Drop in O.Pressure...overheating...now?

[PalmHarborBlkv6]

Driving in warm weather Friday....on highway and within 3 miles at 45mph....oil pressure starts falling....engine temp gauge shows gauge at 12:00....then 1....then 2....I pull over at national tire chain store. They look at radiator....fluid is down....it had been flushed and changed about 2 weeks ago. Radiator is about three years old. They look at oil on dipstick and looks clean and normal. When engine ran it was rough. One guy says U need a new thermostat and flush radiator. Other guy says head gasket is gone. They use some device that has blue water in it and attached to port on radiator...it does not turn yellow so he says its okay...then he uses it on exhaust pipe and it turns yellow.
Because they were so unsure and wanted $600 to replace the radiator and thermostat, I had it towed to a shop. They are checking it out today.
Any ideas? (this is my second engine....this one is a rebuilt by Jasper before some owner crashed the car and it ends up in the Junk yard. No way to know how many miles were on it before I got it. Oil pan is badly dented when I got it. Any ideas??????

[CFreed11]

Re: Drop in O.Pressure...overheating...now?

It was flushed 2 weeks ago...was the coolant system filled all the way back up? Just because coolant comes to the top of the radiator when you initially fill it doesn't mean it's full. There would still be a ton of air in the system. This shouldn't affect oil pressure though.

[PalmHarborBlkv6]

Re: Drop in O.Pressure...overheating...now?

Sorry, this does not answer my question about the diagnosis of my problem with the engine. I have looked at a consumer website and I see all kinds of rip offs people have had buying a used engine from:Southwest, Jasper J&S, got engine.com, LKQ, accurate engines and woodfins just to name a few...these seem to be severe problems with the engines and the problems getting satisfaction from these companies.

[Docta]

Re: Drop in O.Pressure...overheating...now?

And the blue water test is a block tester, to see if there is hydrocarbons in the coolant. If it stayed blue,, head gaskets, heads and block are (theorhically) in good shape.

I feel like the two issues are unrelated. Instead of popping the Rad cap, try the bleeder on the thermostat housing. Should be a 7(?)mm screw on top of a bigger one. Just be careful if its hot, because it likes to blow huge amounts of steam out.

If the pan is dented, it very well could be interfering with the oil pickup tube.

[PalmHarborBlkv6]

Re: Drop in O.Pressure...overheating...now?

The test when done from the radiator...stayed blue....when done from the exhaust pipe it was yellow. I don't know why they would not be the same.

[Docta]

Re: Drop in O.Pressure...overheating...now?

I don't understand the exhaust one... hydrocarbons are basically unburned fuel, so I don't see how that WOULDN'T be in the exhaust.

[ssms5411]

Re: Drop in O.Pressure...overheating...now?

When it was flushed 2 weeks ago did you bleed the system to where there was no air in the system? I know when I've done mine in the past it took several tries to get the air out. Also how hot did it get?(was it past the 210 mark) How low was the oil pressure? Mine will drop to about 30 when warmed up but at first start its at 60 and above.

[PalmHarborBlkv6]

Re: Drop in O.Pressure...overheating...now?

Yes it was done. Oil pressure in this used engine never reaches 12 o clock, it was always too low since I got the engine so I had to run 10 W-50 to get oil pressure at about ten o clock.....temp went to about 2 o clock on the dial.

[WarShrike]

Re: Drop in O.Pressure...overheating...now?

How much water is in the reservoir? If it is low or empty, the radiator will not have anything to use if it starts to bleed off. That's something that many people seem to overlook on these cars.

[PalmHarborBlkv6]

Re: Drop in O.Pressure...overheating...now?

I have been reading on the net that this kind of problem is very common with this engine and in fact it is not unusual that after head gaskets have been replaced etc...the engine does the same thing shortly after the repairs are done!