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on my 88, its got a 302, and when i first start it up, i have normal oil pressure. once it heats up, when in in gear with the brake on, or just idleing, low low oil pressure. i just changed the oil with 30 weight oil, and it still does it, any ideas? thanks
Do you have a real pressure gauge on it? Whats the pressure drop to? if you're going by the stock gauge, time to put a real one in place.
It sounds like your getting close to rebuild time though...
When the pressure is good while the oil is cold, then it drops as the oil warms up, that means the bearings and internals are worn. As the oil warms up, it thins out, and you loose pressure because of the gaps and spaces created by the worn parts.
It'll go down and down until single digits. If you are using the stock gauge, you may be close to single digits already. You can try a heavier oil to get by a little longer, but a rebuild is in your future if this is true.
A basic gauge can go for probably $30 all the way up to $180 or so. My autometer was pretty expensive.
Rebuild.......depends.
You can get a long block 302 and put it in yourself, you can switch to a 351 and get better power, your options are endless and the price depends on what you want.
You can go from as cheap as buying a junkyard motor with good oil pressure/compression and use that...all the way up to a new motor...or even new hi-po motor...
well, after takin a look on ebay, i saw some rebuild kits running about a hundred bucks. comes with main bearings, rod bearings, and rings. what else would i need just for a besic rebuild? i know you get what you pay for, but moneys tight. ebay # 7994396838
Well, that's a basic kit but won't do you any good if your crank needs grinding or your cylinders need boring out. You just can't tell what you're going to have to do till you get it apart, and it usually isn't good idea to buy the parts till you have torn it down. It's sort of putting the cart before the horse.
That price is okay, but I've seen better. I see the "Buy It Now" price is $119.95 and shipping is 24.50, so that brings it up to $144.45 unless you get a bid in and save a few bucks. Check out PAW and see what their kits are going for. (I'd do it for you, but I lent out my PAW catalog and haven't gotten it back yet.)
Also, you might want to check out my post in this thread:
I was having a similar problem until I had the oil pump replaced on my 86 302.
I also ugraded to a High Volume pump, Replaced the pickup screen, pan gasket, and had the pan cleaned out.
I'm now running no lower then 35 PSI when hot and idling. Runs at 55 PSI when warm @ 2000 RPM. All the Ford spec calls for is 40-60 PSI when warm at 2000 PSI w/ specified oil. Ford Mechanic also indicated that supposedly the bearings only need 8 PSI when idling hot. I would not feel comfortable running that low of a pressure.
keep in mind if you used a straigt 30w oil that could be part of it. the straight weight oils use very cheap basestocks and are not shear stable. try a hdeo like 15w40.
My 393 gets 21psi at idle while hot running straight 30w break-in oil and I'd say my bearings are more setup for racing so the pressure would be a little different then a stock engine.
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