I have read some similar oil pressure posts but I am yet to find anyone with this exact issue.

Some background info...
I have a 1999 Ranger XLT 4x4 3.0L V6. The other day I was driving along at about 45mph and my oil pressure dropped to zero. A minute later I heard the engine begin to tick and my CEL came on. I pulled over immediately fearing that I was about to grenade my engine and had the truck towed. NOTE: There was no smoke, no oil spray, and the oil level was good. I was able to get the truck back to my father in-laws house (46 miles @ $3/mile later) where we were able to replace the oil pressure switch/sender and the pressure is still pegged at zero. With the oil pressure sender out as a root cause, we suspected that it was the oil pump so we decided to take a look. Much to my delight :huh: I found that in order to remove the oil pan you have to lift the engine. After struggling with this for a few hours we were able to raise the engine enough to remove the pan and gain access to the oil pump. Here is where things get strange.

Looking at the oil pump, IT LOOKS FINE. The shaft that turns it is in tact, and the gears inside of it look good. :nixweiss: Any ideas?

There are some metal filings in the oil so at this point I am looking to at least replace the main and rod bearings. Has anyone heard of somebody stripping the gear that turns the oil pump shaft from the cam? If so how difficult is this to replace? I have had several people suggest a complete rebuild now that damage has been done. Just tipping the truck off of the flatbed though seemed to lube the block enough that it stopped ticking so I don't think the damage is that severe. Any suggestions, comments would be great. Thanks everyone.

 

Well you could open the oil filter & maybe get an idea just how much metal was ground up before you stopped.

Take a magnet to it & see if any of it is attracted, if it is or not can give you some idea where it came from.

Does the oil pump screen appear to be clear????

 

Yes, I was going to say, check the screen. I had a 92 lose all pressure and turned out the screen was just plugged up. Cleaned the screen and it had more pressure than it did when I bought it.

 

Thank you both for the replies. I checked the screen and it looks great. In fact, if I took the existing oil pump and sat it next to the new one I couldn't tell the difference. I did some further investigation tonight and the gear that turns the pump rod is perfect. No wear from what I can see. Even the crank and rod bearings look good. I believe the source of the filings was the thrust washer in the middle of the crank. It is pretty beat up. That aside, I will be taking some pictures to send to Mobil because this is definitely a Mobil 1 oil commercial in the making. I have the new bearings on order from Ford and once I find a root cause I am going to cross my fingers, replace the entire lower end, and drop my engine back in. I will try the oil filter and magnet idea tomorrow, that was a great idea. Thanks again.

 

Welcome to FTE!!!

Sorry to hear about your problem, not a common one, keep us update on the progress and the cause.

 

Big,

Doing the work you are planning to do is not a bad idea if you lost oil pressure and I suspect that you did if the engine started to tick after the gauge went to zero. If you are not able to figure out why this happened, I am concerned that it will happen again. I would try to invetigate further to find out why the oil pressure went to zero before putting it back together. That said, I'm as stumped as you are. How many miles on the truck.

 

A little over 74,000 miles on the truck. That is what is disturbing me more than anything. I just picked up the new bearings from Ford today. My mechanic from back at home made a few calls to his contacts at Ford and was told that there is an issue with the check valve in the oil pump. It's not a recall but the mechanics there seem to be very familiar with the problem as well. The gears on the inside of the pump can wear into the pump housing and the smallest of filings can lodge into the check valve. I looked at my housing/gears and didn't notice anything blatently wrong but any one of the filings I found in my oil pan could have made it through the pickup screen. When I get to the house tonight I plan to inspect my housing a bit more. Although that sounds like it may be the cause of my problem, your right, I am still hesitant to put my truck back together without a definitive cause.

By the way, I checked the oil filter with a magnet and it came out clean.

 

At least it sounds like you may have identified the problem which would improve my comfot level putting the engine back together. did they tell you what they have done to correct the problem??

 

It turns out that the source of my problem wasn't the oil pump after all. We reassembled the engine after changing the main and rod bearings, and the oil pump...still no oil pressure! A bit more investigation and I found another thread from somebody who had the same exact problem as me. https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/s...t+synchronizer

My problem was the timing gear on the camshaft synchronizer. I am still looking into how this could have happened but somehow it got severely chewed. From what I understand, the camshaft synchronizer sits underneath the camshaft sensor and essentially serves the same function as a distributor by providing timing information to the PCM. At the bottom of the synchronizer is a hex socket that turns the oil pump. So although the hex shaft and socket looked fine from underneath, the real problem was that there was nothing there to turn them. Literally every tooth on the gear was at least half missing and three were completely shredded off. I will try and post a pic soon because it is incredible to see.

In the end I was able to purchase a new camshaft synchronizer assembly from Ford for $115.00 and that solved the problem. Not bad considering that most of the work I did needed to be done regardless due to the lack of oil (i.e. bearing replacement).

Thanks to everyone for their help.

 

Glad to hear you found the problem and thanks for letting us know the cause.

 

Good feedback, would be interesting to determine what/how/why those teeth sheared like that, looking foward to seeing the pictures posted. Would seem something would have to sieze up or somehow otherwise overload those teeth.

 

I had the same problem in my ranger before i sold it, except i didn't stop in time, seized the engine up .. still paying for that one and i'm on a new truck.. anyway, i lost oil presure apparently on my 99 ranger 4x4 3.0l.. lol.. Good to hear you got it all fixed up though.