OIL pressure

[gorillaarm]

Can bad hydraulic lifters negatively effect oil pressure

Topic

[Mike]

No.
The exact opposite is true; Low oil pressure can cause hydraulic lifter problems.
If this is the same engine that you were talking about a few months ago, you were advised to hook up a pressure gauge to accurately test oil pressure, rather than relying on a dash gauge.
Did you?
If not, you may just have a bad oil pressure sensor.
If the engine is making noise, then you can be reasonably sure the pressure is actually low.
If you were previously working inside the engine and you used a cloth to wipe anything down, that could be the origin of the problem.
Cloth fibers are notorious for clogging the oil pump pickup tube and for damaging the pump, too.
A clogged p/u tube and/or damaged oil pump will definitely cause low oil pressure.
Other possibilities include low oil level, too low a viscosity oil, defective oil pressure relief valve or worn bearings.

[gorillaarm]

Yes it is the same engine I was talking about previously. 02 ranger 3.0. I did test with a guage and I’m leaning towards the worn bearings. When starting from a cold start idle is about 18 and as the ending warms up to operating temp it slowly decreases until it’s final rest is about 3-5 I’m sure the decrease is just the oil thinin out as it warms up. I have already checked the oil pump and pick up and the both appear to be fine

[Tom]

This sounds like it is just an old, tired engine. You might get away with running a bit higher viscosity oil for a while, which should allow the engine to build more oil pressure. This is just a crutch though, and in the long term, if you want to keep the vehicle, you will need to either rebuild the engine, or replace it.

[Author]

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