top end tick; oil pressure bottoms out

[spdyah]

new to forum--sorry for redundancy. i have just inherited a 97, 3.2L with a top end tick. from cruising these threads i gather it's either sticky lash adjusters or a timing belt issue. i'm getting a stethoscope tonight to pinpoint. from what i've read, this is more of an annoyance issue rather than something leading to a breakdown. although, at 107k, i'm sure the timing belt is ready for a change. it does seem to "soften" after an oil change--never leaves; becomes harsh quick.
more troubling, is occasionally when at idle or coasting the oil pressure drops to nothing; simultaneously, the rpms drop a bit and seem to oscillate somewhat. this could happen for 10 mins once a week; or like last week, 3-4 days straight, all day, every time the engine goes to idle. furthermore, my 3.2 consumes(never a drop on the concrete) around a qt of oil/100-150 miles. with all this, the truck always starts, never stalls, has acceleration and passing power. this, coupled with the "tick" has me thinking about finding a '97 3.2 with a blown motor to rebuild on my own time--as we all know how bleepin expensive this motor is rebuilt.

questions:1. where are you rodeoers going for parts online?
2. factory manual v. cd-rom?
3. how to distinguish: sohc or dohc? my timing belt cover "vees" up to both heads.

[Ramblin Fever]

A qt every 100 miles?? WOW!

What viscosity & brand of oil are you using?

The 97 3.2L is the SOHC engine.

I am the original owner of my 97 and recently experienced the tick myself after 140K of tick-free miles on Havoline 10w-30. Recently switched to a different oil early last week, haven't had the tick return since Saturday.

These engines are known for being bulletproof, despite the fact that some have mentioned that they use oil - up to 1 qt every 1K miles.

These engines are not very forgiving if ran low on oil, and I wonder if your engine was ran low - thus the high oil usage now.

If you live in a mild temp climate - not too cold in the winter - I'd be tempted to try a somewhat thicker oil, i.e. I switched to 5w-40 from a 10w-30 and it got down to 34 degrees this morning. I didn't have any problems.

Each truck is different in what it will "like". Mine is even picky enough that it WANTS the OEM filter - or it ticks something mad.

But your right - it starts every darn morning, has good power, and is more reliable then my newer vehicle.

[Donkeypuncher]

I thought that the tick came standard with the 3.2L. I bought my Passport new in '97 and it made the tick. I sold it to a friend, was without until 3 months ago, when the motor blew. She made the tick from the day I drove her off the lot. I bought her back, put in a junkyard motor with low mileage(19000 miles and $4000), and am now enjoying riding much higher than I was in my Accord. The tick is still there though.

[spdyah]

thnx for the reply-RF and DP
as i said, i just inherited it. my brother bought it 2nd hand(?) off a lot at the beginning of 2002. he did regular oil changes, but i'm sure it ran low often. before that, it's anybody's guess.
in the 3+ years he had it, he put in 3-4k: alternator/batt., dash lights, cv/axle work, radiator leak leading to the grand enchilada--you guessed it--blown head(s). both were machined and reset (2k). he couldn't put up with the maintainance issues, so now it's mine.
i do halvoline 5w-30(cheap) and a fram filter; topping off the oil 2-3x/wk.
am seriously considering a blown '97 3.2 for an engine core--can do it at my own pace. then bring both to a shop for the swap. should i get the orig. shop manual or other? where?

[Ramblin Fever]

Spdyah - Ok, definitely sounds like whomever owned this truck before your brother did not take care of it.

These engines are all aluminum, and it's HIGHLY recommended to have cooling flushes EVERY year along with very frequent observation of hoses. Basically, once these engines overheat - forget it. They don't like heat.

That sounds like it was the beginning of the engine problems - the overheating. Then I bet the heat/antifreeze killed or is weakening the bearings, causing extreme oil usage.

I hate to say it, but I think your's is on the way out - I would strongly recommend a higher viscosity of oil right now. If you plan to drive it a bit longer before replacing the engine.

The 5w-30 sounds too thin in this situation - I'd run 10w-40 Havoline, see if that allows the oil to stick around longer then every 100 miles.

Havoline is a good oil, however. It's one of the best actually for a regular engine oil.

Fram filters however are known for allowing low oil pressure, thus causing a louder tick. I think, given your engines situation you're gonna have low oil pressure/tick anyway - but the fram filters are probably not helping.

I wouldn't go to the expense - until you rebuild - of putting on a higher quality filter, but try the other Walmart filter, STP - I believe, see if that with the higher oil viscosity helps bring your pressure up.

From my understanding, the ticking is from the hydraulic lash adjusters getting clogged probably from use of an oil without strong cleaning detergents; although it can be caused from infrequent oil changes as well. But seems common in those that HAVE done very frequent oil changes as well.

My belief is that regular engine oil, while it provides excellent lubricating qualities, I don't believe it carries the high detergency that these engines need for their hydraulic adjusters.

Alot of people have switched to Mobil 1 synthetic with great results, some other people are running a diesel/gasoline engine based oil cause it contains higher detergents. I have gone the latter route, after 8yrs of using Havoline regular oil, as I refuse to use any engine flush products to clean the hydraulics.

I don't believe the "ticking" has anything to do with the forecast of blowing an engine, or any relation of an engine getting ready to blow, unless of course, the engine has truly been neglected, in oil/filter changes, and general cooling mainentance in which case sludge problems could be accuring.

History is so hard to speculate on any used vehicle, as so many vehicles in general are neglected - but I have seen a HIGH number of Isuzu's neglected here in Colorado. And it's a sad thing for any vehicle to be neglected, it's amazing that people just have so much financial security (when in reality they don't) to just allow a vehicle to go to waste.

I wish you both the best in your Isuzu's and I hope they provide you with some years left.

Donkeypuncher - I have to wonder if your friend ran it low on oil at some point, leading to the blown engine.

[spdyah]

thnx RF,
i think i will go to 10w-40 and an oem filter on the next change. also, thnx for the heads up on coolant issues--i'll keep an eye on it.

[Ramblin Fever]

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.