What causes the oil pump to clog?
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Senior User
Joined: Jul 2001
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From: Walterboro, SC
What causes the oil pump to clog?
My Granddad has a 1995 F-150 with the 302. We recently had to have the oil pump cleaned out because it was clogged up with gunk and trash so it lost oil pressure and the lifters collapsed.
Anyway, the mechanicals seem fine on the engine so the mechanic just cleaned out the oil pump and put everything back together.
My concern is what's going to keep this from happening again, and will it cause mechanical problems? My Granddad isn't great about maintaining any sort of equipment, but he says he had it serviced at Ford every 5000 miles.
Does anyone know what could have caused this and if it hurt anything for the lifters to be collapsed? Thanks!
P.S. mileage is about 115000
Anyway, the mechanicals seem fine on the engine so the mechanic just cleaned out the oil pump and put everything back together.
My concern is what's going to keep this from happening again, and will it cause mechanical problems? My Granddad isn't great about maintaining any sort of equipment, but he says he had it serviced at Ford every 5000 miles.
Does anyone know what could have caused this and if it hurt anything for the lifters to be collapsed? Thanks!
P.S. mileage is about 115000
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Joined: Jun 2001
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I would just consider it normal wear. It could be caused by a few things like worn rings, seals, infrequent oil changes, not allowing the motor to operate at optimal temperature long enough. the slug is contaminates getting into the oil from the combustion process and collecting. If you trust the mechanic and he did check all the lifters etc and cleaned the motor thoroughly then I would say it should be good for a while. However lifters aren't expensive and he should have replaced them all since he was there. Just a thought later
Lead Driver
Joined: Feb 2003
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From: Oak Harbor, OH
if it's driven in dusty conditions you really need to have the routine services done alot earlier. Oil at 3k instead of 5 , air filter sooner, fuel filter. These things are not as air tight as everyone thinks and dust in the oil from a loose dipstick oil filler cap can cause this. Also what brand of oil does he use? I'm assuming valvoline since it;s the ford dealer.
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From: Walterboro, SC
Our mechanic said the engine looked clean inside, but then why would the pump have clogged up? He did not replace the lifters - he said they looked fine. I don't believe our mechanic did a sorry job. He is not that type of person, but maybe he didn't think of something?
If it was me the truck would have definately gotten serviced at 3k. I seriously doubt it was serviced every 5k. I've checked a few times and seen as many as 8k miles before it was serviced. :O
He always had it serviced at Ford so I would guess Valvoline oil, and he also said that it has never used any oil so he hasn't added the wrong type or anything. Any other ideas?
If it was me the truck would have definately gotten serviced at 3k. I seriously doubt it was serviced every 5k. I've checked a few times and seen as many as 8k miles before it was serviced. :O
He always had it serviced at Ford so I would guess Valvoline oil, and he also said that it has never used any oil so he hasn't added the wrong type or anything. Any other ideas?
Lead Driver
Joined: Feb 2003
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From: Oak Harbor, OH
You said it went as long at 8k miles between services, that right there is what happened after ~3500 the oil is broken down to where it can't clean the impurities out so it'll gum stuff up. Seen it plenty of times in older engines that weren't taken care of.
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From: Walterboro, SC
Thank you. That was my idea about it also. As hard as I try though I can't convince my family to do the 3K mile servicing rule.
Does this mean that the oil galleries through the engine may still be clogged? Would running Berryman's through the oil for a hundred miles clean it good enough? Thanks for your help!
Does this mean that the oil galleries through the engine may still be clogged? Would running Berryman's through the oil for a hundred miles clean it good enough? Thanks for your help!
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From: North of Toronto, Ontario
Next oil change have them sub in half a quart of ATF in with the oil. ATF is full of detergents and is thin enough to get everywhere. This will help to clean out the engine, and doing this once in a while will help to keep it clean. In my opinion, this is safer than any harsh engine flush additive.
