IronsmanMedic

Here's the short of it...

Purchased my '93 runner 3VZE in March. Changed oil immediately to 5-30. After 1,500 miles, I changed it again and went to GTX High Mileage 10-40 due to low oil pressure reading on the dash gauge...ran smoother and quieter but pressure still dropped to "zero" after fully warmed up (on the dash gauge) but it did drop slower.

After scoping out tons of threads here and on Bob The Oil Guy's site, I picked up a Purolator PureOne filter (PL20195 - the larger filter, not the compact one that the site says should be put on). *Note, using the longer one was based on the recommendation of a few people on this site, within a couple different threads. I assume the larger filter = more filter media = more efficient filtering...but what do I know.

Anywho, I just changed the oil w/ Rotella Triple Protection 15-40, again, due to the "zero reading" on the gauge at full op temp, which persisted with the 10-40 from the last change. Switching to Rotella AND the change in weight was based, again, on the recommendation within a few threads here by various people who seemed to know what they were talking about...or they just copied smart sounding stuff from other sites. LOL!

So, here's where I'm at...started the ol' girl up and now there's a ticking noise. It lasted for the first few minutes, then went away. I can hear a tick or two when I rev the engine, even after the persistent ticking is gone. Level looks good-ish (I spilled a bit, so at most, she's 1/3 quart low from the full 5 quarts called for per spec).

I assume the ticking is the valves or lifters and is caused by one or a combination of the following:

1. 15-40 oil being too thick and thus not as easily pumped to the top of the engine.
2. Larger filter (no idea why though).
3. Being 1/3 quart low is actually a bigger issue than I'm thinking.

Any thoughts from anyone on which of the above (or which combination) would be most likely? Should I swap out the larger filter for the smaller one - I actually already have the compact one on hand? Should I drain completely and refill with a 10-40 (I'll have to drive with the current oil in it to pick up some new stuff...will I blow up on the 3 mile drive)? Or perhaps even sticking with the Rotella but getting the T6 (5-40, full synthetic) stuff? Or should I just go pick up another quart of this sheeeeIT and top her off and see what happens over the next couple of days?

My biggest concern is causing any type of permenant damage to the engine. She has a little over 180k on her and I'm just now getting her running well (still not passing smog though)...the last thing I want to do is seize the engine or cause myself the need for a valve job, neither of which could I afford at the moment.

HELP! PLEASE!

P.S. Why the heeeeellllllll is Chrome, Firefox, and IE giving me a virus alert every time I try to access this site today? GRRRRRR!

millball

I would install, at least temporarily, a mechanical type oil pressure gauge that is known to be accurate, in order to determine what your cold and hot oil pressures actually are.
As I recall, the hot idle oil pressure specs on these engines are very low in comparison with many other engines. Only about 5 psi is sufficient at hot idle, if I remember correctly.
These old electrical factory gauges are known to read low.
I do'nt think the larger filter is to blame, unless it is draining out after shutdown, and taking a while to fill up on start-up.
I run 15W40 Rotella in both my 3VZE and my 22RE with no problems.
A quart low, or less, should'nt cause any problems.

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

X2. Get a dedicated oil pressure gauge on there.
My truck warmed up wouldn't show pressure on the stock gauges at idle but did go up when the RPMs were increased.

mct75

Are you able to pull the valve covers?

Changing the filter and oil weights from 5-30 to 15-40 is a pretty big corrective action for just one data point (the 20 year old pressure gauge)

IronsmanMedic

I'll assume I get pick up one of these mechanical type oil pressure gauge at the local Auto Zone. Any idea where exactly it is supposed to be/can be installed? Anything else I need to know or should I Google search this?

The filter is supposed to be valved, so that it prevents drain-out after shut down. Could the larger filter actually cause me to need MORE oil than the standard spec (filter is twice as large as the compact one)?

I've read about this "moving oil pressure" plenty here but never experienced it until this morning (with the new oil weight). The initial change immediately after purchase was just for piece of mind, since God only knows when it was changed last prior to my owning it. When I ran 10-40, while the pressure on the dash gauge showed normal at start up, it did definitely drop much slower...but would still drop to "no reading"/"zero" at full op temp and never once increased, no matter what throttle position was.

The few minutes of running the engine this morning though, I am now getting a reading of mid-line at startup, and a little less than 1/4 at full temp, but the needle comes back to mid-line when throttled up.

I absolutely can pull the valve covers. What am I looking for?

Agreed, but I've been looking at this issue since the last oil change, reading anything and everything I can get my hands on. Barring getting an actual PSI reading to monitor/check everything, it seems a lot of people here (and elsewhere) have dealt with the same symptoms and issue by increasing to anything from 10-40 to 20-50, with Rotella being the most frequently recommended once you need to go above 10-40. The rule of thumb that seems to have worked for everyone is start at 10-40, then 15-50, then try 20-50, stopping at whichever oil weight actually shows a valid and acceptable pressure reading at both initial start-up and after reaching full operating temp.

I haven't read in any of the other threads, here or elsewhere, of anyone hearing a ticking noise after stepping up the weight and/or switching to Rotella (except for one thread I found on a forum site for Jeep owners), nor did I just jump from 5-30 to 15-40 on a whim...there was a 1,500 mile period of 10-40 in there, which although made the truck quieter and run smoother, didn't completely eliminate the issues previously noted.

JasonYota

iTrader: (1)

Not sure what you mean by "moving oil pressure". Oil pressure is dependent with the rpm. Normally most stock gauges are not accurate enough to show a change.

IronsmanMedic

Meaning that when idling, the pressure gauge will read one thing, but as RPMs increase, the needle moves right, indicating an increase in pressure...and as the RPMs decrease, the needle moves left, indicating a decrease in pressure.

Running 10-40, although the gradual drop from mid-line to zero was slowed, no matter what RPMs the engine was turning at, the needle never moved away from "zero"...until this morning. Based on all of the threads, seeing the needle actually move with RPM changes means that pressure is better now...but w/o an actual PSI reading, that's just speculation and conjecture.

millball

Probably easist to pipe the mechanical gauge from the oil galley hole that the factory gauge sender is mounted on, near the oil filter, I think.
Threads are likely BSPT, not common U.S. pipe thread.