I was driving along yesterday, car sounded and felt great and then from nowhere...backfire, backfire and a terrible jackhammer sound. I pulled over popped the hood and to my horror saw the distributor popping up and down like crazy. :eek: Had the car towed back to my house and found that the clamp that was holding the distributor somehow cracked. I replaced it, set the timing, and then realized I had no oil pressure :( Pulled the distributer and found that the slotted end of the main shaft was twisted and rounded off. Even worse the extension shaft for the oil pump looks about the same looking down at it graemlins/sad.gif So the oil pan has to come off... Do I have to pull the propeller shaft, drop the tranny and raise the engine to get the pan off? :eek: I tried raising the engine up about 3 inches from the mounts, but there is not enough clearence to slide the pan over the front crossmember and under the flywheel graemlins/angry.gif Removing the oil pan seems like it should be a trivial job... am I missing something or do I have to drop the transmission so I can raise the engine high enough to get the pan out?

If it were me I would just pull the engine. If you get it off it will be a pain to get it to seal good when putting it back on.
Also, it sounds like the oil pump either seized or got something in it. You need to check & see what happened with the pump & see what kind of garbage is floating around in the pan. It also wouldn't hurt to look at the bearings while you have the pan off.

I agree with Mike, if the oil pump drive shaft is rounded off something BAD happend to the oil pump.You should yank the motor and go through it. I tried the quick and easy route once before and the motor never the same.

Thanks Guys,

I appreciate your feedback. The oil pump definitely locked up too, so the engine is coming out.

How do you post pics?

I'm with them, Pull the motor. I tried pulling my pan with the motor in the car, I did it and replaced it. I wouldn't suggest it though, In my opinion it was very dangerous and end up taking longer than if I would have just pulled the motor. See what I get for listening to my Dad graemlins/sad.gif