15 replies to this topic

[3gcivicsi]

whats goin on everyone, im tired of this damn light coming on. anyways, heres the story.....

i rebuilt the engine in mighty mouse (my 3g civic) last december, the thing lasted about a month before it sheared the crank and cam keys, therefore bending some valves. i replaced all the valves and lapped the ones that needed it, light checked everything when i was about to put the head back one and everything was good. the engine has been properly broken-in and ive never abused the car since its been running. well ive noticed since then that my oil pressure comes on douring idle. i cant seem to figure it out. i did everything according to the manual and followed everyones tips on here whenever i came a cross a post that was similar to what i was doing. ive also noticed that the engine has a hard tapping sound when i start it up, i know that the engine is dry from the oil settlement but douring the tap, the light is on and as soon as the tapping stops, the light goes off. when ever i am driving, or the rpms are above 1500, the oil light isnt on and the car runs like a champ but as soon as i get to a stop light or have to slow down and the rpms drop below 1500, the light comes right back on. ive also noticed that when its been at idle for a while (like waiting at the bk drive through for example) as soon as i go to take off, i can hear the tapping again untill the oil light goes off. i did buy and install a brand new oil pump during the build and use all brand new gaskets. i figured it would be the oil pressure switch but i havent gotten around to installing it yet. i did purchase an oil pressure gauge and am in the process of finding a good location in the car to install it. that way, i can see what the oil is doing. well anyways, i know im probably leaving out somethings here and there, but between mighty mouse, the road beast (my gsxr 1100 that is having carb problems), and the daily stress of everything else, i guess im just frustrated. besides, i cant sleep and its like 2 am and ive got to go to work in a couple of hours. well thanks for reading, and im open to suggestions. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Edited by Sgt. Pepper, 24 June 2008 - 01:09 AM.

[GENONE]

bugger...

tapping noise sounds like there is no oil delivery 'somewhere' to the system - and since it stop as soon as the light goes off confirms that...

question is where... however i'd be inclined to say top end around the valves you replaced or cam shaft. Perhaps one of the oil delivery holes is blocked to the cam and valves? or somethings in the way... doesn't sound healthy either way.

I'd recommend you pull the top apart, take off the cover, pull out your cam and clean everything thoroughly, pay special attention around cam caps and oil holes... make sure no damage was done when the keys snapped and something is burnt or bent.

We had a situation on a Ford Telstar V6 (don't know if US ever got these) - one of the oil holes was completely blocked - like it was welded, because someone snapped the belt or something, and hear or friction absolutely welded one of the oil holes shut...

thats all i can recommend...

[DEIVIONCRX]

Yea the oil pump is dying. At idle its not moving enough oil too keep the pressure in the galleys. The sad part is i think the Light is set to come on around 3-4 psi. So theres a good chance your bearings might be damaged already.

[GENONE]

he mentioned he got a brand new oil pump and gaskets... would be strange for it to fail like that.

[DEIVIONCRX]

Check the back side of the block where the exit for the pump goes into the block, that o-ring might of slipped and your pumping out all your oil, all over the firewall.

Or it could be a bad pump from the factory. The under 1500rpm light and it goes away when you rev it sounds exactly like a bad pump, same exact thing happend to my friends Mswap 318Ti, he changed the oil pump and it the oil light never came back on.

[jsgprod]

Did you happen to remove the oil control jet shown on this page when you rebuilt the engine?


I doubt you would have, except to maybe clean it (not a bad idea) but it does need to be there. Also, I doubt this would cause your problem but if you used Honda bond on the gasket between the oil pump and the pick-up it ‘could’ be restricting the flow there. FWIW you shouldn’t use gasket sealer on that gasket for that reason.

You really need to connect the oil pressure gauge ASAP, I’m betting you have little to no oil pressure at idle. If so, and you’ve been driving it like that, as Devioncrx said, your bearings are done.

Jay

[3gcivicsi]

thank you everyone for all of your replies, now i have a better idea of what to look for, iv been suspecting it to be the oil pump but since it was brand new, it never occured to me that it could be bad from the factory. i guess from now i have to take everything apart and clean it out. ill replace the oil pump again when i do that.

anyone on here know where i can get another oil pump??

[jsgprod]

anyone on here know where i can get another oil pump??

RockAuto: Only 7 left

I get lots of parts from them.

Jay

[King D]

i did everything according to the manual and followed everyones tips on here whenever i came a cross a post that was similar to what i was doing. ive also noticed that the engine has a hard tapping sound when i start it up, i know that the engine is dry from the oil settlement but douring the tap, the light is on and as soon as the tapping stops, the light goes off.

You never mentioned what any of your bearing clearances were during the rebuild. I would not suspect the oil pump as being the culprit unless you know your main and rod bearing clearances.

[DEIVIONCRX]

IF you pull the oil pump, you can verify if its bad by pulling hte back cover and measuring the gaps according to the FSM.

[strudel]

Before you pull everything apart check the sender unit. Was the sender working before rebuild? Same symptoms happened in my parents Mazda 626. I drove it and oil light would go on at low revs. If I raised the rpm it would go out until everything stabilized and then come on again. Turned out to be a faulty oil pressure sender as it must have gotten gummed up over the years. Try the simple stuff first. JS

[3gcivicsi]

Before you pull everything apart check the sender unit. Was the sender working before rebuild? Same symptoms happened in my parents Mazda 626. I drove it and oil light would go on at low revs. If I raised the rpm it would go out until everything stabilized and then come on again. Turned out to be a faulty oil pressure sender as it must have gotten gummed up over the years. Try the simple stuff first. JS

thanks, i guess im gunna try that. id rather not get it too complicated if possible. i take it that the sender unit is the same as the pressure switch?? i know that i have not changed the switch ever so i figured it might be time for it to start going bad anyways. sorry if im mistaken, im not good with technical names....

[firstgencrx]

If you can hear the rods knocking, the bottom end is toast. The fact you only hear the noise when the oil light is on, is proof your not getting enough oil to the bottom end. If you get your oil pressure problem figured out, you might be able to baby it for a while if your super careful.

It's possible you got a bad pump, or you might have missed something on assembly, causing low oil pressure/flow when you got it going again.

I drove a car for years with trashed rod and main bearings. I never let the engine rev over 2,000 rpm for fear it would blow. The oil pressure on that motor never went over 10 psi, and that was with two cans of STP in the crankcase. When I finally pulled the heads off, the flat tops of the pistons where pounded clean from tapping the heads. That's how much clearance there was on the rods! That motor made a hell of a racket.

Sorry for your troubles. Good luck.

David

[3gcivicsi]

well i figured id let yall know that i no longer have an oil pressure issue!!!!! i decided to go to work and replace my oil pump and what i found both surprised me and pissed me off! it turns out that the 2 12mm nuts that hold the pick up tube to the pump had fallen off. the threads werent stripped or anything, i guess that during the build, i might of just threaded them on by hand and not tightened them. well i get done taking everything apart and there it is, .... 2 studs and no nuts. i was too pissed to take pics so i just found the nuts which were in the oil pan and slapped everything back together. and as a result, the car runs like a champ with no oil pressure issues! i also seized the opportunity and fixed my floppity ass shifter. it looks like ill be able to make the jax. meet next month. its just funny that its the simple things which end up biting you in the ass. lesson learned--- check the basics and the simple shit first, then move on to the more complicated possibilities.

[DEIVIONCRX]

I always put loctite on thoes 2 nuts, ive seen that happen several times.