Knocking and oil light on after 15 mins

[shpreetzer]

My engine runs fine until i take it on the highway for about 10-15 minutes then it starts knocking and oil light comes on. I turned the engine off and checked the oil and the level is fine. So I was almost home and let it cool and tried it again on the loop by my house. Ran quiet and then same thing again after about 10-15 minutes. Is my oil pump going? and if so how hard is it to change that? Just did a head job.
2K1 Disco se 112K

[jcat]

DO NOT DRIVE THE TRUCK.


the oil pump is probably gone, if you have a knocking sound and the oil light coming on, you shouldn't be driving the truck. you're going to seize it.

[Disco Mike]

Call your mechanic and have it towed to his shop, quit driving it or you'll be looking for a new engine.

[shpreetzer]

So it is likely the oil pump? It just didn't make sense to me that if I start it now its quiet and runs fine but after 10 mins of driving the oil pressure obviously drops. When it cools down it seems fine again. The engine when purchased had antifreeze in the oil and I did the head gasket job, valve seals and had the head checked and cleaned. Seemed to run fine until I saw the light come on after like I said about 10 mins of driving. Then upon restarting it was noisey for about 10 seconds and it went away again. Could it be something worse than the oil pump like bearings and all that up there or is it likely to be the oil pump?

[Disco Mike]

I never said it was the pump, I said get it to your mechanic, no sense trying to guess what it is when you have little or no mechanical skills and most likely won't be tearing it down.

[shpreetzer]

yeah true enough. I will call him tomorrow.