I have installed a oil pressure gauage..

When I first run the truck it is around 40 psi just like the books says...

Now after about 1 hour of driving the engine is hot and the oil pressure drops to around 15 PSI...

If I stop the truck at a red light or something the oil pressure drops to 8.5...

I think this is okay, but man that seems low to me....

I am running 10W-40 in Dallas Texas and thinking about switching to 20-50

I have run engine flush thru it...

Do you think running 20-50 will bring the oil psi up ?

Would a oil cooler help...

Thanks in Advance....

I heard it is really cold up north..

It was 70 today... Man it is going to be hot this summer.

 

GS ,
My book says the 302 should have an oil psi of 40 to 60 Psi .
Paul

 

I experienced a similar problem with my '85 Bronco. I bought the Bronco cheap because it wasn't holding pressure. The guy I bought it from had the oil pump replaced and it still lost pressure so he gave up. The oil pressure would start out around 40 psig for about 20-25 minutes then drop below 10 psig.

I dropped the oil pan and noticed a fair amount of sludge and debris. I also pulled the main bearing caps to inspect the bearings and they were well worn. So I replaced the mains, rod bearings, and the oil pickup screen. Also cleaned the pan real well. So far oil pressure has been good (around 40 psig) for as long as I run it.

Thicker oil will help for a while, but you should drop the pan to see what you have.

 

Thanks...

Was it hard pulling the bottom end out ?

 

Removing the oil pan took some time, but it wasn't extremely difficult. I'm not sure if you have a carb or fuel injection, but it's a little easier with a carb. With a carb, you need to take the air filter housing off to give yourself maximum clearance. Underneath you'll need disconnect the exhaust from the manifolds and remove the nuts from the motor mounts.

I then put a jack under the oil pan and slowly raised the motor. Be careful when jacking with the pan. I put some scrap wood on the jack and make sure nothing is hanging up. You should see the motor start lift. Once I raised it up a bit I place some wood blocks below the motor mounts to support the motor raised. Gradually lower the jack making sure the motor is secure. I then moved the jack under the bell housing to offer some support.

At this point you should be able to start removing oil pan bolts. You also need to remove the dipstick tube. If the motor is high enough you should be able to wrangle the pan out. Then you can check the pan for any sludge. Also at this point some of the bearing caps are exposed as well. You can just put a socket on the crank bolt an rotate it so that you can get to all of the caps.

Pulling the caps will expose the bearings. My bearings were showing copper so I replaced them.
It's important to line up the "tangs" in the bearing when install new ones and they should go up without much effort.

Eventhough this was the first time I did this, my father helped me and is very experienced. The other alternative is to pull the whole motor out and work on it on an engine stand. I don't have easy access to an engine hoist, plus it's a lot of work to pull the motor. This vehicle is just regular driver for me and nothing special so I wasn't going to do a complete rebuild.

If you have any questions or want some more details let me know.

Jim Calvert
jjcalvert@worldnet.att.net