LUVTruck.com

I did a complete tune-up on everything before leaving for a 300 mile strip. Made the trip fine. Come back to CA, and drive it over some steep and rocky roads in 4x4. It does great!

GO back to the highway for 5 miles to get back, and it starts to lose power. Just replaced every vacuum line and bypassed the air injection system. I plugged the hole in the air cleaner where the air injection system goes, disconnected the belt, and plugged the vacuum line to the thing that sits below the air pump.

Anyway, the engine starts making a bad sound, like SEVERE pinging. Previously, I had heard a sound like a bearing is going to go out, it comes and goes-but it seems to be coming form the alternator/water pump/whatever.

I pull off from the highway after noticing no power, and as I am going down the road i pull the clutch in and the engine dies.

It starts right back up.

So I have *no power* at all.

I pull in to where i need to be, open the hood, and rev the engine.

Pinging noises like CRAZY, and at the end of one rev it goes CLANG-PING!! but from inside the engine, like something broke.

There is an oil pressure gauge in the cab, and it reads normal until the motor heats up, then it reads 0. I figured, the gauge is bad-there is actually dirty engine oil inside of it.

Maybe it isn't bad.

Check the oil-no oil in the crankcase.

[I disconnected the oil line to the oil pressure gauge and turned the engine on. It takes a few seconds, then oil will drip out pretty slowly, and with the engine running I can put my finger over the line and stop the oil from coming out entirely. What does everyone think? Oil pump? If that is the case then someone isn't right in the upper end, because of the noise I heard. I just can't believe it. Please give me some advice]

I JUST put 1 gallon of good synthetic oil in, (300 miles ago) and there are NO leaks, and the engine does not smoke.

Check the oil again in a few minutes-plenty of oil.

So, what next? I have no idea what to do. How do I find out if the top end is starving for oil?

I couldn't check the engine temp because the sending unit (Wherever it is, the manual doesn't say where it's at) wire cam off. So I can't tell you how hot it got. I'm sure it was hot, though. What do I do, now? My only other option is driving a moped illegally.

gee sounds a bit familar to me.

driving down the street, shift smoothly into 3rd, lose power. coast home, rev the engine to check and PING PANG PONG. lots of sounds like it was broken.

6 months later here i am, finally did a compression test, took off the head. BOOM

huge explosion in my headgasket.

i forgot to retorque the headbolts after 600-1000 miles, BUT if you didn't do a rebuild, it happened to me before when i first got the truck.

they are notorious for blown headgaskets, and i can pretty much guarantee thats what it was from past experience.

so grab a compress. tester and check em. my bet is between 3 and 4.

but yeah luvs are not really the greatest for long trips, especially at 50-60 miles per hour for a long period of time, unless you did a complete overhaul and gotlike a 5 speed tranny. haha

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sorry to here aboout all of the truble you are having with your truck the engine temp sending is under the intake manofold clost to the distrubutor the wire hook up is like a nail head the wire just clips on

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I will no longer do that thing with my tongue

I've got the engine halfway out-all I need is the one bolt that is on the top of the starter and the hoist will take the engine right out.

That would be great if it is only a headgasket.

Then again, I took the oil pressure gauge line off and oil barely dripped out-so that tells me the oil pump is bad. But if it's the headgasket..

And also, those sounds I heard were just... BAD. I would swear it was mechanical. A headgasket would be great though.

Are they notorious for bad oil pumps??

Thanks for the help, guys.

P.S. There are two yellow wires that look like they can be sending unit connectors. There is a long one and a short one and they are both in the same exact spot.

OH HEY ALSO-there was NO oil in the crankcase when I first stopped and checked it. A few minutes later I had plenty of oil. That means the upper end is getting lube, right? Now that the engine is almost out, is there any way I can know for sure if the oil pump is good or not? I am in a such a way that even if there is damage from oil starvation, I have to drive it anyway.

When I first started the engine, one spark plug was about to fall out, and I hadn't of connected one of the other spark plugs. It was literally running on 2 cylinders so I suppose I could have blown my gasket.

i don't know why but i have pull the stick on mine twice to get a reading. like i will kill the motor pull the stick (no oil) wipe it reinsert pull it right back out and bam!! oil!!! all of my trucks have been like this new r old motors.

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the only replacement for displacement is technology.

I don't have the $ to do anything right now but the oil pump, headgasket, oil pan gasket, and valvecover gaskets, and even then I will be hurting.

I got off the phone with a certified mechanic and he told me if the oil pump isn't putting out oil, that the motor is shot and not to put money for an oil pump in it at all.

However, is it indicative of a bad oil pump when it reads normal pressure, then goes down to 0 after a while-unless the gauge is faulty?

Also, if the oil pump is bad, then why did all of the oil not go into the crankcase at first-it HAD to have been up top.

I notice that where I had the oil line for the gauge disconnected at the motor, that it had a sort of sticky gooey slime inside of it-maybe the gauge line was plugged, and that's why oil just barely dripped out.

Anyone have anything else to add? I have no idea what I'm going to do.

my motor pushes something like 60 to 80 psi so something shouldn't be blocking it.

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the only replacement for displacement is technology.

Well, if it IS the oil pump, he said that the oil will never make it past the main bearings and not make it to the head, but I can't buy a new engine, so replacing the pump might be my only option, and hoping it makes it to the head (Which it should be, after all there was no oil in the crankcase).

So what's this about the bearings being bad? Those are just the shim-things that go on the crank and connecting rods, right? If I plastigauged those and replaced those and the pump, would that solve any oil starvation issues?

Sounds like I have an oil AND headgasket issue. Fantastic.

Check and make sure the oil drain back holes in the head are not stopped up. If this is the case, the oil pump will pump all the oil out of the crankcase = no oil pressure.

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If you think no one cares, try missing a couple of payments...



FIAA!

SFPP!

Ditto on mytmouz's comment. On my '78 I ran a can of Rislone engine cleaner through it and regained some oil pressure. If you're dash OIL light works properly, and it comes on, odds are it's main bearings and not the oil pump. I don't think the oil pump is a high failure item on these trucks, but I'm not an expert on these engines. Wear seems to show up in the bearings and not the pump with most worn out engines I've had.

Also, the dipstick is notoriously inaccurate on the first pull, even the second pull on a lot of trucks. On the '78 the 3rd in/out gave an actual reading. I was talking with ctmandu about this, and apparently it is a component of the engine design. I don't know if it's pressure/vacuum or a combination of the two. 800xl could probably enlighten us.

You said it ran well until you offroaded it a bit, right? It almost sounds like something got knocked out of whack. Did you check fuel pressure? If you dislodged a big chunk of rust in the tank when 4 wheeling, it could be blocking/restricting fuel flow to the carb. Is there fuel in the oil? The float may be stuck, or crap in the needle seat. I know you've already got the engine out, but these are things you'll want to check before putting it back together. I'm glad you made it to where you can work on it, sorry to hear it's turned into a problem though.

What part of the country are you in btw?

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"If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves" - Thomas Edison

I live in the high desert (Lucerne Valley) of California.

Gentlemen, I pulled the engine and took a look at rearmost main bearing.

The first thing I noticed was about a handful of metallic shavings-some rather LARGE flakes sitting at the beginning, shallow portion of the oil pan.

MMHMM.

The next thing I noticed was that the oil pickup screen was COMPLETELY clogged with stuff that I'd have to take a blowtorch to to get off.

The third thing I noticed is that the bearing journal is completely shot, wearing down into a gold-copper area, and the crankshaft journal is so scratched I can feel the scratches.

I do remember putting 1/3 bottle of Seafoam in the engine, in the carb, and in the gas tank to clean everything out before it got an oil change, and boy, I guess it did it's job.

When I changed the oil, big black clumps of garbage plopped out. The synthetic oil I put in looked like it hadn't been changed in 100,000 miles.

Well, I think it's a testament to the engine, that it actually ran (And still starts) under these circumstances. Unfortunately for me, this leaves me broke and stranded. However, I know that no matter how bad it looks, God will always love me, and His mercy endures forever.

Also this entire time it has seemed to me that this engine had more like... 65-75 HP rather than 95. Just seat of the pants dyno, but I will tell you, it has had trouble from the beginning even climbing small hills.

OK I got off of the phone with a friend, and he says this: "It worked on my 1960 Lincoln!" He says to use valve lapping compound on all of the main bearings and connecting rods, and not to even bother with the top end, it will be fine. He says it quited down his motor-but his motor only had ONE place that needed the compound, not necessarily even a bearing, either. I guess in my situation where I have nothing to drive, it might work temporarily, but will this fix leave me with no/low oil pressure to the top end? He was saying just to buy a really heavy oil to lubricate everything else.

P.S. Just how much side to side up and down play should be at the transmission shaft where it connects to the engine? I have about 3/16 of play in mine any direction. I was just wondering if that's normal.

Ok well I refreshed the browser 5 or 6 times and the edit button never showed up.

So I called around and finally got a junkyard in Ontario that has 1,500 vehicles with a HALF OFF sale going on this weekend.

If I can find a G180 (How do I tell if it is a G180? Were they only on LUV trucks?) it will be $75!!

Also, if I can find a 5 speed from a 4x4 Isuzu, it will be 70 bucks!! I do need a headlight bezel, too, and this.. and that...

Right on!

A 1.8/1.9/2.3 should fit, do some searching here for swaps/Isuzu interchanges and you'll find a lot of info on what would work.

Here's one (of many) on the engine(s): viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10636&hilit=isuzu+engine+fits

Lot's of 800xl posts in that one, really good stuff...^

Here's one on the 5 speed swap: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=14306&hilit=isuzu+interchange

There are a couple of threads on that one too.

How far is Placerville from you? viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15905 He's getting ready to haul these off I think, it might be worth checking in on 'em.

Good luck, I think with a little resourcefulness you'll find that your truck can be put back together relatively inexpensively...

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"If we did the things we are capable of, we would astound ourselves" - Thomas Edison

Well, I went to a junkyard and got the $150 barrel deal, where you fill this wheelbarrel with as much stuff as you can, limited to one engine and one trans. Since it was a special, they offered no assistance. I had to lift the engine out with my bare hands, that was a lot of fun.

Anyway, got the engine in (What a pain) and bolted to the trans, everything hooked up.

I rebuilt the carb and found out the new float valve was bad, so I put the old one back in.

I also got a MNP (?) 5 speed transmission out of what looked like a trooper, the thing is pretty big, it has a juice clutch on the passenger side, but I also got the juice clutch assy out and the cross member and rear driveshaft-but the front driveshaft was missing.

SO I rebuild the carb and set it on the new old engine and get it all adjusted. Except when I go for a job interview I don't make it out past the gate, the truck has like 25 horsepower, if that, and then finally refuses to even idle.

I also 'adjusted' the setscrew and nut on the carb (The only one that is visible from the outside of the carb, it may affect the "coast" jet??) so I probably screwed it up, but the manual says nothing about it.

I made sure the float was adjusted right, and also the valves were adjusted before the engine got put on.

Any help is appreciated.