Thanks to everyone who responded to my questions. I received a lot of great
suggestions and ideas. I spoke on the telephone yesterday with a guy named
Cal Rydjord, who is the Technical Services Coordinator for Melling Engine
Parts. He told me he had nothing but bad news for me. Based on my
description of the problem he said he was 99.99% sure it wasn't an oil pump
problem but an oil leak problem. Someone on the list suggested possibly a
loose cam bearing and he agreed that it could be the problem but according
to him the most likely cause was probably an internal crack in the block
around one of the mains. He said (based on his experience) that this was
very common with 350's. He recommended pulling the pan and having someone
run the oil pump from above with a drill while I lay under the truck holding
a can of oil over the sump pickup (this procedure was also suggested by
someone on this list). He said that the oil should only drip and if it
started running from anywhere that would pinpoint the problem.
This is only my second 350 so I am not an expert on common problems but if
they are prone to cracking I guess I need to be very careful about block
selection in the future. Boy, it sure would have been a lot easier to take
this engine out before I hung all that freshly painted sheetmetal! Live and
learn.
Terry Stellman
1949 3600
Missouri City, Texas
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