oil pressure dropping to 0psi

[ford396]

Looking for some ideas here. I have a 360ci Dart little M billet block with restrictors in both ends of the lifter oil galleys, Peterson external wet sump pump, Bryant crank, Carrillo rods and no oil pressure after a couple of laps. It has a billet flat tappet cam & DLC lifters along with spring spray bars. No cheap stuff here but definitely not working as is.

I had this motor on the chassis dyno a couple of weeks ago and had no problems. We had our first track time this weekend and immediately started suffering a loss of oil pressure. It will run normal pressures for a few laps and then go away. Shut it down and restart pressure ok again. I installed the Go Pro camera pointing at the gauge and sure enough it would drop to 0 for a split second at the end of the straight. I tried adding additional court of oil, but it did not help. I then removed the oil lines going to the valve spring spray bars. This helped and allowed us to continue our testing.

I can live without the spray bars if needed, but when we got up around 8000 rpm our problem started coming back. I am afraid to take this to a bigger track as is.

Any ideas on how to solve this problem. I have a #12 line off from the front of left valve cover going to a breather can. Is this possibly the culprit. Something is causing my 7qrt pan to run dry. Not sure how to get it back to the bottom any sooner.

I would appreciate any help from some of you who may have had similar experiences.

[usafracer]

Sounds like you might have to much oil in it and its foaming up.

[Egoracing]

Looking for some ideas here. I have a 360ci Dart little M billet block with restrictors in both ends of the lifter oil galleys, Peterson external wet sump pump, Bryant crank, Carrillo rods and no oil pressure after a couple of laps. It has a billet flat tappet cam & DLC lifters along with spring spray bars. No cheap stuff here but definitely not working as is.

I had this motor on the chassis dyno a couple of weeks ago and had no problems. We had our first track time this weekend and immediately started suffering a loss of oil pressure. It will run normal pressures for a few laps and then go away. Shut it down and restart pressure ok again. I installed the Go Pro camera pointing at the gauge and sure enough it would drop to 0 for a split second at the end of the straight. I tried adding additional court of oil, but it did not help. I then removed the oil lines going to the valve spring spray bars. This helped and allowed us to continue our testing.

I can live without the spray bars if needed, but when we got up around 8000 rpm our problem started coming back. I am afraid to take this to a bigger track as is.

Any ideas on how to solve this problem. I have a #12 line off from the front of left valve cover going to a breather can. Is this possibly the culprit. Something is causing my 7qrt pan to run dry. Not sure how to get it back to the bottom any sooner.

I would appreciate any help from some of you who may have had similar experiences.

Are you running enough oil in the pan?? It almost sounds like you are sucking the pan dry. Also check the pan bottom to make sure you did not dent it in and cause it to bind the trap doors shut.

[ford396]

Ego, I am sure that I am indeed sucking the pan dry. The bottom of the pan is nice an new. Hell it still has a nice shine to it I tried adding an additional quart and it did not help?

Does anyone have an exact number that would be referenced from the oil pan rail, as to what the oil level should be.

[stock car driver]

The full hole I drill in the side of my pans is 4 5/16 from the pan rail. I copied that location off a pan I had which had the full hole.

It keeps the oil just in the sump, not up into the fwd part of the pan.

The only times Ive had my oil psi drop to zero like that I was 3 qts low on oil and I have had a few pick kevco pick up tubes break off.

[Egoracing]

I would call the pan mfg and tell them what I was using and see what they say. Stock Car Driver has a valid point but if you use it while running a deck mounted oil cooler or your vlave cover sprayers the pan will be empty and your bearings will fail as the required added volume for the lines and cooler will use up what is in the pan unless you are checking it while it is running and then you could end up with a mess.

[SRXSRULE]

Pull the pan. Check the gates for operation (ive had some bad right out of the box). Double check the pick-up tube is not broke/cracked and also make sure the clearance to the floor of the oil pan is correct. Eric

[stock car driver]

When I ran a heat exchanger... I filled it and the lines with oil separately to verify exactly how much oil I needed in the pan. the fill hole in the side will work with out the coolers etc but you need to verify the complete system and theres no way I know of to do it running.

[gun91]

What kind of oil filter are you running? I have seen very similar problems with oil filters collapsing inside. Pressure was fine for a few laps then gone. I only run wix filters and have never had a problem since changing. Everytime I have seen it happen with the filter it was either store brand (oreillys) or fram

[ford396]

I run the 2qrt Wix filter and it does have a cooler plumbed in between the filter and the block. On my initial fill, I have about 10 qrt of oil in engine after all of the plumbing is full.

I think I will pull the pan and check the trap doors. It is a new Moroso pan that I had built for this engine. I definitely need to find the culprit or I will have a big boat anchor soon.

[Egoracing]

I agree on pulling the pan, I have seen one top brand name pan that had the doors in backwards. They replaced it and offered to fix any damage but luckly the guy caught it before he used it.

[SS Motorsports]

You may also have some lines that are being sucked flat, especially if some of the hoses were old.

[ford396]

OK. I had the opportunity to remove the oil pan tonight. I do not see any trap doors stuck nor do I see any other signs of concern. It is a Moroso pan with a 1" tube going to a box pickup and an AN 16 fitting on the left side of the pan. I do question their decision to place the box 2" from the right side of the pan. Seems like I am wasting a lot of capacity that is beyond the pickup box. Does anyone have any experience with these pickups. It seems to me that if the oil level drops below the top of the tube, it will be exposed to air and therefore cause my cavitation??? I have seen some kits that use the 1" tube with a simple slot cut in the bottom. It seems that this would be more effective?

I am going to contact Moroso tomorrow and see what they have to say. I am sure that I already know, and I now have a $600 paperweight.

The hose from pan to pump is less than 12" long and is new, so I do not think it is possible to be sucked shut.

[FLYNBRYAN]

Have you tried another oil pressure gauge?
Do you have any hard 90 deg fittings in the system?
The pump could be bypassing internally
What are you oil temps?

[Egoracing]

We ran one on an asphalt modified but I can not remember the amount of oil we had in it. Which pan part # are you running?