My wife's 97 Disco SE has stranded her for the last time!
Sorry, not the best way to introduce myself.
8 months ago this happened and now it has happened again. The oil light came on after 10-15 miles of driving. Being a good wife, she shut it down. It was accompanied by lifter "tapping" so I'm sure it was due to low pressure. The last fix by the dealer (good people) was to flush and clean the pan and oil cooler. When she called me this time, she said there was no oil in it. When I got there it was full. The oil was changed the day before so I thought it was just "clear oil" and not easily seen on the stick. SO, I limped home (the light came on pulling into the garage) flushed it TWICE and took it for a test drive. Almost at the same spot and the same time it happened again! I checked the oil level and it was DRY! Five minutes later it's back up. Limp home...
Where's it going? Is there enough volume in the lines and cooler to make this happen?
What could be causing this?
Here's another twist. I had the radiator repaired and while it was at the shop, I had them change the oil. This was the first drive after picking it up. Could they have hooked something up wrong?
HAILP!

 

That is one I don't think I have heard before. I don't believe the radiator shop did anything wrong.
My thought would be that even though the dealer cleaned the pan, I would suggest you do a complete engine flush in case there are some blockages. Do you do your own oil changes, if so, drain your engine oil, replacing it with 6 qts. of ATF, let it idle only for 20 minutes then drain and refill with your favorite oil. What do you use for an oil filter? Try changing to a Mobil ! or a K&N 3001 filter, they are know to have the better valves and filter media in them.
Let me know what happens.
Mike

 

Thanks. Yes I do most of my own oil changes but the last one was out of convenience to have the garage do it. The ATF thing was suggested to me by a guy at the auto parts store. He said to let it run for an hour... It was the first time I'd heard that so I declined out of plain ignorance and used Gunk engine flush - twice. I usually use a NAPA Gold oil filter and the shop had used a NAPA part also but not the high end one. So is the ATF treatment considered a "complete flush" or should I be removing parts and checking for restrictions? Although you didn't mention it I assume you change the filter as well.
Does oil matter? Full synthetic, Blend (as recommended by the dealer) Dino-oil? Using the correct viscosity, of course.
I'll pick up some ATF this evening and give it a whirl.

 

I usually suggest 20 minutes on the flush cause that was all the time we would allow a mechanic in the shop to spen on this flush. If you want to do an hour, go for it, just check it once in awhile to make sure it is running at normal temp.
Let me know how it truns out.
Mike

 

I definitely will.
Here's a thought. Does the oil pan have baffles that might be gummed up and thus slowing the flow of oil back to the pickup and dipstick area?

 

No

 

This is a strange one ---- hmmm....if it was me, I'd get a pressure gage hooked up to the engine (remove the oil pressure sender on the timing case cover--up front--and screw in the gage there). Confirm that you have 6.5 quarts of oil in the engine. Start up the engine and see what the pressure is at idle (should be at least 30 psi). Let it warm up and bring the speed up to about 2000 rpm. Read the gage (normal reading is 45-55 psi). Look at the needle on the gage, and observe if it staying stationary at a given reading, or is it fluttering (a sign of oil pump or bearing problems). The tappet noise you heard is not a good sign.

To answer your question about volume in lines causing the oil level to disappear---that is not possible. Maybe it's something crazy like an obstruction in the oil pan blocking the pick-up tube and that part of the pan that the dipstick protrudes into ---but that is hardly possible.

I'll very interested to hear what you find out.

Regards,
Geoman

www.eurotekapg.com

 

Update:
Did the ATF thing. Service Manager called me back this afternoon and provided some advice. See! I said they were cool people. He says pull and clean the oil pan. Pan is off. No sludge - None - Zippo. HOWEVER there was a nice pile of detritus in a 1-2mm pile, in the shape of a perfect circle right where the oil pickup is located. There were a few little flakes of it on the screen as well. Perhaps at higher pressures it clogged the screen? The detritus looked like, Ulp! Black glitter! How much metal is acceptable? No large pieces and the only big flake was black and flimsy (3-4mm at best).
Another thing I noticed while inverted underneath a hot greasy Disco. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the oil journals (?) next to the cap bolts in the block were inundated with crud. Could it be one source of my problem?
Step two happens tomorrow and maybe Friday. Remove the valve covers and clean the - now what did he call them? - the valve rocker holders? Anyway, where the oil comes in on one side and the oil goes out on the other. I'll figure it out it once I get in there.
I do have a couple of questions...
I obviously need to ream out the oil journals. Can this be done from the top? Does the journal go all the way through the head to the bottom?
Any suggestions/tricks for removing the valve covers on a GEMS 4.0 engine ('97 Disco)?
Should I go ahead and go the extra step and remove and clean the oil cooler and lines or did the 1 hour flush with ATF do the trick?

Man, me and the old girl are really starting to bond here. This is ALMOST fun. Thanks everybody. Y'all have been great. I look forward to your replies.

 

Do a flush is not a quick fix. Old sludge that did not get disolved by the ATF will continue to break down while you are driving. If you want to pull the valve covers, that is a good thing, just don't forget to buy a couple cans of carb cleaner and really spray everything down, of course if you do that, you will need to drain the oil pan afterwards to get all the junk and especially all the carb cleaner out of the system before you start the truck.
Mike

 

So, this is what I get out of that.
Remove the valve covers and spray it down with carb cleaner. This will get into the oil passageways and clean out the junk? Yes?
I'll just leave the pan off when I do this and collect the junk in an other pan below the engine.
Old sludge will continue to break down. Really? I've been changing my oil rather regularly. Shouldn't this have already happening?
Thanks.