Oil Pressure Issue

[Hyperfocus]

Hey guys, I have a bit of a problem here. I have a 91 VR4 that's basically stock with just over 110k miles currently. Last night I noticed the red oil dummy-light a few seconds after startup and no oil pressure on the gauge. Immediately shut the engine off, checked the oil level, checked for leaks, and everything was fine. Started the engine up again and eventually gained enough oil pressure to limp her home without risk of damage.

Fast forward to today. I changed the oil and filter just to rule that out completely. While I was down there I made sure there wasn't any torn wires at the OFH causing a false reading. Start up the engine and there's zero oil pressure. Dummy light is on, gauge is flatlined, and the lifters started to tick (brand new Ninja big bore). Pulled the filter back off and it's still empty. So it's apparent that I now have no oil pressure.

Now, before I pull the trigger on a new oil pump and start tearing her apart, is there anything else that could cause this? It's pretty crazy that the oil pump would randomly fail 10k miles before the service interval! Thanks in advance for any help.

[Alex3000gt]

My car spun it's rod bearings at 116,000 miles. I'd investigate the drained oil for metal flakes (glitter appearance).

[J. Fast]

Hey guys, I have a bit of a problem here. I have a 91 VR4 that's basically stock with just over 110k miles currently. Last night I noticed the red oil dummy-light a few seconds after startup and no oil pressure on the gauge. Immediately shut the engine off, checked the oil level, checked for leaks, and everything was fine. Started the engine up again and eventually gained enough oil pressure to limp her home without risk of damage.

Fast forward to today. I changed the oil and filter just to rule that out completely. While I was down there I made sure there wasn't any torn wires at the OFH causing a false reading. Start up the engine and there's zero oil pressure. Dummy light is on, gauge is flatlined, and the lifters started to tick (brand new Ninja big bore). Pulled the filter back off and it's still empty. So it's apparent that I now have no oil pressure.

Now, before I pull the trigger on a new oil pump and start tearing her apart, is there anything else that could cause this? It's pretty crazy that the oil pump would randomly fail 10k miles before the service interval! Thanks in advance for any help.

Plug in a sandwich block to the oil filter housing and a bypass on the oil cooler and turn the engine over by hand into a clean bucket placed under the oil filter housing. As you turn the crank pulley over you'll start to pump oil out of the engine. Check it. If nothing comes out you have a blockage. Also, check and see if the oil pan is dented.

[Hyperfocus]

So are you saying my issue might be from a blockage and not a failed oil pump? Could I just keep the filter off, bypass the cooler, and then try rotating the crank by hand?

[J. Fast]

Yes, if the oil pump is bad it will show itself in that test also. You mentioned the issue began once you upgraded the lifters , or did I interpret wrong?

[Hyperfocus]

No, the lifters were upgraded a bit ago. But they started ticking right after the oil pressure issue started which I'm assuming is from lack of oil flow to the heads.

[futurevr4man]

A spun bearing isn't going to keep oil from getting in the oil filter...

Your pump is either clogged, which I have never heard of, but I guess it's possible? Or your gear flat died, which... again... unless you have been doing some higher rpm pulls and it disenegrated, I doubt.

I'm mainly posting so I can hear what the heck this is lol


P.S. fill your oil filter up with oil from now on when you put it on. The engine will get oil flowing significantly faster.

[Hyperfocus]

A spun bearing isn't going to keep oil from getting in the oil filter...

Exactly. I've been building (and breaking) engines for quite a while and have never seen a spun bearing cause zero oil pressure. I've had bearings completely disintegrate and still had SOME oil pressure.

Your pump is either clogged, which I have never heard of, but I guess it's possible? Or your gear flat died, which... again... unless you have been doing some higher rpm pulls and it disenegrated, I doubt.

I'm mainly posting so I can hear what the heck this is lol

I admit that I usually drive pretty spiritedly, but not to the point of bouncing off the rev limiter like a Honduh. There's really no point with stock engine/turbos anyways, your just making noise and stressing parts IMO. So who knows what the final straw was but I'm still betting the pump is shot. Lets hope it didn't take the rest of the engine with it... :/

[wingnut]

I'm mainly posting so I can hear what the heck this is lol.

Ditto!

[mb3000]

Nothing useful to add, but I am very curious!