Well, I said I would post a thread once I got my Bronco so here it is! Today I purchased an '87 Bronco EB 302. It was exactly what I was wanting... excellent body and interior (no scratches, dings, etc.), has been pretty well taken care of. It does need some work (window motor, good washing and cleaning, filter changes, etc), but for the most part is ready to go! I did find one problem that concerns me: once the motor was hot (normal temp), and I stopped suddenly (at stop signs, red lights, etc) as soon as the rpm dropped down the oil pressure did too (almost to zero... even the engine light came on) . If I barely pressed the gas (to add maybe 50-100rpm) then the oil pressure would jump right back up to normal. I am going to do some more checking on it tomorrow, but was wondering if any of you had any ideas... the only two things I can really think of is maybe the idle rpm's are a little low and the oil pump could be worn, preventing it from adequately pumping at the too low rpms (BTW, can anybody tell me what idle rpms should be on this truck?). While this was happening the rpms would fluctuate up and down probably 200-400 rpm (from about 500 to 900 on the tach). Any ideas?

 

Belive it or not just try an oil change and maybe go to a thicker oil (10-40) or add a quart of lucas. I know it is not a great fix but it keep my 86 302 oil pressure up till i hydro -locked the engine, if not for that i bet it still would be running

 

Did you have the same problem?

 

Congrats on teh purchase of your Bronc!

 

Cotgrats on your bronco. Try an engine oil flush to help with oil pressure. It's a common complaint. My 91 e350 van improved after using SEA FOAM motor flush 1 whole can idled for 2 hours and changed oil. Got rid of lifter noise as well.

 

good luck with your bronco!

 

put a oil pressure gauge on ASAP. one with a tube to the gauge, NOT ELECTRONIC. my bronco died doing the same thing. had a real gauge on for a week and found out once the ruck warmed up the oil press was a 0-5psi. Needless to say, its now in need of a rebuild. I tried thicker oil/flush/bearing protector. DIDN'T help. Hate to rain on your join the bronco club. Just letting you know in advance.

BTW the factory gauge is basically just an idiot light. reads normal above 5 psi. sending unit only knows pressure- not enough pressure

 

I use to have similar problems with my 68 F-100 and i just put some lucas in and bada-bing it worked.

 

Thanks for all the info and the welcome! No raining on my parade... for what I paid and for what I got it would be worth it if I had to rebuild the whole motor! Broncobillybob, you're from Auburn? I went to school there and am from Dadeville (now we live close to Augusta). In a few minutes (once the coffee takes affect) I'm going to get started on my new truck... by tonight I should be able to post some more details to the problem, plus be able to tell yall what I've got... Thanks again!

 

Well, after a long, long (fun) day of working on my truck I know a little more about it! Everything is pretty much stock, with the exception that is has custom dual exhaust with flowmasters (the loud ones). The cooling system had been neglected, so I replaced every hose and did a complete back-flush of the whole system. I also replaced the old clogged paper air filter with a K&N Filtercharger. Add to that list a breather filter, fuel filter, oil, oil filter, window motor, and rear wheel cylinder (with a complete brake system flush). Today I'm going to change the tranny filter and wash the truck! I did flush the crankcase and put 20-50 oil back in it, but the pressure is still low. After driving it a little, I realized that the pressure is acting weird... it can get as high as the 'N' in NORMAL but then will drop to the bottom of the ok (white) range. It will stay there even while driving, where it may go up a little but then will drop back down. While idling, the pressure will drop to the red and the light will come on, but then the pressure will jump up a little to where it started (barely in the white). The motor is idling a little rough too, with the rpms not staying constant. I figured I would put in a different gauge to see if this is really what is going on, but if the pressure is still quirky after that then I'm thinking I'll need a rebuild. What do yall think?

 

As for your oil pressure...don't rely on the stock gauge in your instrument cluster. It's a dummy light that looks like a gauge. It doesn't actually mesaure your oil pressure. The way it works is anytime the oil pressure sender senses >6psi your gauge shoots up to about the middle range...anything <6psi your gauge will read to the far left and your engine light will come on. I spent about $13 putting a mechanical gauge (uses a nylon tube from the engine block to the gauge to read oil pressure significantly more accurate) in my truck.

There is also an alternative route...which is bypassing a resistor on the backside of your instrument cluster and using your stock gauge as a real gauge instead of a dummy gauge. I didn't do this because I didn't want to rely on my oil pressure sending unit from 1988 anylonger...also there are no numbers on the stock gauge...so how do I know exactly what I have?

 

That's exactly what I want to do... put a mechanical in! I hadn't really looked yet, but where is the oil sending unit located (302 V8)?

 

front right right in front of the oil filter. get an oil senging unit socket to remove it.

 

Thanks Jeffrey... I'm installing the gauge this afternoon!

 

just be sure that the tubing stays away from and off the exhaust! otherwise there will be oil all over and you will need to rerun the tubing.