Anyone Had Their Oil Pump Pickup Loosen up or fall out?

[Pro Street dart]

New oil pump.  It's not drawing oil.  Cranked it over w/ no filter. Nothing coming out of the pump.  Oil pump drive shaft is fine. Drained 7 quarts of very clean oil out of the pan.  I did not build the engine.

Looks like the pan is coming off.  Hope It didn't screw up the bearing clearances. It ran for 7-10 seconds w/ zero pressure.

[68_Val_Sedan]

pull the pump and make sure all of the holes are punched in the gasket ... had one that the pickup hole was blocked on .. same problem ...

[Pro Street dart]

all holes in the gasket were there.  No covered ports.

[fasttcars]

big block?...small block?......big block gets primed counter clockwise.......small block clockwise....check all galley plugs....

[Pro Street dart]

RB. Been driving it all spring. Happened all of a sudden.

[Pro Street dart]

fasttcars,

Where would the galley plugs be, or the one that would probably do this?

[512Duster]

If it happened all of a sudden, check to see if the pickup tube cracked. Did you check the distributer drive? They sometimes shear the hex off. I run the hardened ones.

[Superstockbigblock]

It happens, and I would bet the pickup tube is cracked.

[farmington]

Did you put any oil in the pump before you put it on?  The pump needs a thin film of oil inside for the rotors to seal to the walls.  Take the pump off, put some oil in it and put it back on. 

[krabysniper]

Did you put any oil in the pump before you put it on?  The pump needs a thin film of oil inside for the rotors to seal to the walls.  Take the pump off, put some oil in it and put it back on. 

Pro Street dart said "RB. Been driving it all spring. Happened all of a sudden."

Thus, I highly doubt that he has a pump prime problem.

I agree that it is likely the pick-up tube is cracked or has fallen out of the pump or the hex is sheared. The likely hood that an oil galley plug has pushed out is not very high either, IMO.

[therocks]

Maybe the pump itself.Ive heard the old its new a million times at work.Ive also seen the drives shear.If the tube cracked unless it split wide open it wouldnt lose pressure all of a sudden.The pickup cant drop out unless it sheared off.Is this thing running an electric or mechanical gauge.Ive seen people tear a mmotor apart because their crappy electric gauge took a dump and they knew it had to be working.Id check it with an aux mechanucal gauge.The valves will clatter if it has ho pressure also.Might be a lifter popped out of a bore also.Rocky

[fasttcars]

fasttcars,

Where would the galley plugs be, or the one that would probably do this?

ya i didn't realize that this was a previously running engine... so a galley plug coming out probably isn't the case....but then again i've seen some of the weirdest things to....so i wouldn't put it completly out ....who knows the engine builder could have just hand tightened a plug in so he knows where it goes then forgot to actually install it properly

[bOb shingler]

there are 2 inside a b motor 1 is in back of the camshaft spocket and most likely will not fall out. the other is in back of the same spocket but is not held in by it, maybe but i highlly doubt it falling out. back to the pick-up, yes they will crack at the threads and fall out or just hang on and suck air or have low oil pressure. this is mostly the case as everyone else stated.

[farmington]

Why was the original oil pump taken off?

[fasttcars]

try two easier things before pulling the pan....prime the engine with a shaft  and if you listen carefully you will be able to tell whats going on...second pull the valve covers  and check for bent pushrods or anything out of the ordinary...

[Dartsport]

Hit on the bottom of your oilpan with your hand. If you can hear a rattle, then the pickup cracked off, and is laying in the pan. It happened to mine last spring, coming back the return road. Oil pressure went to ZERO. 

[coyduster]

Pick up tube probably broke off. It happened to me a few weeks ago. Mine was a Milodon pick up.

[Pro Street dart]

Bubble Wrap was sucked into the pickup tube. How it got in there I dunno.

[krabysniper]

And thus the reason to always keep the work area clean and free of debris of ANY kind when an engine is opened up. Glad you found the problem, hope you didn't hurt anything else. Most definatly one I hadn't heard of before though. Have you had the intake off recently? or just the pan when you swapped oil pumps?

[fasttcars]