BBC oiling problem

northplainsdrifter

I know this is a AMC board but I'm sure one of you fine gentlemen might have answer for me regarding my problem. :mrgreen: I have a 87 motorhome with 97k on the 454 in it. I was coming back from the coast the other day and it started losing a little power coming up a hill so I dropped a gear got back to speed but it got warmer then normal, not hot, then ran good the rest of the way home. After I got home it developed a light noise in the head area. I pulled the right valve cover, started it and there's no oil coming out the rockers at idle. At about 2500 rpm just a little seeps out. The gauge says I have around 30-40lbs oil pressure. I'm betting on the oil gauge to be correct. I have a stetscope and there is no noise coming from the bottom end. I am assumming that I'm getting oil through the crank and cam but not the lifters. I'm not sure where to start looking next. Pull the oil pan and look at the pump or the intake and look there. Any help would be great!

jeepsr4ever

BBC has priority oiling. Check oil level and replace filter.

northplainsdrifter

Priority oiling??? Not sure what that is. I change the oil regularly in all my rigs so the oil level was/is fine. You thinking plugged filter? That sure would be easy, I can give that a try. I was thinking along the lines of cam bearings???? Doesn't the flow go crank, cam then valley?

jeepsr4ever

Crank first then other areas. I would suspect a bad oil pump if your not getting any oil or (most likely) one of your first lifters has collapsed.

rollen dean montoya

check the oil pump 1st. but i am guessing its a collapsed lifter. 454's are notorious. had a 74 suburban 4x4 with a 454 and had to change the lifters, half had failed. and just for fun i installed a high volume oil pump. but 8 miles a gallon it had to go.

northplainsdrifter

I'm going to try a new oil pump first, easy and cheap. I'm not getting oil out of any rockers, could they all fail? Does it have a domino effect if one fails? I haven't pulled the left valve cover to see what's happening there. Try 6.5mpg #-o But what else can you do pulling a trailer w/CJ and camping 30 miles from nowhere... the wife says no tents!

tufcj

Go with a high volume oil pump, not high pressure. Also replace the drive rod between the dizzy and pump. I've seen older ones shear from metal fatigue. It also doesn't hurt to braze the pickup to the pump, where it attaches is above oil level, and it can suck air if it isn't tight. Bob tufcj

rollen dean montoya

tufcj wrote
Go with a high volume oil pump, not high pressure. Also replace the drive rod between the dizzy and pump. I've seen older ones shear from metal fatigue. It also doesn't hurt to braze the pickup to the pump, where it attaches is above oil level, and it can suck air if it isn't tight.

Bob
tufcj

good idea about the pickup. i said the same thing about the pump too, high volume. moves more oil. never thought about the drive rod.