Spun a bearing?

[carguy300]

Im feeling kinda sick, 2 weeks ago I finally drove my 68 300 out of the garage and down the road and back with no issues. Felt good after 3 years! About 3 days later, before our roadtrip to new york, cranked it before we left and it ran kind of rough, slight clunking and oil light did not go out. Shut it down and went on vac. Today after work and warmer days, I cranked it over several times before I let it start and same thing. Im afraid it might have spun a bearing. I have not checked anything yet, happened so fast. Oil pump, shaft new. Im now at a cross roads, dont have time or funds or youth to R&R the 440. Does this sound like bearing issue, it ran real good but I did nothing to the bottom half. Would love an opinion, try and sell like it is or let it set the rest of the time in my garage.

 

[Davea Lux]

I would pull the valve covers and see if all of the rockers move up and down as the engine is cranked. A bent or broken push rod can cause the valve lifter to pop out of the bore and the result is no oil pressure. Try this check and report back. Pull the coil wire firs so that the engine does not start while you have a helper crank the engine. Bent or broken push rods are pretty common on cars that have sat for a long time.

Dave

 

[57fury440]

That is good advice. How many miles are on the motor?

 

[carguy300]

Thanks for that. Ill try that tomorow.

 

[68PK21 440.6bbl]

Does this sound like bearing issue,

On a 1967 GTO that I was driving that spun a connecting rod bearing the noise while standing next to the bank of cylinders with the hood up was like someone was taking a good size ballpeen hammer and striking the cylinder head with every revolution. Now this will vary as to where the bearing half spins too, if it ends up in the top of the rod it will increase the length of the rod resulting in the piston hitting the cylinder head which will be very loud. Now if it ends up in the bottom of the rod the noise will be a lower knocking sound. Either way you will know if it is a rod bearing as the sound will be very prominent even at idle and with acceleration it'll be unbelievably loud either way.

.

 

[carguy300]

I have heard a rod bearing on a 383 once, this sound deeper in the block and sounds lower. It was running fine when I shut if off. Couple days later went crank it up and this is when it began, oil light never went out, slight miss and muffled clunk.

 

[57fury440]

Back around 1964 my older brother bought a 1956 Merc. with a 312 in it. It had a rod knock from a spun bearing. The plan was to swap motors as the car otherwise was mint. It was a black 2 door hardtop with a black and white interior. My brother pulled the pan and looked at the crank which did not look too bad. He took off the head and pulled the piston and rod out and replaced it with a good one. Believe or not, the motor ran great, and my other brother drove it back and forth to college for the next two years. They had the car for another two years and then I don't remember what they did with it. I am not saying you should do this, but I've seen some crazy stuff over the years.

 

[413]

Make sure all pushrods and lifters are in place.

Pull the new oil pump driveshaft and make sure it didn't break.
Prime the oil pump and see what pressure you can get.

 

[Darby]

If this was my engine, I'd pull the distributor and use the priming shaft on a drill to spin the oil pump (make sure you're going counter clock wise). Turn the ignition switch on and see if the light goes out. If you have a gauge, just check for pressure. If the light doesn't go out or the gauge doesn't have any pressure, change the pump. I had this happen to me in the early '80s. I started a 383 and the light didn't go out, checked for pressure and there wasn't any. I had several big blocks, so I just pulled a pump off another engine, installed it and I had pressure. Looking back I wish I'd have taken it apart to see why it failed, but at the time I just wanted my car to have oil pressure.
Good luck! It may still be OK, just don't start it again until you have pressure.