Low oil pressure ticking sounds

[bsunds 10]

Running a 302 with hydraulic lifters, so I had a lift that was ticking on the driver side of engine fixed it then another month goes by running good but now a lifter or more is now ticking as well and my oil pressure also lowered as a result, used to run a little bit above 3/4 on the pressure gauge now its at 1/4 sometimes it's completely on L. Also when the engine was running well I would get vibrations above 60 mph. Anyone got any idea to these problems I think the vibrations may be my alignment because it will still vibrate when I kick it in nuet at 65ish. But I dont know why my lifters keep comming lose and why my pressure is bad maybe they are connect with the lifter issue? Pls any advice would be awesome! Also before the pressure dropped I started to get these gurgling sounds that you could only really hear inside the car, sounded like it was comming from the exhaust pipes.

Edited January 3, 2012 by bsunds
Bad wording

[bsunds 10]

When the some of the lifters started to tick, that was a maybe after 50 miles or so after my oil pressure started to run low

Edited January 3, 2012 by bsunds

[LindenBruce 27]

Well, that doesn't sound good dude. First I would verify what oil pressure you have, if any, using a mechanical gauge. Ticking lifters usually indicate a worn cam lobe or lifter base. However, it's possible some of your rocker arm studs are beginning to pull out of the head which is a common problem. This will cause excessive clearance and hence the sound of a ticking lifter.

 

If you have no pressure with a mechanical gauge guess what? REBUILD TIME!!! If you have good pressure it's time to start looking else where. Like a wiped out cam or pulled rocker studs to start. What's the history on this engine? Bruce

[Lemon Owner 11]

Like Bruce said check it with a mechanical gauge. If you check the thread on my engine you will see I had the same problem. And it turned out my engine was just plum worn out. The cam lobes were near flat, my bearings were worn out the lifters had had enough. I had to do a complete rebuild.

[bsunds 10]

Do you think that maybe me running 5 w30 oil may also cause this problem our a bad oil pump? And not sure about the engine when I bought it the guy said they did a rebuild a while back my guess probably anywhere between 30 and 90k miles ago

[Lemon Owner 11]

Not sure about the oil effecting the engine in that way. But one thing I can tell you is take what the PO says with a grain of salt. Mine said the engine in my mach1 was rebuilt too, but it turned out all original. Lol I guess it was true it was rebuilt, just the timing was off, by 40 odd years.

 

The vibrations could be alot of things but could be as simple as and most likely wheel balance. Unlikely to be related to the low oil pressure but I guess you never know.

Edited January 13, 2012 by Lemon Owner