It has been a period of time without regular oil changes. The parifin/contamination build up is pretty substantial. Won't call it a sludge motor but these motors won't take much contamination. Also probably run low oil level at times. The pressure regulator valve is Gaulded. Maybe big issue in pressure problem. Noise means damage.

 

Interesting info. thanks I was surprised by how much oil was caked to the side of everything.

I'm a bit confused interims of which size or gauge of plasti-gauge to buy to check the mains

If the valve is gaulded wouldn't the inside bore of the mating surface on the pump be damaged as well? I cant see much by looking inside the bore...

Late on Friday afternoon, A day before I removed the pump I had called Honda dealer nearby asking how much a pump was going to cost and they told me to call them Monday and they would put a pump on order for me, the guy also said they can sell just the replacement valve. Do you think I should replace both the pump and valve or just the valve? The rest of the pump was in perfect spec according to the service check and clearances given in he manual. Id really hate to buy a pump if I don't need to as it looks as tho I might be into a bunch of coin on bearings or worse.

this is my first time plasti gauging anything, im a bit nervous to remove the lower block.

 

+1. Not just what I've read - sadly, hat has been my own experience with other engines. If only it was just the pump!

If its me, I would hold off on spending $ on that pump until I've identified the root cause of the low pressure.

How many miles does the engine have on it?

 

You could try running high mileage, heavier weight oil (like 10W-40), see if that helps the oil pressure issue. At least, until you can pull the engine and mike the main and rod bearings.

 

Green plastigauge, check the rods it's pretty simple, and usually but not always what fails first. Lock the crank, pull a rod cap, wipe the journal, make a small line across the journal w/ plastigauge goo, then tighten to spec. Pull the cap again and compare the squished plastigauge line to the legend on the plastigauge container, that's your rod clearance, compare to specs in service manual.

 

Ahhh plastigage. Brings me back to my first engine rebuild on a toyota straight six. Cool stuff and pretty amazing that we gauge such critical clearances measuring the width of a piece of plastic torqued to spec. But, it works pretty darn well.

 

Awesome thanks so much,

The engine has about 110 miles on the odo. Ive ordered some green plasti guage and a torque angle guage.

I read that the weight of the crank and flywheel will cause mis readings in my plastiguage testing? Where should I put upwards pressure with a jack

there sure wont be much space under there to be torqueing caps and screws with a jack in the way. sigh,

would it be easer to remove the engine or lay on my back and try to attempt my first plasti guage check?

lastly what should I use to lube the bearings during re-installation ?

 

If the engine is in the car you can check rod bearings easily. Lock the crank by putting it in 6th, and parking brake on. Use assembly lube of your choice(I really like using standard Lucas oil stabilizer as assembly lube), only put lube on the journal side of the bearing.

To check mains you need to pull the block girdle and will need to support the crank.

 

It just occured to me - did you consider the possibility that the oil pressure gauge is bad? Low hanging fruit - but you never know!

 

I did change out the defi sensor for a new oem sensor - this was one of my first checks along with the level of oil on the dipstick.

The engine temp was coming up and down so I was left with only few options, check the pump which is good and pump checkvalve plus oil squirters ---> which I haven't got to yet and then check rod bearing clearances I still haven't removed the lower block.

as soon as the plasti guage and torque angle attachment arrive I will check the bearings clearances - for now I can only prey that i'll be able to get the correct bearings to bring the clearances back into spec and get some oil pressure.