Ok, here is the deal. I just barely got done putting in a oil pump in my 4.0 1989 jeep cherokee. My shop teacher said to prime the pump i need to use wheel bearing grease and pack the pump full of grease, and he helped me with it. So i put it all together, and i hooked a shop mechanical oil pressure gauge to it (my oil pressure gauge doesn't work) and it read 40-50 psi. So its been a a week now and i just put a mechanical gauge that goes on my dash on, and i am getting less then 10 psi when idling (hot) and just a little over 20 at 2500 rpm (hot). Also when i shut it off this clicking noise comes from what i think are the lifters or something, and it sounds like they are settling or something... and it only started doing this today. What is going on? Could my oil filter be the problem because of all the wheel bearing grease? Could i have installed the oil pressure gauge wrong? what is up? I used the old oil pickup for my new pump, could that be the problem? i am running 10w 40. i don't know what to do does anyone have any ideas?

 

Try a different oil pressure gauge.

 

Packed with grease? In all my years biulding engines I've never heard of that one. Most us oil and/or grease on new lifters. You prime the pump to get oil to the top of a fresh, unoiled new engine.

 

yeah, wheel bearing grease. What i did is i put the pump in and it never got pressure..... so i took it apart and thats what he told me to do. It worked, right after i put it together again it was getting 40-50psi of oil pressure. Now that i installed this oil pressure gauge (it was a cheap 20 dollar one) i appear to be having issues. Could it just be the gauge? am i missing something? I am most worried about the clicking issue coming from under the valve cover after shutting it off... it only did that when i had No oil pressure.

 

I was taught to use Vasoline. Packing the pump creates instant suction and immediately starts pulling oil up the pick up tube.

 

Yes, correct! Forgot about the guys that use Vaseline on them. Wheel bearing grease probably clogged it up badly.

 

thats what i was wondering, he just said that when the motor gets hot it would melt the wheel bearing grease and it would just mix with the oil, and there should be no problems. So could my oil filter be possibly clogged? should i just replace it? oh thanks for all the help by the way.

 

Vaseline melts, not so much grease that thick. Change it but it really depends on where all the grease got. It could have clogged the bearing oil holes or who knows.