The truck is located in Claremont NH, still sitting outside the shop waiting to be looked at. Called the shop every day to check on progress of the truck which was supposed to be looked at last Wednesday. Every time I called they promised to get my truck in later that day and that they would call me. Never happened. Truth is I HATE giving up on **** I care about or have worked so hard on. But at same time everyone has a limit both in terms of money and mental patience. It litterally feels like my heart has been broken... every year Ive been planing on and hoping to do a road trip to Alaska. But for one reason or another theres always sokething wrong with the engine that stops me in my tracks.

If ANYONE within reasonable distance has a place where I could park this truck and work on it on weekends then Id happily pay that person some money. If the engine could be easily fixed then maybe id be happy again but from the way it sounds when running I have no hope in that best case scenario. I will probably never know why the oil pump failed. The block is new and I assume the oil pickup tube would have been included with the block. Cant think of any reason why the o rings on it would fail. Oil pump and cover are new so again cant think why they would fail. Especially when Ive been pampering the engine with 3k oil changes. The oil filter was cold last time I warmed the truck up. As each passing day Im more ready to walk away with 20k down the drain. The shop is really screwing me right now. Earliest I will learn anything would be Tuesday night assuming the shop gets their head out of their asses and gets to work with my truck.

 

Yes, please wait until I've asked him first...lol.

Looks like it will be a "lt's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" type of run to NH to see who gets there first.

Edit: And yes, it would be nice if folks would show their general location.

Brian.

 

I would probably get killed for buying more spare parts, my garage is looking like a Land Rover recycling center. I would like to build a top hatted engine at some point as I have never done a full rebuild on a V8.

 

Whole truck is up for sale in the classifieds.

 

Rent a 10x20 self storage area with an overhead light. You can plug in halogen lights and before long it will be 50 degrees in the unit (get a middle unit - the ends function as insulation if filled with stuff).

Good luck.

 

Shop tested oil pressure using pressure guage and found zero oil pressure in the block.

 

So minimally it's safe to assume that your oil pump will look something like this

 

So either the pickup tube is blocked or, more likely, the oil pump is in pieces. The oil pan has to come off to check the oil pump anyway, so have them remove the pan, check the pickup tube while they're there, then put a new front cover and oil pan on and start it up. Hopefully it runs okay and you can at least sell it as a running truck. I wish I lived closer. I could do that with minimal tools in about 2 hours.

If it runs badly, then the engine needs the work detailed above.

I had to cut my losses on an engine that I messed up. It is well chronicled. Though I took it in stride, it really sucked, and I had to go back to the engine I wanted to replace. You could just buy an eBay engine, and have that swapped in, then sell it as a running truck.

Or, if you can afford, instead of a sprinter do the Chevy conversion and have one that will last well into your dotage.

 

I'am starting to consider keeping this POS engine but havent made a final decision yet. Either way the truck is in the shop and I told them to go ahead and drop the oil pan, inspect pickup tube, replace pickup tube o-ring and oil pan gasket, replace oil pump and front cover. Unfortunately my truck is last on their priority list and they wont be able to do any work on it until Thursday. This shop is a joke. They take on more work than they can handle.

My truck was running 15w-40 Rotella T4 oil. My cousin believes that with the rapid drop in temps this past week, that this oil may be the cause of the failure. So I may have the shop throw in 0w-20 or 5w-40 Castrol oil and see if that helps.

Still trying to get the Sprinter but the lender probably wont approve my application due to the fact that Ive only been working at my new job 3 months. My credit is just over 600 and I offered to put down $1500 with $400 monthly payments. Asking price for the Sprinter is $5,995. But I find out tomorrow what the verdict is on my application. I may rent a u-haul pickup truck for the rest of the week and see what happens with my truck. I dont really want to ask for a refund from Tarheel Rovers on the white D2 until I decide weather to keep this engine or walk away.

 

0w oil will ruin that engine.