Rb25 Lost Oil Pressure...new 26 Pump

[as240]

i just finished refreshing my rb25 last week.

new oil pan, new oil pickup, rb25 neo water pump, rb26 oil pump, new belt and tentioner, new head gasket and arp head studs. ran perfect up until yesterday. i was on the highway and i went to neutral to pull into a store and my oil pressure dropped to almost nothing. i pulled in an shut it off. started back up and hear lifters clattering.

oil pressure is about 5psi idling and at 2500 rpm its about 20psi. (using mechanical oil press gauge)

wtf could have happened. if i installed something wrong it should have been evident from the first start up, not 5 days later. nothing is leaking from anywhere.

also i pulled off the oil filter and the oil that came out was incredibly dark and had swirls in it which im guessing are my bearings, despite the oil being brand new.

any comments/advice are appreciated. thanks

[DVS JEZ]

Its possible the oil pickup seal/o-ring may be leaking causing the pump to suck air.

When u say the oil is dark and has swirls. Explain swirls?

[as240]

i replaced the seal, torqued it to spec, i also used locktite on the bolts.

the oil is crystal clear on the dipstick, but the oil that came out of the filer was really dark and the swirls were a lighter grey, i was looking at it under a flashlight and the swirls were metallic.

its hard to explain. the oil that came out of the filter looked like it hadnt been change in a while, but its brand new oil.

[as240]

I also used "the right stuff" rtv for all my gaskets, but that shouldn't matter as I've seen people use it all the time for water and oil pumps.

[as240]

well the motors out, pan is off.

Every rod is loose and every crank journal has a groove for the feed hole.

Oil pump screws were tight as hell....tried to get them off and 3 stripped out.

Oil pickup is tight and was completely clean where it sealed.

Everything is completely fcked and I still have no clue as to what happened.

FML

[DVS JEZ]

Every rod is loose? U mean the bearings are flogged or the bolts are loose?

U find anything out of the ordinary yet?

[as240]

there was nothing that stood out to lmk what happened.

the rod caps were tight, but the rods could jiggle.

and to make everything worse, i got another longblock, put another BRAND NEW rb26 oil pump on, and it did the EXACT SAME THING after about 500miles.

oil pressure gradually got lower and lower, but in the first week, i would easily hit 90+psi of oil pressure.

i saw that Blue32 had the same problem happen to his motor around the same time it happened to me. is there a chance of a bad batch of oil pumps?

i am completely clueless as to what happened. i have another longblock coming soon because this second one was under warranty. id like to figure out whats causing this so it doesnt happen again.