redfishtd

still don't know if external oil gauge used and corresponding readings.After the latest news that guides and tensioners broken all to pieces even more reinforcing cleaning out oil pickup . Which I understand he just did.
No real idea how badly it was plugged ,still wondering if pump damaged. I hope poster not trusting dash gauge as it is junk , This thing is very dependent on oil pressure.
You can not check timing after you turn engine over. It takes 122 turns for everything to line back up . If you think it could be off you have to put cams facing in correct direction ,crank dot at six and reinstall chains .
I have hope for this engine ,I realize poster must be working in rough conditions but it is very hard to guess at some results .
I feel it will come together with some patience I just hope he didn't get some bad phasors .
As or the passenger valve cover ac lines can be pulled to side after battery box pulled and dryer bolt removed . Some guys don't put rear valve cover bolts in . Good luck- you are learning .

ex0r

After sitting back for a few days and not working on it, I am starting to wonder a few things. After having my dad drive it around for about an hour, it started idling extremely rough even with the solenoids unplugged, then it lost power. We got stuck half-way up a road that had a pretty steep incline. It just wouldn't go no matter how much gas he gave it. Eventually, it started overheating and the radiator cap started venting hot steam and coolant. (We had forgot to refill the upper hose after we drained it).

I was able to walk to the gas station and get some coolant and we put it in there to fill again, and it seems to be driveable again after that, but still didn't have very much power. I am wondering if we cracked the head or block from it overheating.

ex0r

@LariatDude

I finally got the oil pressure checked. When it's cold it is at around 68-70. After it's been running for about 5 minutes, it drops down to about 60. Once it's at operating temp, it idles around 28-30. Once it's revved up to 1500 it jumps back up to 70. After it's ran for about 25 minutes, it drops below 20 to about 18 then after you rev it up and come off the gas, it drops down to about 12 psi. At this point it stalls out. It starts right back up again, but idles rough and it is at between 15-20 before it stalls again.

Question... Would a failing a/c compressor cause issues? We noticed it was clicking on and off and turning the heat a/c ***** on made the idle drop. We unplugged the compressor plug and it appears to be running just fine now. Perhaps the compressor is going out or the alternator itself ?

LariatDude

I don't know if the compressor would cause low oil pressure issues. That's just weird how it drops to 12. Maybe the oil pump IS wonky...

ex0r

I'm beginning to wonder this myself, although I don't have the specs for what the tolerable range is, I had thought that anything over 15 psi during warm idle was good. I do believe it's still something with oil pressure. He's been driving it since the last post I made, and said it's not gotten any better. We cleared the codes, and it went about 6 cycles before the codes came back on again for the cam position sensors. We had planned to get our boat from the marine shop this weekend, but he's not going to now because of the way it's running, he doesn't think it'll pull it.

I told him at this point, and with the oil pressure being so low he's got one of two things going on;

1.) The pump is damaged or on it's way out,
2.) Debris got in some of the oil passageways and it's plugging off some of the oil from getting into the system

I did find it weird that it idled a lot longer and smoother with the compressor disabled and the clutch not engaging, but that could just be a separate, unrelated issue (the clutch is seizing up causing the motor to slow down when the clutch tries engaging, thus lowering oil pressure).

One of his co-workers said he had the same truck, had the same work done, and had the same symptoms and it ended up being one of the wires on the MAF sensor that was loose or something. The guy repaired the wire and the problems went away. I could justify that being the problem if it were just that the idle is fluctuating, but since it's also dropping oil pressure only when it warms up, and there are no codes signifying a problem with the maf or air, I doubt that's the issue.

A part of me wonders if the reason the cam sensors are being thrown off, is because the idle is dropping low, the truck is trying to stall (thus slowing down the rotation), and the sensors aren't adjusting their calculations to make up for this, so they are expecting the cams to be in the position equal to the motor having turned at normal speed, but they actually aren't because it's slowing it's rotation.