New member here, although been lurking for a while. In need of opinions/any input please.

I drive a 2001 Ford F150 4.6L , Miles at 175,000+ (a little more but no more than 176k)

Situation as it happened : Driving home from work for lunch, about halfway home I notice that my Oil Light is on and the Gauge has dropped to below the "L." Engine started making noise, best I can compare it to is to the sound of a diesel engine when it's idle. Immediately pull over after noticing this, shut off engine for about 5 mins, check oil, oil is fine. Turn truck back on, light is off, gauge is normal, and noise isn't as loud as it was before. Drive rest of the way home no problem. After deciding on driving the truck back to work (I know i shouldn't have but I have no other means of transportation, and I work at Autozone so I wanted one of my managers there to check it out) I turn on engine, everything is fine, no oil light, gauge is in the middle of the "H" and "L", only thing wrong was the engine noise, except like earlier it wasnt too loud or shaking the truck. About halfway to work, I come to a stop sign, Oil gauge shoots down below the "L" and the oil light come on. As soon as that happens engine starts making same loud noise as before (diesel truck idling.) I push the gas to get past the stop sign, and instantly truck loses power in pedal and just shuts off. Make it to side of road, hasnt turned on since. Never had any problems with the truck since I bought it 5 months ago, changed the oil 1 time about 2 months after I bought it. I'm just hoping my engine hasn't seized up on me.

Not sure if this matters, but about 4 days prior to this, truck was making a rattling noise, almost like shaking a can of paint , under the front drivers side, in the suspension. Was told those were probably due to my sway bar link bushings being busted.

After some research on here and other websites as well, i have come to find out that this is pretty common in most Fords? Most people recommend changing the oil pressure switch, and others say it could be the oil pump?

Was planning on changing out Oil Pressure Switch, and changing the oil filter/oil , and fuel filter as well. Not sure what else I could do, any info/advice/input would be well appreciated.

 

If the oil is on the stick OK, sounds to me like the oil pump. That knocking noise when the gauge drops sure sounds like a lack of flow.....like the few seconds you hear after you change oil. I definitely would not drive it.

 

Common sense says an oil pressure switch is not the source of noise.
It's telling you there is no oil pressure as the cause of all the noise of destruction going on.
The rod and main bearings are going to rattle along with the timing chains and lifter collapsing.
Good luck.

 

Oil pressure is low for sure either because of the pump or extremely low rpm. Something I encountered on a min 200's 4.6 that had similar symptoms was the harmonic balancer had come apart. That makes all kinds of funky racket and it will reduce the rpm drastically and cause a shake bad enough you think the engine is about to come apart.

Its a long shot but worth looking at.
Good luck

 

Thank you all for the replies! Taking it by a local mechanic tomorrow morning, hoping for the best

 

so took it to a mechanic this morning, turns out my pistons are all melted, and my timing chains worn since they had never been changed.

 

Man that sucks..... 2 years ago, my passenger side timing chain was loose and I could hear it rattling, had a quote to get repaired, and ford told me it was ok to drive for a few days.

Threw the chain 2 days later, locked the motor up, shattered every piston head and broke nearly every valve.

$5200.00 later, and a NEW blue oval certified motor replacement, you'd never know the truck was used!

Sorry about your luck big guy......