For those who have been following my other threads, I finally got my C4 transmission back together today and was very anxious to go for a spin. Last week, when my brother and I began the screen replacement on the C4, we also changed the oil on all my vehicles. I've got a small fleet so my brother did some, and I did some.

Well, like I said, I was anxious to go for a spin after getting the C4 together. About 3 miles down the road, my lifters got noisy and I immediately pulled over. I popped the hood and found that the engine compartment was inadvertently rust proofed. I had the vehicle towed home and by that time it had cooled down and I found that the oil filter was double gasketed. Now, I had visually inspected my brother’s work before taking the vehicle out, but I didn’t catch this...

I obviously removed the double gasket and plan to replenish the engine oil (dipstick reads nothing). I pray that she then starts up and runs just fine.

Is my plan of praying she starts just fine rational? I presume any catastrophic damage is already done (so I won’t cause more $$$$ in damage) and that any insignificant damage amounts to accelerated wear. Thus, there is no point in tearing apart this engine that was rebuilt approximately 2000 miles and about 2 years ago before trying to start her and hoping for the best.

Share your expertise and stories so I can make an informed decision on how to proceede. Assuming she starts and is happy, how the heck to I clean out the engine compmartment?

BTW, it is a 78 Ford 302 V8, numbers matching.<O</O

 

Pull the plugs and spin it with the starter until it builds pressure, then start it. You'll likely be OK, but....

 

You could also drain the tiny amount of oil remaining to see if there is any metal in the oil first.

 

Pull the spark plugs. Fill crankcase to correct level with oil. Crank engine till oil pressure builds. Re install plugs. Cross fingers and start engine. Strong soapy hot water on the engine bay.

Edit: One has to be fast on here to beat Ross to the answer.

 

I have had similar issues happen and more, unless you ran it until it was hammering on the lower end or overheat it I doubt anything happened. I had one engine that would not prime the oil pump after sitting drained for a few years, I ran it multiple times with no oil pressure trying to figure out what was going on. Had to pack the oil pump with vaseline but other than that no issues once oil pressure was up. I would put the oil in and fire it up, just watch the oil pressure guage and you will know how things are as far as wear.

 

Wow! FTE Rocks! Within minutes, tons of support and optimisim!



I don't think that will tell me much. It didn't come on (that I know of) during today's incident, so theres hope...

 

I think they light at < 3 psi.

 

I would still suggest draining any remaining oil and see if there is any/much metallic color?

Maybe flush some fresh oil thru and then drain again and fill with clean oil?

 

I worked as a mechanic at an AMC dealership many years ago (the fact that there were AMC dealerships then should give a clue as to how long ago...) We were required to do a predelivery inspection on all new cars coming into the dealership. One car came in with a suspicious knocking noise in the engine. The district service mgr came in and said to replace the entire engine, but first we were to "blow it up" to justify to the factory not pulling it down and repairing it. All the oil and water was drained, it was driven out to the back lot and the carb linkage blocked open. You know that engine ran for almost 40 minutes before it started to even slow down towards seizing! It was squealing, smoking and steaming but the car was able to be driven back into the service bay.
With today's oil, and the fact it was recently rebuilt, and was caught quickly, I'll bet it will be just fine.
Double gasketing is usually due to not giving the previous filter gasket a liberal coat of oil before installing so it ends up adhering to the filter boss, along with not wiping the boss clean so the old stuck gasket is found before the new filter is installed along with not running the engine and checking for leaks. We've all done it but not usually more than once!
I like the oil filter on my Solstice, a naked cartridge that drops into a housing with a screw on cap near the top rear of the engine. You change it from above, takes about 30 seconds.

 

So like most of you suggested, I replenished the engine oil, corrected the oil filter gasket situation, spun her around with the starter, and then put her all back together to actually start her. She fired right up, sounded alright, and so she took me to Easter Dinner on Sunday, and I took her out again on Monday totaling about 50 or so miles.

Thanks for all your input fellas!

 

Dodged a bullet there!

 

Woo Hoo! Congratulations!

 

Hey Bmoran,
That's great news on your truck making it to Easter dinner!!

I don't want you to feel all alone over there in New York - We did the same thing back in college changing the oil in our Honda. We started it up & what a nice trail of oil it left going down the street. It's a lesson I try to pass along to my son - he may have to see it happen to fully appreciate it.

Looking good over there in Western New York!

Ben in Austin
1950 F1

 

It's a lesson that some folks really need to learn. Not talking about mistakes with oil filters, but about oil in the engine...

A few years ago, we lost a large motor casing that came out of a large rocket that we had flown. You'd think it would be easy to find since the motor casing is a 6" aluminum tube about 45" long, but many people searched for it for hours with no luck. The location was Jean Dry Lake in Nevada, and since the casing cost about $700, my wife and I went back to look for it 2 weeks later. The summertime temps in Jean are over 100 every day. This day was no exception, and it topped out around 110.

We were joined by a nice young rocketeer who wanted to help us look. He drove his friend's RENTAL car and managed to stop on top of a sharp rock, which pierced the oil pan. We were only a couple of miles from civilization, so he wanted to drive into town... without a drop of oil in the pan.

Because it was getting really hot, he wanted to run the air conditioner while we were towing him. Folks, this guy is truly a rocket scientist, but I had to explain why he couldn't run the engine.

 

Back in '54 my brother changed oil in his '51 Plymouth and took off for a big night on the town. However he failed to replace the drain plug in the oil pan, so his oil ran out as fast as he poured it in. He made it about eight miles before noticing anything unusual. He saw the oil pressure ga. on zero and the temp at 200, so he pulled in at a service station. When he shut it down it seized never to turn over again.