I recently posted about a ticking noise that, thanks to the remarkable knowledge on this forum, is most likely one or more broken oil tubes. I needed the car for the past few days and finally got it to my mechanic today.

For the past two days, I have noticed a definite power loss when the engine completely warms up. In the morning, with a cold engine, it has all the torque I normally expect, but as the engine warms up throughout the day, low-end torque seems to disappear. The engine still has plenty of power once it revs up above 3k.

I guess I'll find out next week if this is related to the oil tubes and the noisy lifter, but I was wondering if anyone has any input. I was thinking maybe the lowered oil pressure is affecting the variable valve timing and when the engine is cold it has enough oil pressure. Does anyone know if low oil pressure could cause a power loss like this?

P.S. the '97 E420 doesn't have an oil pressure guage.