1G 1992 Eagle Talon TSI ticking, low oil pressure

[Forsith]

Hey there, I recently purchased a well maintained 1992 Eagle Talon TSI AWD, with 243,000KM. I bought it in need of a head gasket, and had the head gasket replaced.
In it's recent service history, it has had the valves and timing belts replaced, as the timing belt broke causing the valves to collide with the pistons. They did not replace the head gasket during this repair.
After the head gasket replacement, the vehicle drive fantastically for a day. No strange noises, no stuttering or rough idle. Then, it began having low oil pressure when idling, until now it has zero oil pressure when idling- but immediately returns to normal pressure when driving.
At the same time, a clicking sound began coming from what sounds look the cams, and it looks like the cams aren't getting any oil at idle. The clicking is significantly less when the oil pressure is reading normal.
The oil level is normal, there is nothing leaking from the vehicle, and the oil was replaced with 10W-30 synthetic after the head gasket.
At highway speeds and high rpm, there is no vibrations or roughness in the engine.
I have been told to try adding oil thickener to see if the problem persists, and if it stops after that the issue is likely the oil pump or sump.
I am new to the 4g63 and DSM cars, and am wondering if this description seems like another issue, or if there are other things I should check for.

 

[AWD-Tony]

How are you reading oil pressure? Are you going by just the stock gauge? While it's not the most accurate gauge, it should be just below the first mark on the gauge which is about 20psi. These are the numbers you'd want to see as far as oil pressure. Idle 10-20psi & +10psi for every 1k rpm above that. An aftermarket gauge would give you an accurate reading.

Take a look at the oil pressure wire that connects to the sensor. It's common for that wire/connector to break or maybe in your case have a bad/poor connection. The sensor is the big bell shaped object to the left of the crank pulley. You'll see it once you lift the car up.

As for the ticking noise, it's also common that the hydraulic lifters start to make noise. There are 3 revisions for these lifters, 1g, 2g and 3g. This has nothing to do with generation of dsm's.

I don't think the engine would survive long if you had zero oil pressure at idle. That means there's no lubrication between all critical components. I would drain a little of the oil into a clear container and look for glitter.

Can you post a video of the noise?

 

[waltah]

I wonder what weight oil the prior owner was using. With a high miles engine the hydraulic lash adjusters (lifters) may not work correctly with lighter oils, especially in warm weather. You wouldn't necessarily discover this until you'd had the engine warmed up a couple of times so the old oil in the adjuster had time to leak away and be replaced.

The passage into the oil pressure sensor is pretty small too and I wonder if it too could have trapped old heavier oil and so not reported right away when you dropped back to idle until the old oil was replaced in that narrow passage.

 

[Forsith]

Hey there, I recently purchased a well maintained 1992 Eagle Talon TSI AWD, with 243,000KM. I bought it in need of a head gasket, and had the head gasket replaced.
In it's recent service history, it has had the valves and timing belts replaced, as the timing belt broke causing the valves to collide with the pistons. They did not replace the head gasket during this repair.
After the head gasket replacement, the vehicle drive fantastically for a day. No strange noises, no stuttering or rough idle. Then, it began having low oil pressure when idling, until now it has zero oil pressure when idling- but immediately returns to normal pressure when driving.
At the same time, a clicking sound began coming from what sounds look the cams, and it looks like the cams aren't getting any oil at idle. The clicking is significantly less when the oil pressure is reading normal.
The oil level is normal, there is nothing leaking from the vehicle, and the oil was replaced with 10W-30 synthetic after the head gasket.
At highway speeds and high rpm, there is no vibrations or roughness in the engine.
I have been told to try adding oil thickener to see if the problem persists, and if it stops after that the issue is likely the oil pump or sump.
I am new to the 4g63 and DSM cars, and am wondering if this description seems like another issue, or if there are other things I should check for.

I was able to find the issue, I thought I would post it here in case someone had a similar issue.

Strangely enough, the hole on the intake cam gear where the dowel from the cam would go through when bolting it to the cam was worn out somehow, causing it to not be a tight fit. So at the peak of every engine rotation, when the lifter springs would be putting the most pressure on the cam, the cam would actually slip about 0.7-1mm, just enough to cause the intake valves to slam closed creating the ticking sound. Replacing the effected cam gear fixed the issue.

 

[AWD-Tony]

I was able to find the issue, I thought I would post it here in case someone had a similar issue.

Strangely enough, the hole on the intake cam gear where the dowel from the cam would go through when bolting it to the cam was worn out somehow, causing it to not be a tight fit. So at the peak of every engine rotation, when the lifter springs would be putting the most pressure on the cam, the cam would actually slip about 0.7-1mm, just enough to cause the intake valves to slam closed creating the ticking sound. Replacing the effected cam gear fixed the issue.

That is strange for the hole to be worn. Maybe it was ran with loose cam gear bolt Glad you figured it out