Poop111444

Ok, to rerun my oil return line from turbo to the oilpan, i dropped the pan. I remember my oil pickup i could see through the hole at the bottom there was a loose "foam screen". I thought it was just a filter so i didnt think much of it. I also just got my OBDI setup working. I bolted everything back up, and now when the car idles from driving the oil light flickers, if I rev it up it goes away. I have an electrical oil pressure gauge and it reads roughly 9-10psi at idle. I have plenty of oil. My oil filter is probably about 3K miles old, oil is new...... I'll try changing it and see if it makes it go away.

I searched any many say its the oil pump, which I do not want to eliminate, but i think i may drop the pan and check out the pickup, should I get rid of that foam filter in on the bottom? I will also do an oil change tommorow too.

Also, don't see how this would have anything to do with it, but everything was fine before this, the car just sat in the garage for about a month on 2 front jackstands, much of the time the oil pan was out because of me prepping it for the new return. After i fixed it i plugged in my OBDII ECU and drove around the block, and the problem was not there. THen i got my OBDI ecu to work so i drove on the streets and brought it up to 5K and then i noticed the problem starting to happen.

Any ideas?

Poop111444

BTW car is 99 Si with only 60K miles

Poop111444

Dropped oil pan and found some sort of what looks like heat wrap logged in it DAMN PROBLEM REMAINS, scroll down


Modified by Poop111444 at 9:34 PM 8/4/2004

B18EG6

no more oil light?

Poop111444

unfortunately no

Im taking a roadtrip here shortly so I decide to drive around town...... it comes back again! If im say on the highway and put it in neutral, the pressure goes down and the light comes on! I quickly give it gas and it goes away. I can now reproduce the problem if the idle drops. Now when im cruising say around 3-4K, the oil pressure registers roughly 30psi..... if i punch it and it goes up to say 5-5.5K it will go up to about 50psi.
On a cold startup, it goes up to about 60-70psi.


Is my pump bad? Its a 99 with only 60K miles and Honda pumps are pretty good from what I understand. Also, since i register 70psi on startup, i would think the the pump is good? I dont think it could be my stock sender, it "appears" ok, but if that was bad i would think my gauge would register more pressure. Both my gauge sender and stock sender are T'd off on the firewall with -3an lines. I cannot remember, but i thought when i was cruising around town it would be around 50psi.

HELP! ANy ideas? maybe i should have got a new gasket for the oil pickup? Suggestions welcome because i wanted to move here shortly.
Oil is fresh and so is filter. I am getting about 25psi cruising at 3K RPM. I'd just hate to change the damn pump and find out thats not it.

Also, on my oil line return from turbo , which is what i changed out, and didnt have this problem before, it's a 90 bend, good 1-1/2 inch of straight path....but i would seem to think the oil would still be draining into the pan?

Also, inside the pan i cut a chunk of the metal "step" on the small side because of my oil return.... could that be my problem?


Modified by Poop111444 at 9:43 PM 8/4/2004


Modified by Poop111444 at 9:45 PM 8/4/2004

turbohondask

the pump can be shimmed to rasie the oil pressure a little,

Where is the idle set at also?

4U2NV

You might wanna check your oil pressure sending unit... My oil light used to not come on and just barely flicker when I started the car and it ended up being my Oil Pressure Sending Unit... I never had any problems however, on just driving... Check it out and make sure everything is plugged in well, and maybe try swapping it out... HTH

B18EG6

When my oil light flickered at idle it was because my bearings were going/gone bad...

What was this thing lodged in there? If you starved your motor of oil its really bad for the bearings and could lead to failure. Ive been told bearings are like the arteries of oil for your motor

Poop111444

any other ideas? i gotta start tearing stuff apart

Poop111444

idle is about 750-800

MachAF

oil pump.. replace it.

Poop111444

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18EG6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When my oil light flickered at idle it was because my bearings were going/gone bad...

What was this thing lodged in there? If you starved your motor of oil its really bad for the bearings and could lead to failure. Ive been told bearings are like the arteries of oil for your motor</TD></TR></TABLE>

Checked out the bottom main bearings, they looked fine and the clearance was all in spec...... my neighbor mechanic said the bearings as well, but they appear ok. I get oil pressure amongst startup..... still think it could be oil pumP?

turbohondask

change the sensor before you change the oil pump, see if that does anything. or hook up a oil pressure gauge to really make sure.

earl

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbohondask &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">change the sensor before you change the oil pump, see if that does anything. or hook up a oil pressure gauge to really make sure.</TD></TR></TABLE>best advice you are going to get...

did you take the pick-up off and clean it? Did you reinstall the paper gasket. It will suck air and hurt oil pressure if you didn't. There is no "foam" filter..just a metal screen in the pick-up.

igo4bmx

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by earl &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">best advice you are going to get...

did you take the pick-up off and clean it? Did you reinstall the paper gasket. It will suck air and hurt oil pressure if you didn't. There is no "foam" filter..just a metal screen in the pick-up.</TD></TR></TABLE>

so dropping the oil pan... you need to take out the oil pickup and clean it?

Poop111444

I changed the oil pressure sender....didnt do anything.

Not only is the sensor sensing low oil press by flickering at idle, but my gauge is also registering low oil press. I can only get about 25-30psi at 3K RPM when im supposed to be at 50psi.

I did reinstall the paper gasket and clean out the pickup......i wonder if my pump is bad. I get pressure amongst cold start (almost 70psi) but after warmup, when the oil gets thinner, i seem to not have the correct amount of pressure.

when i checked my bearings i was getting around .026 mm of clearance....

heres a pic of one of my bearings. Its in good shape.



Any other ideas"? if the bearings are good must be the pump? Should I just start ripping it out ?

Jaker

Its possible that some of this heat wrap you found in the oil pan has made its way into your oil passages, and is lodged somewhere where its restricting oil flow to or from the pump.

turbohondask

there is 3 places to chek oil pressure, do a test to see what are the pressure at each location for a certian rpm and cross referfernce it will the helms manual.

Or you can inspect the oil pump by taking it apart. It sounds like a bad oil pump.

Poop111444

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by turbohondask &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">there is 3 places to chek oil pressure, do a test to see what are the pressure at each location for a certian rpm and cross referfernce it will the helms manual.

Or you can inspect the oil pump by taking it apart. It sounds like a bad oil pump.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The helm just says to hook up a gauge and see if if at idle its at least 10psi and 3K RPM supposed to be 50psi. After that it says if its not in spec, then replace the switch (the switch and the sender are the same thing right?). If that doesnt fix it, it says to "inspect or replace oil pump" but thats it.

I have my autometer electric gauge tapped into the T on the firewall..... and it reads me low as well. At idle im hangin around 7-8psi, if the idle gets low say like from coasting off the highway, it goes down lower enough to trigger the oil pressure light. At 3K RPM im only at 25-30psi instead of 50psi.


Also right before i took out the main bearings, i took off my 'T' on the wall just to see if something was clogging it giving my stock switch and autometer sender a bad reading. Put it back together and i know it did this before, but amongst startup and driving when the car is barely warmed up or just got warmed up, i was getting 40-45psi at 3K RPM. Oil pressure seems normal when car is not completely warmed up.....but soon after its well warmed up, it gets low.

I just dont want to take out the pump and find out thats not it....but im starting to lean toward it. I thought for sure the bearings would be it, but they are in clearance and look ok!?


Modified by Poop111444 at 10:35 AM 8/7/2004

B18C1CYA

well change the pump and take compressed air and clean out some of the oil gallys if you can, maybe the releaf valve is messed up in the pump or some thing or the rotors are out of spec, what motor do you have? if you are obd1 b series get a 94 gsr oil pump they say it flows the best so i was told

IN VTEC

iTrader: (3)

We ran into a similar problem with an 3rd gen Eclipse that we turbo'd. The oil pressure would be fine until the engine warmed up, then the dummy light would starting flickering and then stay on after awhile, and his Autometer pressure gauge would read close to 0psi.

The solution was to run a restrictor in-line with the turbo feed line.

It was a really odd scenario b/c the car ran fine for more than 6 months without a restrictor and showed no problems with the oiling system. He then ran the restrictor for several months, then took it off to let a friend borrow it. The problems started and then went away when he put it back on.

While doing some testing, we were hand-feeding the turbo while watching the pressure gauge to eliminate the turbo and turbo oil lines as a problem. At first, the turbo didn't take up any of the oil. Then, as if all at once, it started chugging down the oil and the guy who was hand-feeding the oil could barely keep up.

We left it at that and put the restrictor back into the feed line.

The suggestion might or might not have any bearing on your scenario, but it's something to consider.

FAUCON

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18EG6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When my oil light flickered at idle it was because my bearings were going/gone bad...

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Same thing here...It was my rods bearing, and my car begun to make the 'cavalier' engine sound.

XDEep

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by B18EG6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">When my oil light flickered at idle it was because my bearings were going/gone bad...
</TD></TR></TABLE>

same here. eventually started to make a ticking noise.. then got worse and worse, eventually ticking at idle, then would barely move.

Poop111444

I checked clearance on the main bearings, and they appear to be in spec.

I did a few clearance checks on the rod bearings:

manual says NEW .032-.050 with a service limit of .06
I am measuring roughly .025.... on one bearing tho i was probably at .022 or .023mm

So i definitly need new rod bearings it looks like? Does it sound like i have the culprate? My engine was a lil noisy but didnt sound like bottom end rod knocking. Maybe because its in the early stages?

Are main bearings stronger or less likely to go bad versus rod bearings? because it looks like my mains are ok but the rods are bad. I mean if i need new rod bearings im just going to change them all.




Modified by Poop111444 at 5:04 PM 8/7/2004

Poop111444

Hhmm... now im confused. I talked to my neighbor, and he said .001 inches of clearance is good....

If the plastigage is getting crashed and lays out wider, it seems to me that there is more pressure the bearing is putting on the cam. Therefore the wider the plastigage reads, less clearance there is.

If i am reading .025mm of clearance, and the manual says it has to be at least .032mm, that means its not getting crushed enough, therefore too much clearance.

Am I correct?! .025mm = .001inches


Modified by Poop111444 at 10:25 PM 8/7/2004