Really need some help guys, gotta get the truck going today!


Heres the story

Bought the truck in my signature, drove it for about 7000km then one of the seals started leaking bad on the front of the oil cooler so yesterday i finally decide to change it

Everything goes smooth, pull the cooler and everything off change both o rings and gaskets with Ford parts.

I am not 100 percent sure but i assume the truck had 15W40 Conventional as the guy i bought it from only drove it in summer, it also had a cheap FRAM filter on it.

I replaced the oil with AMSOIL OE Heavy Duty 10W30 Synthetic(CJ4 rated)

Also replaced the coolant with a precharged SCA coolant.

When i first fired the truck up after all the work i got a stutter for a few seconds then it died, fired up again stutter twice more and then idled out fine.

truck seems to run and drive great, the problem is i got very low oil pressure

Before the truck would idle around 10psi or so and at 2500RPM would be up above 30.

Now idle shows pretty much Zero and even 2500RPM would be lucky to hi 17psi

Also i noticed my cranking to start seems about 4 seconds longer than it used to be before.

I am reading this with a Hastings Mechanical Gauge and i have checked to make sure i didn't get any debris in the end of the sending tube when i took it off.

My buddy who has worked on these before say the 7.3 don't like synthetic 10w30 and i should go back to conventional 15w40

The only thing i felt maybe could have went wrong is that oil pressure relief valve or whatever on the back header, it appears it was "staked" in but fell out when i took it off. After i cleaned everything back up i slid it all back in, but i never staked it because i assumed its pushed up against the block so that will hold it all in place, but now i am second guessing that thinking that may be my issue. I know there is a updated cover for one with c clips but i couldn't get my hands on one.

Could this be my issue?

I am going to throw 15W 40 in it this morning and see if anything changes.

Please i need help!

 

Are you referring to the relief that is seen when you take the filter off? If so, you need to stake that one in because there isn't anything that would hold it in. If it is the one that goes against the block, that has a c-clip to hold it in too, at least on my '97. I'm going to have to look at my extra oil cooler now. Hope this helps.

Red

 

no the oil filter one is staked in and i have one on the block also staked in, it wasn't until 96 that they started putting c clips in

But i am referring to the block one, and the more i look at it the more i think i put that oil pressure regulator together wrong

 

Well guys I figured out the issue, I did indeed put that relief valve, or regulator or whatever you want to call it, in backwards.

So for the second time I drained all the oil and coolant, pulled out the cooler flipped around the regulator and slid it back in and re-staked it.

fired her up and she has nice oil pressure throughout.

I also switched back to conventional Rotella 15w40

shi tty way to learn, but needless to say I can have that cooler off, re-staked and back on in less than 30 minutes.

Happy Truckin!

 

Glad you got it figured out.

Red