Thread: a few issues all at once.

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I could get into trouble saying this buthere it goes.

chevy small blocks cant handle running low on oil as well a chrysler engine, or a ford engine they are prone to spin a bearing, that is chevy's "main" weakness. its oiling problems.

but thats ok I learned that the hard way also, in the beginning I had done the same as you.
and now im trying to get my wife into the habbit of checking the oil daily, so far she can pop the hood on her own. lol

Originally posted by fordsfairlane
I could get into trouble saying this buthere it goes.

chevy small blocks cant handle running low on oil as well a chrysler engine, or a ford engine they are prone to spin a bearing, that is chevy's "main" weakness. its oiling problems.

but thats ok I learned that the hard way also, in the beginning I had done the same as you.
and now im trying to get my wife into the habbit of checking the oil daily, so far she can pop the hood on her own. lol

The Chevy small block can't handle running low on oil as well as a Chrysler or a Ford engine?The Chevy is prone to spin bearings?The Chevy's main weakness is its oiling system?How did you come to all these conclusion's?

There isn't any engine that likes running low on oil. The chevy smallblock has a pretty darn good oiling system compared to many of the other engines out there.

I have never had this engine over 2500 RPM's myself. I just put the engine in the truck not to long ago and the truck hasnt seen the road yet. ive had the engine sitting in my garage for 2 years after buying it off a friend...

I have had some over heating problems latly due to lack of tightening hoses on the radiator I suppose this could have caused a blown head gasket? Now that I have the hoses tightened it still runs warm, around 210 or so and seems to struggle to keep from overheating.

Originally posted by erik erikson
The Chevy small block can't handle running low on oil as well as a Chrysler or a Ford engine?The Chevy is prone to spin bearings?The Chevy's main weakness is its oiling system?How did you come to all these conclusion's?

because back when I used to chase after girls I would sometimes forget to check oil in my chevy. once I let the oil get 2 quarts low and . I was pushing the engine in a street race. at first the engine started to rattle. next day I put oil in and started it up and the rattle was still there, the engine was torn down and the number 3 rod bearing had spun, and I have had this happen on more than 3 other engines in 3 other cars, but not all at the same time.

im not putting the chevy down. just they tend to have this problem. but thats not saying ford and chrysler dont have there flaws, because they do. as do every automobile on the planet.
I was just pointing out what I think is chevy's weekness.

Originally posted by fordsfairlane
because back when I used to chase after girls I would sometimes forget to check oil in my chevy. once I let the oil get 2 quarts low and . I was pushing the engine in a street race. at first the engine started to rattle. next day I put oil in and started it up and the rattle was still there, the engine was torn down and the number 3 rod bearing had spun, and I have had this happen on more than 3 other engines in 3 other cars, but not all at the same time.

im not putting the chevy down. just they tend to have this problem. but thats not saying ford and chrysler dont have there flaws, because they do. as do every automobile on the planet.
I was just pointing out what I think is chevy's weekness.

Sounds to me like you where to tight on your rod bearing clearance's.

nystreetscened,
I didn't know you had the engine sitting up that long. What might be wrong then is you spun a cam bearing on initial start-up. Might want to empty the oil out of the pan and check for metal. My engine had set up for some time before I started it and the same thing happened. I spun the 3 center cam bearings, my oil pressure did just like yours it was around 40 cold and would go to about nothing once it warmed up. Drained the oil and saw bearing material. Pulled the engine and pan and the center cam bearing was sitting in the pan. Had the block cam journels cut for oversize cam bearings and had to get a new cam as the journels on it were tore up. I had even primed the oil pump really well before starting it up but it didn't help.
I hope you don't have the same problem.

Fordsfairlane,
If you ran the engine low by two quarts then you only had three left in teh pan. If you turn the motor up at higher rpms you will run out of il in the pan and of course something has to give. The small block chevy doesn't have a weak oiling system.

I don't recall ever having the bottom end go on a SBC. Pistons, now, thats another story. And cam lobes.

This may be a reach, and I sure don't want to insult you, but have you had the rocker covers off of that engine? Sometimes if an engine is really badly sludged up, the oil return holes can be plugged up to the extent that oil can't get back to the pan, at least it can't get back fast enough. A lot of oil will pool up on top of the heads. That could account for the dry dipstick. You can get lifter noise and smoke.

A complete rebuild is probably the only cure.

Jim

I have had the valve covers off. The engine has been well maintaned as there is no sludge or crust on top of the heads or in the valley. Some one I work with mentioned that my intake may be leaking and that is a possability since I did have the intake off, it probably needs to be retorqued.

Originally posted by erik erikson
Sounds to me like you where to tight on your rod bearing clearance's.

you could be right.

I sould be truethfull, the engines I was talking about were from my teen years and back then I had no respect for a car, not like I do know. meaning that back then I would run an engine into the ground for a quik fix of speed.

I have destroyed many engines back then

my first was a 351c that was in a 76 ford elite.
2nd was a 440 74 dodge pickup.
3rd was a 350 in a 72 chevy pickup went through 2 engines
4th a 350 in a 84 chevy montecarlo.went through 2 engine rebuilds
5th was a 71 olds delta 88 , 455 rocket, actually only wrecked this car
and many more after these. but im sure many of you have destroyed cars , that you wished you didnt now.