Thread: 454 oil pressure problem

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Nope, tear it down and see what you can find out.

I had that exact problem on my 331 Ford. Found out I blew out a galley plug so oil was just dumping out into the timing chain area instead of going through the paths it was supposed to take. Not saying that is your problem, just a suggestion. You might have also spun the driveshaft to the oil pump. Pull the distributor and see what it looks like, and maybe put a preluber on it to see what you get.

Don

A spun rod bearing won't cause a total oil pressure loss, nor cam damage either. A main bearing turning might cut oil off to the cam bearings, but it would run for a long time before the cam went away, the bottom end would be wiped out long before the cam. And you would have no pressure immediately on start after changing the top end stuff.
If I had to guess just by what you wrote, I would go with the pump drive.

Years ago I had that happen on the 302 I was running at the time in my 27. Pulled out from a traffic light and started hearing ticking. Thought I blew a header gasket, but when I looked at the oil pressure gauge it was on zero. Pulled the distributor and the end of the pump driveshaft was rounded off instead of hex shaped. Put a new driveshaft in it and drove it for another few years with no problems.

Don