oil press light flicker, 1 quart low, drove home
 

I was 1/4 mile away from a gas station when the oil light flickered. Turned around and drove in and purchased a quart of oil and topped off the engine oil. The oil light on the 89 camry flickered again thought mmmm engine sensor bad? it went off then on then off again. engine did not over heat. got home shut it down and hear what i thought was lifter tick. Checked oil level still good. used oil pressure gauge and 0 psi on my new OTC gauge. removed gauge and no oil coming out of oil pressure sensor hole. Disconnected distributor and removed oil filter and no metal inside oil filter. Cut top off oil filter and ripped pleats apart. no oil in pleats in filter .. drained oil into container and fished for metal in oil with magnet. no metal parts or almost aero flakes. Also no oil comming out of oil filter tube attached to engine when cranking with distributor disconnected.

So...i need to remove the oil pan. what is the easiest way to do so? Removing the cross members is a pain in the ass. Raising the engine up would give me room to remove the pan bolts ???

I want to inspect the pick up the bottom of oil pan for shavings. Last would to remove the oil pump and inspect.

What would cause near sudden oil pressure loss? no rod or main bearing knocks. compression is even across cylinder and start rpms normal ..no dragging of piston on cylinder walls.

Raise engine to access bolts.

The oil pump picks up the oil before it reaches the filter. The pump housing bolted to the front of the engine (the pump mounts to this) has a bypass valve for pressure regulation.

If no oil could be oil pump screen plugged, a stuck open bypass valve, loss of prime from worn out pump or the oil pickup tube fell off the pump housing or became disconnected.

One other area as massive leak from the oil pump drive shaft seal. In this case oil would end up on the floor when the engine is running.

Best is to drop pan and take a look. If all OK, look at pump and bypass system.

If you take off the pump, apply some grease on the ends of the gears to seal between gear face and housing and allow regaining prime at start up.