Thanks Grey, I inspected the pickup it was clean, I back flushed with oil, nothing came out. I am pretty sure the components inside the pump destroyed the pump. The oil filter was empty (I cut it open and took a look). The oil came out clean. My only worry is the two pistons that were dry and the thrust washer that bit the dust. If the engine starts and runs fine after this, I will be really suprised and happy.

BTW-The oil pan is back on and I don't plan on taking it out anytime soon since it was the biggest pain in the **** I have done on the truck yet.

Randy

 

I hear that! I'd rather pull a whole engine and drop the pan outside the vehicle, than try to do it in the truck...

Even with all the room trucks have under the hood.

 

Where did you see this about the engine being shut down when the Oil pressure drops? I have been having a problem with my 85 1/2 ton (351) which runs great but will just die unexpectedly after a while - maybe 10 minute, maybe 2 hours. There is no spark when this happens but after it sits for a while, it will start up and run fine again. The oil pressure gauge has always shown pretty low readings - high when the engine is cold but after it warms up it will drop down to just barely above the lowest "Normal" range. The low oil pressure reading has been a concern but has been that way since I bought the truck 2 years ago. It may very well explain my problem though since it does seem the reading has been even lower than usual - I just hadn't put the two together until I read your posting. I didn't see anything in my manuals about this particular safety feature so I was hoping to find out where you heard it so I could see if it also applies to my 85.

Thanks for any info

Kirk

 

If the truck maintains good oil pressure after you replace the pump chances are nothing was hurt, but if with a new oil pump you can't get good pressure the bearings are toast.

John

 

Kirk,

It sounds like you have an ignition problem, either in the ignition box or the magnetic pickup on your distributor.

'82 F150 2WD w/351W (orig 300 I6)
Slik

 

Fordtruxroks: Thanks, that's what I figure.

Silkness: I agree. It sounds to me like a loose wire or something with the ignition system. My truck did this and it turned out to be the connector to the coil. It got hot and expanded and then the truck just stopped. It cooled and she ran fine again.

Randy

BTW-I haven't finished putting the truck together yet. I lost the stupid torx-head screw for the inner hole on the intake plenum. I had to go to the hardware store for a cap-head screw replacement. All I got left to connect is the exhaust, my most unfavorite part.

 

I have an 89 F250 with an oil problem, and i was wondering if any of you had seen this one. The engine would be running normally with normal oil pressure, and then it would start to waver and then plummet. If i shut the truck off and start it again, it comes back and then repeats the same. For a little while, when it dropped, i'd rev the motor and it would come back for a little, but now it doesn't. I also hear a slight ticking from the front of the motor when it does this. So i was wondering if anyone had seen this before. I'm a chevy guy and not sure exactly what the internals look like, but i know the oil pump shaft has a hex drive and i was wondering if it may have stripped a little. But if you people talk about it shearing and twisting when a pump locks up, I think i may rule that out. My second thought was that the pickup screen may be clogged and it's losing it's prime. So now I'm at a little bit of a loss considering i don't know much about fords. I have a service manual which tells me how to fix it, but is of no help in determining the problem. I also noticed that i couldn't pull the shaft out through the distributer hole like in a chevy, or am i wrong. I plan on replacing the pump, and some of the previous comments make it seem easier to pull the engine out and do it as opposed to doing it in the car. I'm also tempted to check the bearings, but if someone can confirm it to be the oilpump, i'll just leave em.

Thanks for any help

Chris

 

Don't get hung up on it being a Ford. When you get the pan off you will be in familiar territory and you will appreciate the pickup tube being bolted on rather than pressed in. The oil pump shaft has a little retainer to keep it down in the block. I left the retainer out one time, and everytime I pulled the dist out, the shaft would come out too, and it's not easy to get back in.

 

Ok, so it doesn't come out through the top. Now i don't feel so bad. Well, after looking at the amount of clearance i have between the pan and the cross member and the fact that i'd have to disconnect the exhaust, which would require cutting the manifold studs because they're so rusted, i might as well pull the motor out and give the whole thing a good once over. So after about 3 hours, everything on the top of the motor is disconnected except the fuel line, which requires those funky decoupler things that push the spring in. Ah yes, nothing like a crash course in ford tech. Well, thanks for the info.

Chris

 

sounds like the oil isn't draining back far enough, if I'd read this b4 you ripped it apart I would say try adding an extra quart of oil and see what happens. A little late though.

John

 

SUCCESS!!! I finished the job last night and it gave one little squeek upon starting but the oil pressure came up and it stayed up and she runs like she used to. I have a little valve clatter on passenger side rear, but I think the hydraulic lifters just drained down.

This has been quite an experience and I am glad I got to do this instead of taking some of the advice I was given. Almost all shops I called said that they would just replace the engine and not bother with the pump, but here we are and she seems to be good to go.

I admit, I would never drop the pan the way I did it. I would definietly pull the engine first, but I did get it to work.

Unfortunatley, I can't afford to keep her. She goes on the block today for a must go price of $2000. Its tough since I only had her 3 years, but I really can't afford to fix all the rust she has gotten the last year. So if anyone is interested in the Milwaukee/Chicago Area, here is the details:

1988 Ford F-250 Custom
4x4 works good.
302 V8
M5OD no leaks
New clutch set
New rear carrier with LSD front and rear 3.55 ratio
31" BFG AT tires (10K miles on them)
Custom paint
New PS hose
New shocks
New springs rear
Pioneer CD player
Clarion Speakers
MSD Blaster coil
Visor/Fastback
Step bars
Brush gaurd
New starter
New belts
New Rad 3 teir
New Thermostadt 192deg Ford
Custom Painted steel rims
New rear wheel bearings and seals
New Rear shoes and springs
New front y-pipe, 3" high flow cat, 3" exhaust and F350 muffler. (Quiet but fast)

What she needs:
Stop the rust on the underbody of the cab, bed, rear wheel wells, and tailgate.
New exhaust manifolds, both are cracked.
Front Brake job.

Thanks for listening,
Randy

 

Ok, well, the engine's out and sitting in my garage on a stand. Wasn't too bad a deal getting it out, other then the fuel line connectors, manifold to exhaust studs (which my sawzall took care of), and having to put the entire engine back down after getting it up, so i could extend the arm of the crane to get it over the front of the truck. Didn't realize the thing was so darn high. I took the pan off and found tons of junk in the bottom of the pan. The part of the pickup screen that has the shield over it was completely full of the stuff, so the only part that would flow oil was the opening, not enough area if you ask me. So that kind of comfirmed my suspesion of oil starvation. The next question now is where all the junk came from. I also removed the driver side valve cover to find a load of it up there too. This stuff is way too course to have made it through the oil system without completely destroying the bearings. I noticed that the engine had leaking valve cover gaskets and oil pan gaskets. About a 3 inch section of the pan gasket had squished out the side. I also know this used to be a contractor's truck used at construction sites. So now the hypothesis turns to dust and debris being sucked in through these openings by the vaccum in the engine. Hopefully i'll get to the store tomorrow to get the torx socket to get the uppermanifold off and look at the other valve cover. This also makes me wonder how much junk is floating in the lifter valley. I can't tell exactly what most of the junk is made of, but it has to be dirt of some sort, considering i pulled out a dark black object about a quarter inch in diameter and to figure out what it was, i smashed it with a hammer. Sure enough, it was a rock. As you can tell, I'm loving this engine right now. I'll also pull some caps off and check out the bearings to see if any damage has been done. I just realized now that i could pull out a valve pushrod and see if there's any junk in it. Oh, just remembered another thing. I found wads of fiber insulation and acorns jammed under the upper intake. Pretty cozy spot, eh? =)

Chris

 

Take your finger and stick up in front of the engine where the timing chain is, and see how much slop is in the chain. I would bet some of the debris is plastic off the timing chain sprocket. Of course the other brand has this too. What will be different, is pulling the front of the engine apart. What a mess. All those bolts, and they are all different lengths. Also they can get stuck in the alternator and you have to cut and drive them out.

 

There was tons of slop in the timing chain, so i plan on replacing it, but i don't see where any plastic would come off of it. I was also wondering if you could give me a clue as to what the funky bearing type thing on the front of the cam gear is. Some type of thrust bearing?

 

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 30-Sep-01 AT 07:40 PM (EST)[/font][p]If you notice, it's kind of offset, and is used to drive the fuel pump on carb motors. The carb motors actually have this cup with a sleeve around it to rub against the fuel pump arm. If your engine is fuel injected, the ones I've seen don't have the outer sleeve and I guess they just use it as a washer for the bolt, because it's not needed for fuel injection of course.

Usually the large gear is coated with plastic. If the gear you take off looks like it is aluminum, it definitely had plastic on it at one time.