OK guys I bought an 88 fiero 2.5 5 speed for my kid to drive back and forth to college last fall. (He takes after me, studying auto tech) Anyway, on his way home recently he heard a loud clunk and lost oil pressure, engine started tapping etc. Well, he was in the middle of nowhere, with no cell service, so he just kept going....actually made it the 70 more miles home. I replaced the collapsed lifters, and it starts and runs but has 0 oil pressure. So, i removed the pan...

Holy crap. Anyway, it doesn't have a standard oil pump, its driven off the crank and the assembly looked like someone dropped a grenade in it. Housing and everything busted to hell. Where do I find one, other than trying to dig through a junkyard and pull a used one out there? Trying to drop an oilpan in a boneyard is a PITA.

The assembly is not just an oil pump -- it has the counter balance shafts, and that's what probably broke.
Prepare to pay big bucks. You can get them from monsterpartsonline.com and other GM parts sellers. It might be cheaper to buy a re-manned duke. But if you do buy a new one, have it cryo treated (just in case) before you put it in the car.
I've heard people flame 88 duke engines because of these things. I suspect that in engines in which they fail, improper maintenance was done, or it had a faulty assembly. My own 88 duke has nearly 200,000 miles on it, and I don't baby it, but I do keep up with maintenance. I routinely rev it over 4k, which means the counter balance shafts are revving to over 8k.

Post a wanted ad in the mall section as I read you can't buy them new. They have a force balancer built in.

Topnotch's info above is better then mine

[This message has been edited by LitebulbwithaFiero (edited 03-10-2010).]

I just checked gmpartsdirect.com. It's not as expensive as I thought. They actually don't list the proper one for the 88 Fiero duke (they list one pump for 84-87, and we know that's wrong). But the 90 Chevy Lumina with 2.5 engine has the same assembly, and the pump for that one is about $120 bucks. It even looks right in their diagram.

If you are equipped to do so, an engine swap may be a better alternative. If he drove 70 miles with no oil pressure theres sure to be internal engine damage even if its not evident right now. In my opinion, I would be searching for an 87 duke in the mall here, there have been lots of them with low mileage for less than the price of just the oil pump deal you need. The 87 is essentially the same, but with a regular oil pump instead of the balancer assembly that is known to go bad and leave you stranded. I believe you can use the same wiring harness and ECM as well, so really it is a direct drop in.

-Joe

Yes... What joesfiero said... 70 mile and no oil pressure = dead engine usually.

Yes... 87 - 92 Vin R 2.5l motors will fit. Later year gives more HP too. (No vin U! Look same but it not. VIN motor is VIN 8 character) Balance unit or not doesn't matter. See cave, DIS L4 replace

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Dr. Ian Malcolm: Yeah, but your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should.
(Jurassic Park)

The Ogre's Fiero Cave (It's also at the top of every forum page...)

[This message has been edited by theogre (edited 03-10-2010).]

Well the lifters collapsed, I replaced those which fixed the tapping. Just no oil pressure. Nothing pumping up throught he pushrods, thats why I pulled the pan. You are correct though, one of the shafts inside broke and jumped loose. Blew the whole casing apart. Big mess. I am going to pull the main caps and check the bearings, if they aren't too bad I'll just put the pump (balancer whatever you wanna call it lol) in and it's just gotta last until school's out in May. Then when he get's home I can figure out what to do after. I can get a used engine for 350 local but time and money are a big issue. Thanks for the help I'll see what I can figure out.