truckdawg

I'll start from the beginning and be as quick and thorough as possible...

Year and a half ago my truck wouldn't turn over, noticed i wasn't getting spark at distributor, after replacing a couple quick fixes (which didn't fix) I came to realize that my distributor wasn't turning so found out my timing gear went out , replaced and fixed issue ... few months after, i was driving and noticed my oil pressure gauge was jumping from high to low constantly, then would just go low and would lose all pressure, first replaced my pressure sensor, no fix, then did a engine flush, poured a bit of Sea Foam in let it run idle, drained and replaced filter & oil, did this approximately 3 times and still no fix ... so i decided to replace my oil pump, unhooked the engine mounts, jacked the engine up, and took oil pan off and replaced pump and screen, FIXED problem ...

But after doing this I noticed immediately as I would start the truck I would hear tapping (assume around the rockers/push-rod/lifter area) then a couple seconds later the pressure would build up and sound would go away, but after driving a bit the "tapping" would come back, directly proportional to the RPM's of the engine, more i revved it faster the tapping got ... thought maybe i was low on oil so checked levels and added a bit, no fix ... Now this doesn't happen every time i drive it, some times it does it and some times it doesn't , some times it will do it as a start the engine as mentioned earlier and stop after a couple seconds , then after driving 10 mins or so it starts and will then stop after 5 or so minutes, some times it starts back up after 10 mins of driving and doesn't stop at all ... The other day i was thinking maybe the rockers were loose, popped off the exhaust manifold, removed the valve cover and examined all the rockers, every bolt was tightened down to around 35 ft.lb or so, but did notice some of them would wiggle when i jiggled on it, in fear of cracking the casting i didn't want to tighten down anymore, on the ones that would wiggle i grabbed the push-rod and it would twirl freely as i turned on it, didn't seem to have any vertical play, but would just spin around the rockers that wouldn't wiggle the push-rods on them were 100% tight (as I assume the should be) ...

Now i could be way off but i am assuming maybe the push-rods are just worn down shorter after 23 years of usage, and that's what the tapping is or maybe when i did the engine flush 3 times maybe some debris or gunk clogged the passage way inside the push-rod (assumption) ... has anyone had a similar experience or have an idea of what could be wrong

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated ...

- G

Crowder

Well first off, a friend of mine found out the hard way that an engine flush can be harmful to an older engine. Alot of times all that crud and what not that has belt is what is holding some of those old gasket and seals in place. Unfortunately on my friends truck it knocked a piece loose and got stuck underneath one of the valves. So needless to say, he was not happy.

you should have a little bit of play on some of your rocker arms due to some of the valves being open or closed.

Bennyv83

The oil is probably draining back from your oil filter.
The pump sends it there first.
Buy a good filter, like a motorcraft, napa gold or mobil1. NOT fram.
When you changed the oil pump, did you set your pickup tube height properly? ie exactly like the old one?

Blaine20

I'd agree with Benny,to me it sounds like your oil pump pickup isn't positioned right so your engine
Isn't getting enough oil at times

truckdawg

Still having the problem , a friend if mine suggested that it could be my timing that is off from replacing the timing gear awhile back , but the sound never seemed to happen before I replaced my oil pump ( after timing gear replace) ... Tried using a timing gun and adjusting but no change ... When I replaced the oil pump I just used the same pick up unit as it just bolted on to the new pump , had a gasket and used it ... Still not sure what the problem is

Crowder

Dumb question... but how's your oil pressure?

truckdawg

Seems to be fine , after a cold start it seems it takes a minute for the oil to get back into the lines , pressure gauge starts off all the way left & after 30-60 seconds the pressure kicks in and goes to normal , lately it seems the gauge is reading differently at times , sometimes it will be on the "N" on normal and others it will be slightly above the halfway mark , regardless of the gauge , the ticking still happens

Crowder

It would probably be a good idea to put in a mechanical gauge just to be sure

truckdawg

Guess I'll give it a shot , I'll try anything at this point

Crowder

The only reason I'm recommending the mechanical gauge is because the stock gauge is more or less just a light. If you have more than 7 lbs of pressure it'll read on the stock gauge. Which doesn't tell you much