I need some great advice on my situation. I was out in my van Saturday. It is a 1999. Stopped at a red light and started to pull out and the oil light came on and it started missing really bad. It will start fine and the engine jerks so bad it dies. Could it be oil pump or for some reason I am thinking a stripped out rocker arm. Just did the head gaskets and intake gaskets back in the spring. The rocker bolts tightened down with no issues then. What could it be? Is there a sure way to know if it is the oil pump? I mean it was instant, Oil light came on and instant engine miss. Please reply soon.

 

Did you check the oil level and the condition of the oil? When was the last time you changed the oil? You can put a mechanical oil pressure gauge on it to check the oil pressure. It might already be too late to save it.

 

Oil level was fine. And it has been changed within the last 3 months. Would a oil pump cause it to miss and not run? I know not getting oil to the lifters will cause problems. The van was not ran enough to hurt after oil light came on. I have also read that stripped rocker arms will cause basically the same symptoms that I am having. Just trying to narrow it down because taking the oil pan off on these is a major job.

 

The oil light could have come on because the engine was missing so bad that the rpm's were so low that the pump was not spinning fast enough to create enough pressure. When you first start it does it miss right away?

 

Yes the miss is almost instant after it starts. If the oil pump was bad would it not have locked up from not getting oil?

 

Plug wires checked out fine. Now it will start and act like it is going to run good then about 10 to 15 seconds later if that it will start missing and jerking and die out.

 

When it is running well for those 10-15 seconds, is then oil pressure good? Do a fuel pressure check to see if the fuel pump is producing enough pressure.

 

Is there a check engine light?