Possible oil pump failure 2TG/3T hybrid

[sleeky]

Hi there, ive noticed lately that my car's oil light has been flickering everytime i get on the gas. Ive also noticed that camshaft noise has increased a hell of alot when driving, ive also taken my oil cap off when my engine is idling and ive noticed no oil in the cylinder head that was what struck me, possibly that my oil pump is on its way out or already has carked it?

I have a spare one off another 2T-G, which could do with some cleaning but is it possible to take the oil pan off and do a R&R?

[airfireman1]

would be better to put a pressure guage in the oil light fitting and check the pressure. You can then check the pressure at idle and at a higher rpm. also remove the rocker cover and check the amount of oil reaching the camswhilst cranking it over.
Cheers

[sleeky]

Hi there thanks for the quick reply, yes i could get a pressure gauge but i dont really feel like spending 80-120bucks on a proper gauge then fitting it to check it even though its a good way to check.. i get no oil basiclly at all.. my lobes on my camshafts have no oil on them, not to say they are completely dry but they just have a slight film of oil over it.. usually if you take your oil cap off once its idling, youd get sprayed with oil, i got not one drop... it shouldnt be that dry.. which is why i stopped using the car for now until i can figure out whats going on... and my first thoughts were the pump.

cheers.

[airfireman1]

It doesnt sound too good but i dont think oil pump failures are that common in these engines. It may be a broken pressure relief valve spring, thus it is opening at very little pressure. You could remove the coil lead so the engine does not start and remove the pressure sender unit and crank the engine over to get an idea if the pump is working.
But all that said it would be so much easier to fit a mechanical guage that start removing sumps whilst the engine is in the car and trying to refit gaskets. If it has been like that for a while you may have done damage to the main , camshaft and big end bearings allready
Cheers

[w810sc]

do you have enough oil in the pan? What level is it on the dip stick?
I think it's about 2-3 psi of oil to turn the oil pressure switch light on so it's not good if it comes on and off when driving. Also does your motor get hot ie 90-100 degrees or over heat?

[YelloRolla]

You can take the distributor out and drive the pump with a screwdriver (preferably with a cordless drill). This will prevent engine damage from running the engine with FA oil pressure while you try to diagnose the problem.
When did this start happening?
Has it been running ok prior?
next port of call is going to be removing the oil pan and checking over the pump, I am not aware of any pump failures with these engines and the pick up design is not too bad.

[sleeky]

As far as oil level goes, its full, as it should be. This has been happening over the passed 3months and only last week or so has the noise gotten more noticeable, i havnt been driving it hard at all ever since this has been happening, im getting oil leaking from my distributor where it is tightened to hold it down, sorry forgot to mention that and ive got a 3 core TA22 radiator so water temp is always sitting on 50deg never lower or higher.. only on a extreme hot day sitting in traffic will it climb up to 80deg.. The car has been running fine, no wierd knocking sounds just the sound of the camshafts ticking over quite loudly and the sound of the timing chain running over the guide as if there was no oil on it... if i can hear it over my exhaust system there must be something wrong...

cheers.

[oldcorollas]

stupid question time... anything like a tissue or a rag gotten it's way into the sump?

they can get sucked up onto the pickup, or partialy cover it... then fall back down when engine off.. to give you intermittent oil pressure issues...
don't ask how i know

chain tensioner dead or loose and pissing oil out? oil filter blocked?

[sleeky]

stupid question time... anything like a tissue or a rag gotten it's way into the sump?

they can get sucked up onto the pickup, or partialy cover it... then fall back down when engine off.. to give you intermittent oil pressure issues...
don't ask how i know

chain tensioner dead or loose and pissing oil out? oil filter blocked?

Who knows.. id have to take the sump off to find out i guess.. chain tensioner is fine, not leaking at all i bled it ages ago so it should be ok although sometimes things dont go according to plan.. oil filter? havnt checked that yet.. hmmm

[YelloRolla]

It may be the #1 tensioner, which is behind the timing cover. - edit/ although having said that, there is not a lot that can wrong with them either.

[Celica RA45]

also check the back of the cam shafts to make sure the welsh plugs havnt come out as that will drop your oil pressure by heaps

[jeffro ra28]

How many KM's has this engine done? Is the crankcase pretty well black, sludged up?

I have seen oil pickups block from carbon and sludge. On the particular engine i could blow backwards through the oil gallery with compressed air and blow the pickup clean then flushed sump and viola

[sleeky]

How many KM's has this engine done? Is the crankcase pretty well black, sludged up?

I have seen oil pickups block from carbon and sludge. On the particular engine i could blow backwards through the oil gallery with compressed air and blow the pickup clean then flushed sump and viola

this engine is about 5 years old, when i first bought it, it was taken out of a wrecked car, it had some signs of it been rebuilt at the time with new welsh plugs and cylinders honed from what i could see as the head was seperated from it, so i put a headgasket on it and that was it.. yeah my oil pan is sluged up abit, could be that im up for a new rear main..

[YelloRolla]

rear main seal won't cause you oil pressure problems though. As Jeffro pointed out, the sludge is likely to cause you some grief.

If you're taking the sump off for to clean it, then doing the rear main seal is not a great deal more work; just the removal of the gearbox to get at it, but I can tell that you already know that.

What oil have you been using?