96 Oil Pump Failure? (1 Viewer)

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Joined
Dec 19, 2014
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Hey guys,

I have a 96 with about 220k miles, it's supercharged, but I take good care of it, regular synthetic oil changes, etc. I live in SOCAL and recently had to take a road trip to Denver where I am currently working temporarily until the end of the year. Prior to leaving I wanted to make sure the truck would be up to the trip, so I had a shop fix a persistent slow leak coming from the front main seal. I drove from CA to CO, no issues at all. It still runs strong and is a reliable truck.

It's been very cold here in Denver since I arrived and the power steering pump whines the first couple of minutes before it warms up. I've been trying to let it warm up before I take it anywhere. Once it's warm, it's no problem.

Yesterday I had a day off and got on the interstate to visit a friend in western Kansas about three hours away. Truck was running fine. I was halfway there on cruise control doing about 75 and went up a small hill. The cruise control down-shifted to compensate for the hill and a moment or two later I noticed something was wrong. Something didn't sound right. The engine was dead. The RPMs were still high since I was doing 75, but it wasn't running voluntarily. At least I think that's what I remember seeing. It all happened very quickly.

I pulled over and popped the hood and saw nothing out of the ordinary except a small amount of discharge from the radiator and a boiling noise. The engine was not overheating, I chalked this up to driving at 75mph and suddenly turning off the engine without adequate cool-down (correct me if I'm wrong here).

I let it sit for several minutes and tried to start it. At first it didn't want to start. It turned over, but that was about it. I gave it some more time and tried it again. It turned over and ran, but it ran terribly! It sounded rough and noisy. I noticed there was no oil pressure. Previously my oil pressure gauge has been working fine. I turned it off. I started it once more about 20-30 minutes later with the same result. I've attached a video of trying to start it at the end of the post.

I had a good five hour sit waiting for the tow truck (apparently the tow truck overheated...), freezing my ass off on the side of the highway, and during that period I had a lot of time to search the forums and read about what could have happened.

No oil pressure leads me to think the oil pump died.

But it could also be that the shop who fixed the front main seal leak did not torque the flywheel pulley to 304 ft-lb.

Or it could be the Wix oil filter I have on there (I had no idea they were a potential source of concern!).

Or it could be something else I'm not thinking of?

I had it towed to Ken's Auto Service in Aurora. They stopped short of laughing at me when I mentioned the oil filter. They called back a couple hours later and said it was too complicated for them and recommended Toy Doctor on South Parker. I currently have a flatbed coming to move it to the new shop.

Is my truck totally screwed? Should I ask them to change the filter, torque the flywheel pulley, and try starting it? Am I beyond that point now?

Help!

R5

(make sure you turn the sound on, i think it defaults to off)
 
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If the shop that did this repair didn't torque (304 FOOT POUNDS) the balance nut to the correct amount of torque, then yes you could be experiencing the kind of problems your having.

Let's just say that's what happened...will my engine be screwed because of this? Or can the new shop just torque it and off I go? (probably with an oil change and new filter)
 
Anytime your oil pressure gauge starts reading zero that's VERY BAD juju. I have to say after watching your video, and hearing what sounds like a very heavy knocking sound. I'd at the very least have the shop pull the lower pan, pull a rod or main bearing cap, and look for damage, that'll tell the story right there.
 
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how do you know it wasn;t overheating? the gauge is crazy inaccurate and may only move when it's too late.

The oil pressure gauge/sender unit is also commonly wrong.
 
The 304 ft lbs is very important for good oil pressure. If tourqued too low there will not be suffiecient oil pressure.
Is there loss of coolant? bubbles in overflow?
 
Well, I've seen that gauge get pretty hot once in a while during steep grades in the desert summer. It was 40F outside and the temp gauge was in the normal position. The AC kicks off when it gets hot, but since it's so cold here I didn't have it on and so I'm missing that data point. So, I don't really know for certain. It did push out a little bit of coolant right after I opened the hood, but that's all I have to go on.
 
Anytime your oil pressure gauge starts reading zero that's VERY BAD jew jew. I have to say after watching your video, and hearing what sounds like a very heavy knocking sound. I'd at the very least have the shop pull the lower pan, pull a rod or main bearing cap, and look for damage, that'll tell the story right there.

I agree with most of what he said..... but maybe change it to "bad juju".
 
Do the cheap stuff first:

1) Change the oil, oil filter
2) Torque the harmonic balancer to 304 LB-FT.. Document this!!!!!! This is you only recourse if you try to go back to the shop that did the work! Document what torque it started at.


The horrible sounds at first start really indicate to me that the bearings are junk due to loss in oil pressure, HOWEVER, theat could also be the oil pump and PS pump coming up to speed after full stop.

The fact that you had PS squeal and stiffness, as well as low oil pressure indicates to me that the HB was not torqued enough. This is a CRITICAL step.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Please continue to post results and what's happening as well as final solution!
 
Well, the new shop (Toy Doctor in Denver) is telling me it was torqued properly. If the truck was near home, I'd tow it there and work on it myself. Since it's 1100 miles away, I'm kind of stuck dealing with this in Denver away from home. To make matters worse, work just sent me to Salt Lake for the remainder of the year.

Toy Doctor is a little frustrating because they won't allow me to speak to the tech directly, all I get is the front desk lady. She's perfectly nice and accommodating, but I would like to talk to the guy turning the wrench directly. Due to work being crazy right now, I have not had the opportunity to go there in person, so everything has been done over the phone.

I can ask them to re-torque it, change the oil and oil filter and see what happens, but I think we all know that's probably a long shot. Probably worth doing, but a long shot.

Having a shop like that rebuild an engine is going to cost a lot of money. I think my most affordable option is to find someone parting out an 80 and swap a used engine in. Right?

Anyone in Denver have a spare engine laying around?? I'm open to other suggestions! 😢
 
Well, the new shop (Toy Doctor in Denver) is telling me it was torqued properly. If the truck was near home, I'd tow it there and work on it myself. Since it's 1100 miles away, I'm kind of stuck dealing with this in Denver away from home. To make matters worse, work just sent me to Salt Lake for the remainder of the year.

Toy Doctor is a little frustrating because they won't allow me to speak to the tech directly, all I get is the front desk lady. She's perfectly nice and accommodating, but I would like to talk to the guy turning the wrench directly. Due to work being crazy right now, I have not had the opportunity to go there in person, so everything has been done over the phone.

I can ask them to re-torque it, change the oil and oil filter and see what happens, but I think we all know that's probably a long shot. Probably worth doing, but a long shot.

Having a shop like that rebuild an engine is going to cost a lot of money. I think my most affordable option is to find someone parting out an 80 and swap a used engine in. Right?

Anyone in Denver have a spare engine laying around?? I'm open to other suggestions! 😢

@slow95z may have a used engine. He's in GA, but can arrange freight.
 
I have one used OBD2 engine and like 5 people asking about it so who knows how much longer it will be around. Haven't seen the cash yet so it's still sitting in the engine bay.
 
Wow. Toy Doctor in Denver wants $11,000-12,000 to rebuild the motor. They will not consider swapping in a used motor. They wouldn't consider any alternatives and said this was my only option.

Can anyone recommend a shop in Denver that will swap a used motor in? I'm really in a bind here. I can't even consider buying @slow95z's motor or anyone else's until I find someplace willing to do the work. I was shocked that Toy Doctor wouldn't even talk to me about a used motor.

Help!
 
You can do it yourself, it's not that hard
 
Yes, I could totally do it myself. But I live in San Diego and I'm currently working away from home through early next year. I was in Denver, now I have to go to Salt Lake. The truck is stuck in Denver. I just don't have the time/resources to fix it myself right now. I'm willing to pay a shop to swap a used engine in, but 11-12k is a bridge too far for me.
 
I wonder if the woodruff key is missing? Maybe you should ship the truck home and buy a cheap car to get around until you can find out what your truck really needs. You can sell the car to get that money back when your done with it.
 
Yeah, I'm leaning toward that option more and more. Talked to the shop that did the work on it in October, they were very helpful and willing to help try to sort out what might be wrong with it. They ARE willing to swap a used or reman'd engine into it, unlike the people in Denver. They're also willing to take it apart and see if there may be a simpler fix by changing all the connecting rod bearings or whatever might have gone wrong.

Guess I'll keep you guys updated. Thanks for the help so far!
 
Give the guys at Slee a call. I hear they are back logged, but can probably recommend a good shop to take care of you.

Adventure Off-road is also in Boulder, Co. Since you are there, both shops can probably address a lot of other issues.

lol@Rifleman
 
I’m not surprised at the 10-12000 quote for a rebuild. I’ve used toydr for some service. That’s a quote for a full toyota oem rebuild. They will use only Toyota parts if still available. Price out all the oem parts needed for an 1fzfe Rebuild , retail of course. Not cheap. Also Many hours of shop labor. i Don’t blame them for not wanting to swap in a used motor with possibly unknown history. If the used motor fails in 1000 miles now what? Standing behind a full rebuild with oem Toyota parts makes sense from the business side of things. They rebuild, they stand behind the rebuild.

A used engine is a good option if you have the history of the donor truck Otherwise it could be hiding issues.
 

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