and oil is pumped through it right back into the crankcase. This is why I magnaflux EVERY pump I use. Also considering I rebuild all my pumps to save money as well. I have found some cracked ones, too.
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What about priming it with a drill? It shouldn't work either way if it was broke should it?
 
yellow73dart said:
What about priming it with a drill? It shouldn't work either way if it was broke should it?
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Yes sir, it'll still work. Up until the shaft housing breaks completely off. Then it will loose all pressure. I'm not saying that's what it is, but I've seen it produce waning oil pressure over time until the housing broke completely. This is exactly why I like rebuilding pumps. Because not only is the original casting made better, but it is also "seasoned" to some extent having heated and cooled with the rest of the engine through many hundreds of cycles, so it actually has a lesser chance of cracking, IMO. To date, I have yet to see a housing worn on the inside. It's always the rotors that wear first and they come new in the rebuilding kit. I have seen more cracked and broken replacements than anything. The original Chrysler castings are pretty good.
 
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