Seems my Briarwood motor is dying a slow death. When I start up, oil psi is around 40 (clean 10W30), within a few minutes it's down to 18 or so, By the time I've gone a couple miles it drops to zero at the stoplights, (gotta goose it in neutral and keep the R's up) and by the time I've gone 5 miles it drops to zero and stays there regardless of RPM. Fortunately I drive 1.5 miles to work, but now don't dare take it anywhere else. On top of this, while cranking I can hear one cylinder "laying down" (as in no/low compression) and it has a hell of a lot of blowby; so bad I had to vent the PCV to atmosphere because it was oiling my filter worse than a K&N. Chances are, the motor's worn out past the point where repair would be economical. Machine shop work is expensive. The plan at this point is to nurse it through the winter and do a swap with a low-mileage boneyard motor in the spring....unless some of you have better or alternative suggestions, or can point me to a high-quality low buck rebuilt that won't break the bank. I figure about 500-600 for a boneyard motor (plus gaskets, new exhaust and whatever else I need). Comments? Suggestions? Ideas? Please!

 

how many miles on ur motor? is it a 4.0?

 

179,000. Yes-it is a '91 4.0 HO