Firts off thanks to any that can help me before I pull this thing completley appart.

Problem & Symtoms:

1. Oil leaking from near the oil filter on the driver side of the engine. Looks like its coming from behind the filter.

2. Engine has a bad knock or tick. Sound like its under the driver side valve cover.

3. Engine is very unbalanced while idlling. When I rev it up it smooths out a bit.

4. No oil pressure.

The woman that gave me the car said that it just started smoking and knocking. She had it towed home then gave it to me.

The heads look fine. There was no oil in the water or water in the oil. I am thinking that the knock is coming from lack of lubrication since the oil is dumping from near the oil filter some where. I plan on pulling the valve cover then the oil filter bracklet the filter mounts to to inspect both.

Any and all advice would be appreciated. mNo money now so cant take it to a shop.

 

Need to know more 2wd or 4wd? where is the oil coming from? is it dumping out or just leaking? is the oil level correct?

 

Its a 1985 2.8 carbed V6 4WD with auto trans. It doesn't have the oil filter up on the fender well, its on the side of the block. The oil level drains untill the bottom mark on the dip stick.
It looks like its spraying out from behind where the oil filter screw in. I added a quart of oil and it spit it out in less time than it takes to warm up. It was all on the ground. Doesn't seem to be coming from the head.
The knocking/ticking sound is coming from the front of the block on the drivers side. I figured its probably lack of oil circulation and excess friction causing that and the out of balance idle that causes the engine to shake.

Sorry for so little info little baked.

 

Try changing your oil and make sure the rubber is not stuck to the block. Sounds like the oil filter got changed and the oil filter o ring got stuck to the block the new one got installed over it. I have had this happen one time. Also you could pressure wash the engine always easier to find a leak when the engine is clean. If it smoked out the exaust pipe you may also have bad rings, fouling plugs causing the ruff idle.

You have to find exactly where the oil is leaking to see where it is and go from there.

 

Had a bad leak in my 84 Jimmy 4X4, 2.8L. Same thing as you have. Boy does this sound familiar. Oil pressure sender (since you say you have no O/P) is what I would check. You talk about spurting out a bunch of oil. It ain't easy to replace, but it's what was wrong with mine. It's right there with the filter. It's also what's probably making your lifters tick. I wouldn't run it too much more without keeping the oil topped off while you find it. Don't know if you have guages or not but the senders are different. I have guages and the auto parts guys kept trying to sell me the sender for the idiot light type.

 

ok thanks for the ideas. next thing i was going to check was the oil pressure sender.

Does anyone happen to have access to a repair manual for my ride?

 

Got a factory one for the 84 Jimmy somewhere but c'mon man, the truck was free, right? Break down! You can buy them off e-bay sometimes pretty cheap. If you want a new one, here's the website for it. http://www.helminc.com/helm/Result.a...lected%5Fmedia=
Don't choke on the price. You can either buy it paper or CD. Sorry to all the Chilton and Haynes fans, but I'll take the factory stuff anytime, even if it means paying the price.

 

Update: Pulled it apart and noticed that the part of the block that the oil dipstick sticks into was broken off completley. As in part of the block too. Right behind the oil filter. noy sure how but it happened.

am i going to need top replace the entire engine?
i am hoping thats part of the oil pump.

 

Man, if it was the dipstick tube, you can buy those. Part of the block itself, I'd say you need to start looking for a short block or another engine maybe from a salvage yard. There are a bunch of these motors around. You want a 60 degree V6, 2.8 liter or sometimes they are advertised as 173 cu in. Try this website to search for salvage yards near you that might have what you want. I picked it up off this forum and have already used it. http://www.car-part.com/ It's really [retty handy. If you don't use it for this, you'll need it for other stuff. Just for grins I ran a search for Texas (where I live) and for a 2 wheel drive cause there's very little difference (you could use the parts off your motor that are) and came up with about 20 engines from different kinds of vehicles although S10s were prevalent. Check it out for your state.

 

Know anyone that can weld cast iron? You do not need a structural weld there, just something to build back up that area so you can drill a new hole for the dip stick tube. Its either that or a new block...