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

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1991 350SDL. 230,000 miles (new motor @ 150,000). Blown head gasket

Tesla Model 3. 205,000 miles. Been to 48 states!
Past: A fleet of VW TDIs.... including a V10,a Dieselgate Passat, and 2 ECOdiesels.
2014 Cadillac ELR
2013 Fiat 500E.