Going to dinner I had top stop to let the dog go for a walk. Earlier in the week I notice a lifter had started to tick... it had stopped ticking when I left home but now it had turned into 2 or 3 ticking quite badly.
Additionally, the oil pressure gauge was bouncing around with engine rpm. Quite concerning
Cranking the engine with the valve cover off a pulsing "spraying" sound could be heard. A friend suggested, what if the head gasket was blown, and cylinder pressure was going into an oil gallery? Sure enough, when I removed the #1 glow plug the oil pressure gauge acted normally again, and no more pulsing / spraying sound, which I think is cylinder pressure making its way to the oil jet for the timing chain / vacuum pump.
My engine is newer - produced around 1998 - and has a #22 head. Kind of disappointing to have this failure, but at least a gasket and bolts aren't super spendy.
I did take a quick video of the oil pressure gauge:
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1673166619382788096
I'll share more once the head comes off...
Does anyone have a recommendation for the device to split the timing chain?
Thanks,
-Jason