Bye Bye Motor

[stock1g4g63]

So I was driving down the freeway with my gf at about 80 (same as everyone else mind you...) when all of a sudden my boos seemed to cut out down to about 5psi and wouldn't raise past that.... I couldn't understand it, but then I looked down at my oil pressure gauge and it's all the way down to nothing. So I pulled over as quickly as I could only to have the motor shut down. I quickly ran to check my dipstick, but everything checked out ok, so I checked all my vacuum lines, piping, and clamps. Everything seemed A-Ok, so I started the engine and tried to make it home. About 5 miles down the road I heard some clicking/ticking in my motor that grew progressively louder. But seeing as I was already close to my mechanics shop, I decided to get out and push. My gf and I pushed it all the way to the shop about a block down and left it there. As I was getting ride home from a friend, I began to think that maybe it was my oil pump. That would explain why the oil pressure was down to nothing but there was still oil in the motor... So I get a call from my mechanic the next day telling me that my motor has locked up. I guess my fears were realized. So now I'm stuck with a need for a new motor...

So my question is, is it normal for an oil pump to fail? And what are the common reasons for a failed oil pump?

motor had 50xxx miles on it...

Also, it reminds me. About 500-600 miles before it happened, I changed my oil, but being on a budget, I used cheap off-brand motor oil from Sam's Club... would that have anything to do with it?

 

[kmartind]

Definately not "normal" for an oil pump to fail at 50K (if it did in fact fail) but it can happen.
In general, motor oil is motor oil so unless you put in something completely wrong it shouldn't hurt anything. No smoke? How much oil was left in there when the mechanic looked at it? Full? Empty? Somewhere in-between?
Actually, the machanic should be able to tell you what probably happened better than most anyone on here who can't look at it and would mosty just be guessing.

 

[stock1g4g63]

well, he just told me the engine was "locked". I'm just wondering what could cause an oil pump to fail to could make it more likely to fail.