Hello all,

I recently acquired a stock 2000 XJ Sport 4.0 with 174K miles. Oil pressure runs at 10 idle and 20 while driving. I replaced the oil pressure sensor, but that didn't change anything. Incidentally, the sensor I replaced was pretty new looking so I'm sure the previous owner already tried that. I then had my mechanic check out the actual oil pressure to make sure that the dash gauge was reading correctly, which it is. Then he replaced the oil pump, but still same low pressure. Next he inspected the crankshaft bearings and the connecting rods, but all appears fine. My thought is that there may be a clog restricting the oil flow someplace. Does anybody have an idea of where to start looking for areas that are clogged? Or, any ideas what else may be causing the low oil pressure? Your thoughts are very much appreciated!

Some additional info: The head had a hairline crack, so that has been replaced, and the water pump is new also.

 

https://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f19/...fixed-1304679/

or take out the banjo bolt and clean it.

 

Are you sure that the oil filter isn't in by-pass mode? I assume that before you did the other things that you replaced this as a part of an oil change, but it bears asking.

 

I don't believe that would make a difference. The filter would only cause low or no oil pressure if the filter material collapsed or disintegrated and occluded the outlet.

 

And wouldn't THAT have been a kick in the head!

 

Thanks so much for that link! We'll give that a shot and see what happens. Regarding the banjo bolt, which one are you referring to? I'm not familiar with that.

 

It's the Torx head bolt that holds the oil filter adapter to the block. Looks like this when you get it out:



Big PIA to get it out. Recent link showing that...


...
Bottom line use good tools and technique.

 

Camshaft bearings could be shot. Any evidence that the head has been changed? Or the head gasket?

Possible scenario: Usual head problem with a 2000. Driven with coolant in oil. All bearings trashed. PO wants to dump it, but doesn't want to take a big loss. Has the easy stuff done - the rod and main bearings. That cleans up the noisy engine, but bad cam bearings keep the oil pressure low.

 

Yeah, not like that kid in the video.

 

Nice. Thanks!

 

Thanks BlueRidgeMark. You must have missed my last line in the post (easy to do), but yes, I had the head replaced. Also, the camshaft bearings were inspected and seem to be in good shape, but not sure about the camshaft bearings. I'd expect that those would have been seen when the head was replaced, but not sure about that. Anyway, thanks for another option to investigate.

 

Okay, my bad.



No, the camshaft has to be pulled to get a look at them. Pulling the head doesn't give you a view of the bearings.

 

Pretty much how I do them. Although I had to weld the torx bit into the wrench for one that was really stuck and broke the wrench.

 

What did he do wrong? I did mine the same way pretty much.

 

Ah, OK, got it. I'll have to see about the cam bearings too then. Thanks a lot!