So here's how it has gone since purchase. After I noticed the oil pressure situation I did an immediate oil change with Amsoil 5-30 and Amsoil filter. Got a slight improvement. Didn't cut open the filter like a dummy. Put about 5K than another oil change. Stayed pretty consistent and like I said no alarms have gone off in the dash. Factory specs say idle oil pressure can be as low as 6 PSI which I think is ******** but.....
While doing routine stuff like changing belts hoses tentioners, fluid changes, etc. I found an old screen that goes under the pressure sender stuck between some shit in the engine compartment where someone dropped it so knew the sender had been changed at least once.
About this time last year, I broke my ankle real bad and was laid up for 12 weeks with another 12 weeks of PT. During that time, the ignition switch took a shit so I sent it to a mechanic and told him about the pressure issue. He changed the pressure switch again (put in a NAPA unit) and told me it was the o-ring and when you do that job ou just do the pump at the same time quoted me $2500. I asked him if he put a mechanical guage in to test actual pressure, nope just guessed and changed parts. Ok I'll pass and wait until I recover to do it myself, thanks.
Another 5K on the clock so went to do the job. Put a mechanical guage on the port comming off the oil pump. Never went below 37 PSI at the pump (Take note cuz this is the beginning of my head scratching) but had a consistent 15 PSI difference through out the RPM band. First big red flag.
Pulled the pan and has some metal shavings but nothing that was super obvious or concerning. Pulled a couple rod bearings, they looked good. Did a visual of the cam bearings and there was no obvious walk out on them. Should of cut the oil filter open I know but was wanting to get the job done. Replaced the pick up tube and O-ring with a Melling unit. The o-ring was **** eyed a little on the tube and flattened out a bit but not split. Slapped it back together, filled it up and ran it again.
Now here is where things start getting wierd. Picked up about 10 PSI on the cold start and about had a more consistent reading between the mechanical guage and the dash and hot idle went from 6-8 lbs up to 15-18lbs. Now the mechanical guage and dash were reading the same. What happened to my 37 lbs out of the pump at idle? Stuck relief valve in the pump im thinking.
Since I hadn't put the front differential back in, I went ahead and ordered a melling 365HV. Timing chain is nice and tight but while im here I said screw it and replaced the cam plate, VVT solenoid, timing chain tentioner, and couple other things that I know are prone to go out and much easier to change with the front diff out.
Back together it goes, and no improvement. In fact the 15 lbs of pressure variance came back abouve 2500 RPM but not improvement at idle 15-18. Additionally I have an intermittent fluttering on both guages (2nd big red flag)
Wife drives it to the store an back, maybe 20 miles round trip. Comes back and says the guage in the dash is back down to just above the red mark which was where it sat when it was running 6-8lbs. All that work FML....lol
So we go for a nice evening drive and put about 50 miles on it. The entire time I had at least 10LBS per 1000RPM throughout the the RPM range.....for the first part of the trip. On the way back home pressure keeps getting slightly worse,do a couple of hard accelerations and loose that 10 lbs per 1000 RPM at 3500-4000 RPM (Third big red flag).
Going up the mountain almost home and it starts losing power, less oil pressure to the point I get a check engine light 5 minutes from home. Once home and idling pressure is lower than ever even appearing to slightly go into the red, but again no dash warning. Plug the code reader and get p0011. Damn it.
Cleared the code and drove it around the next day about 10-15 miles code hasnt come back. I'm confident I didn't F anything up with the timing. Marks all lined up fine. I don't thing its the O-ring because I pulled the dipstick and no air bubbles on the stick.
So here is where I stand. I think either I have smoked cam bearing or one beginning to walk out or both. Only thing that makes sense in my head. No lifter noise, seems to run fine, and no misfire codes have popped up.
