2004 6.0 low base oil pressure

jpete · February 15, 2012

Engine starts and runs, no noises, looses power above 40mph due to ICP system starving for oil. Found base oil pressure 5psi @ idle, 20psi @ 2000rpm. Inspected press reg valve and replaced gerotor and cover. Still low pressure. Removed oil cooler and installed an expandable test plug and gauge in the oil pump feed hole and developed 75 psi cranking. Pulled pan to inspect cooling nozzles and pickup tube, all OK. Found a 3/8 ball bearing laying on top of the upper oil pan. It is bigger than a rocker arm fulcrum ball. Anybody know where this ball bearing may have come from and could it be the cause of my pressure loss?

Jeff_E · February 15, 2012

Yup, the 03-04 HP pumps have a ball staked in them to block off a passage. It sounds like yours was ejected and you'll need a new HP pump. I've seen this before... It's on the inlet side of the HP pump so you'll never find a problem by air testing, but it sure drops low oil pressure when this happens.

Bruce Amacker · February 15, 2012

Ditto, seen it several times. Uneedapump.

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DieselD · February 15, 2012

Ditto, seen it several times. Uneedapump.

yep same here. kudos for finding the missing ball as well

jpete · February 16, 2012

Thank You, Gentlemen. I never would have found that. I understand now that the HP oil reservoir is pressurized. I was in 7.3 and DT466 reservoir mode. I did, however, reinstall the ball with sleeve retainer and drilled and installed a roll pin across the ball(should have been designed that way)Truck has 270,000 miles and is scheduled for replacement. I could not bring myself to install a new pump.

Here is some trivia to amaze your friends with.

UNIT in service new on July 30 2004 0 miles

47 --- NUMBER OF REPAIR ORDERS

370 --- TOTAL HOURS LABOR

$1,263.32 --- AVG COST PER R/O

$59,375.99 --- TOTAL COST OF ALL REPAIRS TO DATE

$32,209.74 --- ENGINE REPAIRS PORTION OF ABOVE TOTAL

$6,804.17 --- PREVENTIVE MAINTENACE PORTION OF ABOVE TOTAL

THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR HELP

joshbuys · February 16, 2012

Got an 06 in the bay right now with low oil pressure, Our neighboring Chevy dealer just sold, 84k Mile on the odometer. No low oil pressure, found damage to the low pressure pump due to a lifter needle bearing having gone through it. Engines coming out now to get an overhaul - new camshaft and lifters....we offered to put a short or longblock in it, but the other dealership didn't want to put the extra $3k-$5k into it. They requested that we just replace the damaged parts. Fine by me, it pays more hours that way Posted Image

mchan68 · February 16, 2012

Got an 06 in the bay right now with low oil pressure, Our neighboring Chevy dealer just sold, 84k Mile on the odometer. No low oil pressure, found damage to the low pressure pump due to a lifter needle bearing having gone through it. Engines coming out now to get an overhaul - new camshaft and lifters....we offered to put a short or longblock in it, but the other dealership didn't want to put the extra $3k-$5k into it. They requested that we just replace the damaged parts. Fine by me, it pays more hours that way

Please keep us informed on what parts in total need to be replaced for this "band aid". I'm very interested to see the outcome of this.

Bruce Amacker · February 17, 2012

I, too, feel this is a poor choice.

Good Luck, you're gonna need it!

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Matt Saunoras · February 17, 2012

did you happen to see how many engine hours?

Bruce Amacker · February 17, 2012

IIRC, 2004s didn't get OE hourmeters.

I helped out a customer today, 2008 IH, repeat DPF clogging and fuel in the oil. New fuel lift pump. How many miles? 18,000. How many hours? 5200. Holy shit! 3MPH average, maybe the lowest I've seen yet.

Did the injector tests and it failed. 6 new injectors coming.....

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Jim Warman · February 21, 2012

Got an 06 in the bay right now with low oil pressure, Our neighboring Chevy dealer just sold, 84k Mile on the odometer. No low oil pressure, found damage to the low pressure pump due to a lifter needle bearing having gone through it. Engines coming out now to get an overhaul - new camshaft and lifters....we offered to put a short or longblock in it, but the other dealership didn't want to put the extra $3k-$5k into it. They requested that we just replace the damaged parts. Fine by me, it pays more hours that way

Good luck... this sounds like something a guy might "marry".

joshbuys · March 11, 2012

Well, Got mine done, haven't seen it back, it's been gone a couple weeks now.

Camshaft, all lifters, pushrods, high pressure oil pump, front cover/gerotor pump, oil cooler, egr cooler(since we were there), completely re-sealed this engine.

mchan68 · March 11, 2012

Well, Got mine done, haven't seen it back, it's been gone a couple weeks now.

Camshaft, all lifters, pushrods, high pressure oil pump, front cover/gerotor pump, oil cooler, egr cooler(since we were there), completely re-sealed this engine.

If you don't mind me asking, how much was the bill total to the customer (a. k. a. the other dealer)? How much more would it have been to long/short block it over and above what you did? Did you at least install the updated STC fitting too, while you were "in there"?