Lost oil pressure at idle.

[dawgates]

The last couple of days I have no oil pressure at start up. I have to let the engine run for a minute before the pressure comes up. Let me back up a month or two. I have had a viberation in the engine. Can't figure out what it could be, bad valve (no), bad cam (no), miss fire (no), vacuum leak (no), and the list goes on. I can't find it! Now I loss oil pressure, so it makes me wonder if the oil pump shaft is wabbling? Is this possible. It would account for the viberation and now loss of oil pressure. I did order a new pump and housing kit from Bulltear to see if this corrects my problems.
But does this sound like it could be my viberation and oil pressure solutions?
Thanks Dan

[tufcj]

The oil pump shaft is supported nearly full length in the timing cover. I doubt it could bend enough to wobble without some serious additional problems.

How is the rubber in the harmonic balancer? I've seen them deteriorate, pieces fall out and cause a noticeable vibration. What kind of shape are the engine/trans mounts in?

Engine swap? Use the correct flywheel/harmonic?

Not knowing the vehicle, could be lots of things.

Bob
tufcj

[dawgates]

All the mounts are new (motor, trans).
I have a 360, NP435, Dana 300.
When I did the trans swap, I purchased a new flywheel/ clutch assemble for the 360 just in case it was wrong. The balancer was my next guess, after all, it's 28 years old.
I ordered a new cam, just in case it's not the balancer. Before I pull the balancer I will check the end play on the crankshaft with a dial indicator.
Thanks, Dan

[ol' school power]

What brand oil filter is on there?

[dawgates]

I used Fram (orange body) for a long time with no problems. Then I read an articile on oil filters that stated Fram was one of the worst you could use. AC Delco, Napa Gold, and Fram (white body) are among the best, so I switched to AC Delco. I thought that could have been the problem and switched back to a Fram, didn't work. Back to square one!
Last year I installed a Molodon external oil pick up/oil pan set-up. I haven't had any problems with this. in fact, my oil pressure went up a little. I will be pulling off the oil pan tonight. I was thinking the plug for the old oil pick up tube may have fall'n off. Got my fingers crossed!
Thanks. Dan

Oh, How do you get this "NEWBIE" label off?
I'd like to change it to, lets see.... "Killer Rabbit".

[rollen dean montoya]

get a few more posts then mc might remove it

[ol' school power]

Oh, How do you get this "NEWBIE" label off?

Usually a substantial amount of Ice Hole and bison jerky have been known to work wonders round here.

[dawgates]

So, I found my problem to my lack of oil pressure.
I removed the Milodon oil pan and found some silicon on the bottom of the pan. Cleaned that up, reinstalled the pan. This made me wonder a little, so I removed the oil pump adapter and took it apart. I found 6 BB size balls of silicon lodged in the by pass valve. It was just running the oil right into the oil pan. Cleaned that up, reinstalled the adapter, filter, and sending unit. Pulled the dist. and primed the oil system. In priming the system it has 45 psi of pressure, just with a drill!
Thanks for all your help guys.

[ol' school power]

Glad you found it. The second reason why I won't use silicone on an engine.

[tarior]

One more reason not to use silicone, I have read that there is a chemical released by cured silicone that ruins the anti-foaming additive in engine oil.