Oil Pressure and a Nasty knock

Hi all, Im a noob to landys and i have a Ex military Series 3 with a 200 TDi conversion.

After having quite a catastrophic breakdown in the fact that my con ron cap fell off doing around 50mph on the motorway i have managed to get her running again. I replaced all the bearing shells and a conrod (which got bent) and changed oil and filter and head gasket etc.

now when i get her up to full operating temperature the oil pressure light comes on at anything under 1100 rpm. i thought it was probably the switch at first but i went down a local greenlane and she suddenly developed a nasty bottom end knock when the engine got fairly warm. therefore i think i do have pressure problems. i am inclined to change the oil pump but upon reading a few different sites i hear that they can be prone to slipped camshaft bearings. would this be more apparrant when nice and hot or would there be pressure problems all the time?

If i leave it to cool and start her up then she runs sweet as a nut, no light no knocks. but as soon as the oil starts to thin (i used 15w40) then i get the issues again. Im not running her at the moment as i dont want to undo all the work i put in with the shells etc but i do want to find a fix rather than dropping a new lump in.

Any help, advice or ideas would be greatly apprciated.

Thanks all,

Simon

what was crank journal like that cap fell off you would be extremely lucky to fit new conrod without crank been damaged

it has a couple a small blemishes but they came clean with a bit of emery cloth. would that cause pressure problems?

Thank you

soft brgs dont need alot to be taken out i would definately check,

Im Guessing that would mean having the crank machined and some oversized shells then?

cheers

it would be cheaper to buy another disco engine

oh dear, well i'm going to take her to bits again over the weekend and have a look at the shells, if they look ok i guess ill try an oil pump but if not then i'll find a new lump to put in.

Thanks for your help

forget the shells its the crank you should be concerned about. if you put new shells on a worn crank they will last no time at all and yes you will have low oil pressure due to excessive tolerences. If the crank journals are scored then bin it as it will be unreliable.
Been there done it trying to cut costs, ended up buying another engine in the end.
Oil pumps do wear excessively but a new one for a 200 is not expensive. the drive shaft from the cam will be worn too, and probably the cam!
So if you have had bearing trouble perhaps you should be thinking of a complete overhaul/rebuild or just pick up another engine.

Thanks for your advice on that, shame its bad news though ey!

Sooo on that note does anyone know where a can get a decent 200tdi engine? or something that will fit on the standard series 3 box etc. Prefereably something pretty cool running as im not running an intercooler. and definitely something reliable. I want to get back out on those lanes!!