Possibly found oiling problem??-need input

I pulled my oil pan this morning and I found it to be loaded w/ gunk. When I pulled the pan out there was a perfect circular indent in the gunk where the pick-up is. Basically the jeep on start-up sounds like it isn't getting any oil for 1-2 seconds and after heating up loses oil pressure. The pick-up did not seem to be clogged but my theory is that when the it is sitting in gunk it would obviously have a problem getting oil at first and then after the motor is heating up the gunk in the bottom of the pan breaks lose and sucks into the pick-up. The bearings seemed fine as does the pump. Any thoughts on this.

BTW-the rear main was replaced by a shop and it never had oiling problems before this work was done.

If you'd get off the net with your dial up I could call you.

CJS said:

I pulled my oil pan this morning and I found it to be loaded w/ gunk. When I pulled the pan out there was a perfect circular indent in the gunk where the pick-up is. Basically the jeep on start-up sounds like it isn't getting any oil for 1-2 seconds and after heating up loses oil pressure. The pick-up did not seem to be clogged but my theory is that when the it is sitting in gunk it would obviously have a problem getting oil at first and then after the motor is heating up the gunk in the bottom of the pan breaks lose and sucks into the pick-up. The bearings seemed fine as does the pump. Any thoughts on this.

BTW-the rear main was replaced by a shop and it never had oiling problems before this work was done.

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Did they put in a cheap oil filter? it may have a faulty check valve.

Your theory sounds valid. I doubt a shop could have introduced that much crud by changing a rear main seal, but I also wouldn't trust a shop that didn't clean out the pan while they had it off.

Alternate thory: Are you sure they really did the seal? Could they have just slugged the engine full of mystery juice to slow the leak down, and that's what you're seeing in the pan now?

The mystery juice is a possibility, but the seal is new. There was about a 1/2" of crud around the drain plug and 1/4"-1/2" every where else (lower part of the pan). I could cleary see the indent of where the pickup was located in the sludge in the pan. Should I change the oil pump? I'm worried it could have become damaged from trying to suck sludge up. Also, how do you clean the pick-up screen, can you remove it somehow??

If you have decent oil pressure, there is no reason to replace the pump. It has two counter-rotating gears in a cast housing -- if it's working, there was no damage that removing the sludge won't take care of.

I don't know if the intake screen comes off. The pickup tube is a press fit into the pump housing and the FSM cautions about ensuring a good fit if replacing the pump and using the old pickup. It might be just as easy to remove the pump, take out the gears, and back-feed carb or brake cleaner through the pickup tube to clean the screen. Pack the gear cavity with Vaseline before reinstalling the oil pump and that should do it.