Hey guys, looking for input here. I have an '04 engine that I put in my '03 about 3k miles ago. I know nothing about the engine's history other than is supposedly had around 80k and had no problems when it was pulled from a wrecked '04. The engine has run flawlessly since the swap. However, after about 3k miles, it flashed the oil light. The pressures were roughly:

Cold Idle: 17 psi
Cold 2000 rpm: 35 psi

Hot Idle: > 6psi
Hot 2000 rpm: 25 psi

I just finished putting in new oil pump gears. The outer gear from the old pump broke into two pieces when I took it out (yea, I thought that was my problem for sure!). Put in the new gears and buttoned everything back up. To my dismay, my oil pressure numbers are unchanged.

Any suggestions on what could be the problem and what I can do next? Is there anything else that can be done short of a tear down?

 

You need a new engine. The '04's have just as high of a failure rate as the '03's.

 

Yes, 04's had a small amount of oil pump issues, but unrelated to the bad casting of some of the early 03 engines.
If there was no wear on the front cover and your pump ring was broken, a common issue, then I would say there is something else going on. Is your oil light still coming on and when? Might want to try another pressure gauge if your light still comes on, just to make sure you aren't getting bad readings. You can also have a bad pressure sending unit, plugged up pick up tube or a main bearing failure.
Let us know what you find.

 

Yes, the light is coming at when the engine is hot and at idle. Bumping rpm's to 1,000 turns the light off (and my pressure gauge reads 7-10 psi at that point).

Mike, that's what I was thinking. It would be worth getting third party verification on the pressure. I doubt that both the stock sending unit and the aftermarket would go bad at the same time....but worth checking.

 

May be time to pull the pan.

 

Already pulled the pan (replaced the oil pump).

I talked to an LR shop and their recommendation was to retest the pressure, if it's low (as expected), the next step is to pull the intake and inspect cam bearings. From there, rebuild as needed. I seriously doubt I'll spend the money to rebuild it.