My 89 f150 w/351w overheated yesterday, because of a thermostat or clogged radiator (i think). After changing the thermostat and flushing the radiator it no longer overheats, however... now the oil pressure drops to nothing and my exaust is smoking out of both pipes ! Any ideas on what to check for ? (rings,valves,ect )?Should i go through this motor or just get a long block $999.00 ? All comments and suggestions appreciated !!!

 

More than likely if you are getting steam (smoke) out of the tailpipes you are leaking coolant into the combustion chambers. Pull the heads off, have them checked for warpage and cleaned up, toss a set of headgaskets back on it and button it back up.

As for the oil pressure, you may have indeed done some damage in the lower end depending on how long it was driven without coolant or overheating. I'd definately drain the oil out and re-fill it. The sooner the better just in case you got coolant into the crankcase.

Good luck

 

Does your oil pressure drop to nothing only at idle? Lifters ticking? Depending on how often you or previous owner changed the oil, there could have been a lot of sludge built up. If it overheats the sludge will soften and drop into the pan, clogging the oil pick up. I bought an old Merc 351W in this condition. It cleared up after several frequent oil changes (1000 mile w/ filter) and flushes. I was lucky. My advice, inspect the oil (sometimes it thins out - could cause blue smoke until cat heats up), change it and the filter. Do a compression check before pulling the heads. Look for "wet" plugs. Is the smoke thick, thin, black, gray, white or blue? Constant or only on startup? If you have water/antifreeze in the oil, it will appear milky and water will be evident on the dipstick and the oil filler cap after it warms up. Good luck!

 

I'd say the smoke is on the gray or light blue side ,coming out of both pipes. The oil pressure gauge drops from normal, all the way to 0, at idle and at full speed. Heavy thick smoke on exceleration. The lifters are ticking, but no major knocking. I have only driven about 5 miles while hot. She's running cool now.But i don't want to drive ,till I get her fixed right. Thanks for helping!, Chuck
(I don't think the oil is milky)

 

Yeah that engine is gone rebuild or replace

 

I figured it was . Just didn't want to part with the $1000.00

 

yeah but just think after you spend a 1000 youl have a new engine and will know all the history on it i change my oil every 2000 miles with castrol gtx and motorcraft oil filters my engine is partly new not sure how many miles where on it when i bought it but its definately not a lot i always check and watch my gauges and make sure all fluid levels are topped off its the best way to keep any engine and other compents transmission etc. alive

 

Do you change your tranny fluid regularly? A tranny mechanic told me that was not good to do.He said the clutch packs would start to slip sooner ,because clutch particals in the used fluid help the clutchpacks to grip. Is that nonsense?

 

i change my tranny fluid every 20,000 to 25,000 in my nissan car my ford isnt a automatic but even in that the tranny that i have in there that i swapped in from a newer ford a ZF 5 speed is suosed to use ATF for the lubrication but i was told and have read that a 5w 30 full synthetic motor oil is better to use then just regualr ATF ive since put the 5 w 50 motor oil in and not really any noticable diffrence in shifting but i guess the oil has better lubrication properties then ATF i myself have never heard that changing your ATF to often is a bad thing although what the tranny mechanic said dose sound pretty lame lol if you do that not change your ATF enough your tranny will become junk then youll have to pay that guy to fix it lol why he probley told you that

 

a personal friend of mine is a tranny man himself and told me the same thing, he said to change it as your supposed to if you bought the vehicle new and know the history, he said if you bought a used vehicle and if u dont know if it had ever been changed and u start to change it then problems will begin to occur

he gave me a reason but sence then ive forgot