what went?

hi group!

folks! pls help me with this one - so i'm starting up the jeep this evening first time in the day (meaning it's dead cold) some 3 secs after startup i hear this single ... 'ping' (or whatever the word is) a similar sound would be produced when a large nut (say 1/2-in screw size) is dropped onto a metal surface i thought to myself 'what the hell was that' i glanced over all the gages: eng temp, volts, fuel level & oil press (as i always do after startup) i noticed the oil pressure to be lower than normal (showing about 53#, as opposed to normal 75#) i revved the engine but ... the oil pressure needle wouldn't move a tiny bit! so i'm thinking the oil filter blew, or the pump, or something else, but what? and would the sound i heard suggest something dropped into the oil pan? what? i shut the engine and didn't touch it since where am i looking to help figure these mysteries?

oil 10w30 filter fram ph16 ambient temp 32-F

91 wrangler, 4.0-L

any input appreciated many thanks, pete

Reply to
Peter D.
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Peter D. did pass the time by typing:

32 isn't cold for an engine unless the antifreze is not at the proper mix. I've started the ZJ in weather down to -20.

If the filter blew you would be pumping oil all over the place but that is not likely, filter bodies can take a lot of pressure. That doesn't mean it couldn't fail internally and bypass. Might be a good idea to change the oil and put a new filter on.

If the pump went you wouldn't have any oil pressure at all and would hear a not so nice grinding noise as the gears self destructed. Providing they just didn't seize up and twist the end off your distributor shaft.

The sender might have failed internally, but usually when that happens the oil pressure gauge either goes to zero or pegs.

Things dropped in the oil pan go sploosh becuase it's full of oil. :) You heard something break or possibly an expansion noise. Lots of engine parts will pop and groan as things cool off or heat up. Especially the exhaust header.

I'd start by looking under the hood and the jeep. :)

Check around the filter and pressure sender, remove and clean the senders connector. Look for critters or things that might have gotten in there.

Reply to
DougW

Wouldn't the plastic drive gear on the timing chain give up before the distributor shaft broke?

Reply to
Lee Ayrton

Likely, but he still has oil pressure so that is moot.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
Reply to
Mike Romain

That's possible. The weak points are the tang that drives the oil pump and the pin that holds the gear to the distributor shaft. I keep forgetting the I6 uses nylon teeth in the gear. My old chevy used a steel gear drive.

Reply to
DougW

That reminds me: The venerable Slant 6 in the late 1960s had a nylon drive gear on the distributor -- as I found out one fine frigid day when I'd dropped one of the points hold-down screws down inside the distributor. Oops. Hey, I was a kid and still thought a hammer was a tool for fine work. I lost _that_ notion after breaking the replacement gear by trying to push a roll pin that was too long through it.

-- "I defer to your plainly more vivid memories of topless women with whips....r" R. H. Draney recalls AFU in the Good Old Days.

Reply to
Lee Ayrton

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