OIL pump or main rob bearings

Johnnyboiranger22 · Aug 8, 2018

So from my previous posts i was diagnosing a oil needle fluctuating problem, I ended up doing the pressure switch which is a dummy switch but that didn't help so i ended up doing the oil pump and my main reason for creating another post is a lot have been mentioning could be main rob bearings Honestly i didn't notice any abnormal noises that i know of and there is not metal shavings in oil anywhere and it looks pristine under there, my main concern is putting engine back together and it still doing the oil fluctuating,so my main question is should i do the main bearings? How often do they fail? Truck is 1991 ranger 130k miles 2.3L. I already bought main rob bearings and engine assembly lube.

ericbphoto · Aug 8, 2018

Have you connected an actual oil pressure guage to see what the pressure is really doing? Mechanical guage would be best. The needle in the dummy guage can fluctuate due to loose electrical connections .

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adsm08 · Aug 8, 2018

It's rod bearings, not rob bearing. As in connecting rods. I wouldn't have bothered correcting you, but you did it EVERY time, and your D key clearly works since you used that letter a few times too.

Rod bearings are usually one of the last wear parts to wear out in an engine. I'd try doing the oil pump first, since needing new rod bearings is the point where you may as well just do a full rebuild.

tomw · Aug 9, 2018

I would put a VOM on the system to check for fluctuations in the voltage. There is a small voltage regulator on the back of the instrument cluster that is designed to eliminate gauge fluctuations due to voltage variations, but it could be failing, or you could have some large voltage variances. Or you could have loose wires/grounds/etc.
Odds are it is not the oil pump causing a jiggle in the gauge reading. Most times they either work or not, and you'd have to be at the low end of the pressure range to turn the switch on and off quickly enough to get the gauge to diddle. Does not seem likely.
Did you take the connecting rod bearing inserts out? Do you have pictures? Did you check the clearance using Plastigage or a micrometer?
Did you ever have any noises indicating bearing failure? The 2.3 will regularly run for 300k miles without problems. More times than not, the problems it does get are from the cylinder head when the mileage gets high, not the bottom end.
tom

Johnnyboiranger22 · Aug 10, 2018

tomw said:
I would put a VOM on the system to check for fluctuations in the voltage. There is a small voltage regulator on the back of the instrument cluster that is designed to eliminate gauge fluctuations due to voltage variations, but it could be failing, or you could have some large voltage variances. Or you could have loose wires/grounds/etc.
Odds are it is not the oil pump causing a jiggle in the gauge reading. Most times they either work or not, and you'd have to be at the low end of the pressure range to turn the switch on and off quickly enough to get the gauge to diddle. Does not seem likely.
Did you take the connecting rod bearing inserts out? Do you have pictures? Did you check the clearance using Plastigage or a micrometer?
Did you ever have any noises indicating bearing failure? The 2.3 will regularly run for 300k miles without problems. More times than not, the problems it does get are from the cylinder head when the mileage gets high, not the bottom end.
tom

Yes tom i have pictures o the old oil pump but that thing looked fine under engine is in pristine condition i will get pictures later, I have not did plastigauge yet but i hear no noise when driving or vehicle is running and no metal in oil. Im going to try putting it back together and see how it runs with new oil pump, I bet it was a wiring issue this whole time.

Johnnyboiranger22 · Aug 10, 2018

adsm08 said:
It's rod bearings, not rob bearing. As in connecting rods. I wouldn't have bothered correcting you, but you did it EVERY time, and your D key clearly works since you used that letter a few times too.

Rod bearings are usually one of the last wear parts to wear out in an engine. I'd try doing the oil pump first, since needing new rod bearings is the point where you may as well just do a full rebuild.

I apologize if my spelling bothered you, in any event truck has already had new cylinder head done, water pump,thermostat and housing, spark plugs and wires not gaskets everywhere except rear main seal,radiator and all hoses replace. I'm going to put in back together and if everything is fine and no noise or metal in oil, I will narrow it down to a wiring issue this whole time.

OIL pump or main rob bearings

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