I recently purchased a 1996 F250 XL 5.0 5spd 2wd single cab long bed that has been sitting for around 5 years not running. Previous owner parked it due to a severe oil leak that allegedly caused the oil pressure warning light to turn on in a matter of a couple of days that they never had looked at. What I am really looking for is some guidance/expertise on specific things I should be looking for and addressing as I get this thing road worthy. I have experience working on fuel injected engines and have maintained multiple vehicles over the last 15 years so I can handle just about anything that pops up but this is my first Ford vehicle I have done any extensive work on.

I have already manually cranked the engine over and it turned just fine. There is still a small amount of clean oil in the pan, and the radiator is full of reddish mud. Here are other things I have done so far:

• Dropped front gas tank and drained it, still needs to be cleaned out. Rear gas tank is nearly empty and was difficult to remove so I left it in there.
• All 4 wheels removed and will have new tires
• Started flushing the radiator, ordered a flush and fill kit and will use that to complete the clean out
• Cleaned out a crazy number of mud wasp nests
• Purchased: New plugs, serpentine belt, fuel filter, clutch, flywheel, rear brake cylinders, etc.

Basically I want to avoid as many surprises as possible, so I am looking for some advice from those of you that are familiar with the 302/zf5.

Thanks in advance.

 

check the back of the intake manifold. 302's are fairly famous for blowing out the gasket across the rear china wall on the intake. If that's what it is, get yourself an intake gasket set, and then take those two rubber or cork gaskets out of the kit, and toss them right in the garbage. Get a tube of "The Right Stuff" and lay a nice fat like 1/4" bead across the china wall instead.

This has been the issue with pretty close to every 302 with a major oil leak that I've seen, if it wasn't a rear main seal leak.

 

Thanks for the advice SFaulken. I had a look at the rear main seal and there was some oil there but it didn't seem like enough to cause the amount of oil loss the previous owner was experiencing. I purchased a new rear main seal and plan on tackling that when I swap out the clutch/flywheel but I was going to try and get the truck running before I did that work if I could. I will check on the intake manifold next time I have a chance to wrench on the truck.

 

1) How many miles?

2) Oil pressure warning or check engine light?

3) what does the gauge say?

First thing I'd do is key on, engine off, pull the wire off oil pressure sender & ground wire & see if it swings full max. Yes, gauge & wiring is OK. Hook it back up.

Then if there's any chance of seizing's an engine, I'd pull drivers side valve cover, set distributor to TDC, pull it, spin the oil pump w/primer tool & see if it lubes the rockers.

No oil @ rockers, pump but more likely sludge on the pickup.

 

Mileage is around 180k but the battery is dead so I am not sure if the gauge works. I do not intend to try and run the truck until I get the oil leak tracked down and repaired.

Thanks for the tips I will follow those steps to verify the gauges are working properly etc. just to make sure I can trust them after I buy a new battery for it.