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1990 244 seemingly lost oil pressure :(

HatredSerge

Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2013
Location
The 914
So, I am driving my 244 northbound on the Garden State Parkway at highway speed, all of a sudden the oil light starts flashing and I feel a sudden loss of power, I manage to pull onto the shoulder and as I am slowing down the car finally stalls. It wont start back up, it will crank and turn over but wont start, although I cease to try and crank it more than one initial try out of fear of causing further damage.

There was no smoke or loud noises, just the power loss, Oil light coming on and the smooth stall out. Car holds oil, not leaking any and it doesn't look metallic on the dipstick. All the visible belts seem to be fine and I cannot detect any visible oil leaks from any part of the block. Oil level had been fine, I checked it a few times per week. I had initially thought maybe it was an oil pump failure, but I know those are exceedingly rare to fail on any car.

I have yet to check the motor thoroughly to troubleshoot, to see if the timing belt is intact (although I feel like if I snapped a timing belt actually, it would be more violent), if there's any clogs in the oil intake tube that comes from the pan, if the flame trap is bunged up, etc. and have yet to begin to troubleshooting. I had the car towed home and put it in "back of mind" until I finish this paper that's due before the thanksgiving holiday.

When I get a chance on friday, I am going to pull the coil wire from the Dizzy and the fuel pump relay/fuse and try starting the car again with the oil filler off to see if I have any visible oil making it up there, from there I'll go process of elimination. I know Redblocks have sensor and electrical issues that could maybe cause a flashing oil light, but the fact that I lost power that it even got to the point that the oil pressure idiot light was flashing on me, my motor is probably kaput.

I had my service light coming on for 5 minutes before eventually going away at startup, and it was throwing code 212 for 02 wiring and the AW70 OD didn't work, otherwise was mechanically solid......or so I thought.

Before the inevitable hate comes my way for having the misfortune of having something unforeseen break on my 33 year old car, yes I am an idiot and probably should have dug deeper when I bought it.

Anyone else ever experience similar/got any troubleshooting tips?

Always much appreciated :)
 
Have you checked the battery? You may have had the alternator fail and was driving around on the battery power which ran out. The other thing that comes to mind is the oil pressure switch wiring may be suspect. If you get it started be sure to check the alternator output.
 
Seems more likely the car stalled and the oil pressure light came on as a result. As mentioned check alt output and battery terminals, hell try to start the car again and see what happens.
 
Sounds like the timing belt. Engine doesn't blow up
check by seeing if cam lobe move during cranking by looking under the 710 cap

Cam lobe was indeed stuck up, so I pulled the timing cover and sure enough, snapped belt!

I am soooooooooo relieved!

Thank you!
 
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