Oil Pressure goes to 0 off of a hard launch

-
K

Kingofthehill

Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2006
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Location
Santa Clarita, Ca (SoCal)
Having a problem with my 440 in my 68 barracuda.

I can not remember the brand oil pan but its pretty stock'ish.. when the motor was being built i didn't pay enough attention to the oiling system DUHHH...

anyhow.. i have an autometer mechanical oil pressure guage in my car and its tapped into the block at the rear/top of the motor.

From a dead stop it takes about 2-3 seconds and then the pressure drops to 0 and then comes back up in another 3-5 seconds if i let off the gas asap..

i measured the pickup when i put the pan on the motor and it was about 1" short of hitting the pan.

Now i can't even play with it because i dont want anything running dry... ive poured so much money into this motor and if im gonna pull all this out again, i want it to be done right..

Anyone have any tips? suggested components?

Thanks

JOe
 
Is the pan baffled? Your pick-up tube should be much closer to the bottom of the pan, more like 1/4 inch. Are you running a hi-volume oil pump?
 
Get an aftermarket deep pan like the Milodon 7 quart pan…
 
pickup is way too far off the floor of the pan...should be almost touching to 1/4" off

also a baffled pan may help
 
Heh, Joe I had the same problem on my 383. The fix however was the windage tray, if you're running a mopar tray turf it and get a milodon tray. The mopar unit doesn't have enough side slots to drain the oil properly and it all ends up going out the back of the tray away from the sump on a hard launch. Like the guys say, make sure there are acceleration and deceleration baffles in the sump and your pickup needs to be no further away than 1/2" from the sump floor.

Terry
 
As aid, pan to pickup clearance should be no more than 1/4". I aim for 1/8, and it should have an acceleration baffle. The windage tray would help once things are moving...But the pickup is being uncovered at launch. If this has shown as 0 on the gage for more than 5 seconds more than once, I would tear it down and inspect the bearings. It's easier to do that while the pan's off for the clearance check...
 
440 source.com has a real good street /strip deep pan w/ pickup that is just as good as Milodon and a lot cheaper - its not anodized. - IMHO.
check it out.
buddy of mine just got one for his 440.
 
I concur with the pickup depth being way too high, the pickup should almost touch the pan.

"Super-Jethro semi-scientific diagnosis" here is to run 1 qt over full. If it makes ANY difference, you are emptying the pan faster than oil can drain back down.

Because the pickup is leaving a quart or so in the bottom of the pan, you just notice it sooner (think about how much distance 1 qt reads on the dipstick, if there is 1" between marks, and your pickup is 1" above the bottom of the pan, the engine effectively has 1 qt less oil to use.) Like I say, add a quart and see what happens, then pull the pan. Loose rod bearings will also cause a high RPM oil pressure drop, but they have to be pretty sloppy to take the pump off bypass.

BTW, the stock pan is a pretty decent if set up correctly and run with a stock pump.
 
i seem to be having a hard time locating an aftermarket pan for my car... im being told by summit and PAW that there are steering clearance issues with my car limiting me to the stock pan...

please share your wisdom here . Thanks

JOe
 
The idler arm hits most pans. You have the anwer already. Use the pan you have, stick a baffle in it, and get the pickup set up right. Otherwise, buy a new pan, a matchign pickup, and then set it right. Choice is yours...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top