89 2.9 just about end of life?

[aeidian]

89 2.9 4x4 odometer reads 16793 (its either 216 or 316k for sure)

Lately the old truck has been sluggish to start. Battery tested and alternator tested and starter is a couple months old. Just did cap and rotor and wires. I believe the culprit to be just end of life on the motor. I bought this used and done a lot of work to it. The oil pressure has always been terrible. At warm idle it hits about 700rpms and about 7 psi on the oil pressure gauge. Pretty much 10psi per 1k rpm. Ive been told that's not great but acceptable. I'm aware it "should" be much higher. You cant really rev the motor over 2k because it rattles and taps pretty bad. Keep it in the 1k to 2k and its pretty good. Cold starts it rattles and taps bad for the first 5 seconds then smooths out. I made the mistake of letting my sister use my truck over the past week and she didnt realize you shouldn't go over 2k on the shift and she was doing 3k+. I'm sure that shortened what time I had left. The other night she was driving it and killed it and it took a half hour of jumping it to get it to start and when it did there was a loud tap from the passenger side valve cover area. After about an hour of solid driving it went away and it was smooth running again. Once today I killed it and it was the same thing, it just would not turn over with much gumption. It feels like the motor is trying to lock up. Earlier than this it would start after sitting and I was able to turn the crankshafts over a few turns with a 19mm and a breaker bar and it fired right up. I'm pretty clueless to the internal of the motor, is the tapping from the valve cover that smooths out after running a lifter? Could that be causing my poor oil pressure? A stuck lifter? Ive replaced the rear main, valve cover, and oil pan gaskets. The front main looks like its still leaking. Suggestions?

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Psychopete]

did you clean the pump screen when you did the oil pan gasket? hard to say for sure, bad timing can make it seem like the engine is trying to lock up. If you're really curious, have the oil analyzed. It'll have shavings, and they can tell you a lot about how your engine is running. Check codes for timing related codes.

 

[aeidian]

did you clean the pump screen when you did the oil pan gasket? hard to say for sure, bad timing can make it seem like the engine is trying to lock up. If you're really curious, have the oil analyzed. It'll have shavings, and they can tell you a lot about how your engine is running. Check codes for timing related codes.

I couldn't get the damn pan off, so I dropped it low enough to get the gasket around it and put it back on. I should probably do it properly and jack the motor up to clear it. I retimed it when I put the distributor on and it ran like shit at 10 so I moved it to 12. Guess I can recheck it. Ive run the KOER and KOEO and I don't have any codes at all. Seemed odd. Thought there would be SOMETHING like a test flash or something ive seen on jumping the ports with a paper clip on dash plugins even though you use the port under the hood on these trucks.


Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk 2

 

[aeidian]

Checked it again still set on 12 where I had it. Went to the parts store to return a loaned tool came back out and same thing. Sluggishly turned over until it killed the battery. Bought a jump pack to use when this happens again and got the parts store to use their jump pack and it turned over a couple times and started, no loud tapping this time though. Ive put some slick 50 in the oil and then motor honey today to see if that will help loosen the motor up. Guess I can move it back to 10 on the timing and see how it does.

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk 2

 

[aeidian]

Bought one of those 500amp self jump packs from Advance. Charged it for 36 hours and when I got stuck again it failed to be of any use. Two attempted starts and the pack died, what a piece of junk. Jumped it off someone else and got it running. Got it home that night and parked it for 2 days came out and it wouldn't even turn over. Thought the hell with this and went and bought a new battery with twice the cranking amps. Parts guys said it sounded like a parasitic drain. I haven't had an issue in 3 days now. Should be noted that I put slick 50, motor honey, and mystery oil in the oil in attempt to solve this and my truck now runs smooth as velvet (except when you rev over 2k, still rattles and knocks like it always has).

Sent from my SCH-I405 using Tapatalk 2