As many of you know I went with stage 3 cams in my engine this year. Sounds mean on initial start up with the LT un capped it rattled my whole house!

Now the issue I am having…

At under 1000 Rpm's I am dropping oil pressure. I do not have an after market oil pressure gage just factory set up.

If I give the gas a tap the pressure jumps right back up. I called crower and asked if they had ever heard of this kind of issue. Their reply was no! They did say that I would have to bump up the idle to about 1000 Rpm's to stabilize the idle.

I did that and let it run for about 15 min and every thing was fine oil pressure stayed up.

Problem solved right?

Wrong!

I shut the truck off went inside and got ready for work. Started the truck back up every thing was fine oil pressure was at about 5/8 of the gage. Meaning over mid range on the high side. I got about 15 miles down the hi-way and went to change lanes let off the gas at about 80 mph and changed lanes this time Rpm's were at 2000 and the oil pressure dropped out again. I put it in neutral gave the gas peddle a tap pressure jumped right back up strong. I got off at the first exit and took it back home and am trying to figure out what's going on!

I took the front of the engine off and am going to check the O-ring in the pick up tube as well as the check valve in the pump tonight.

Do any of you have any input on my dilemma, or has this ever happen to you?


Respectfully,

Jeronimo (Suavy)

 

Hi Suavy,

A friend of mine just noticed that his 01 L had a loose oil pressure sender. His was so loose that he was leaking some oil. Just something to check.

Take care,
Greg

 

Put a mechanical gauge on it to make sure, I've had sender's go bad in the past. From the work you've done on it some crap might have ended up in the sender.
Just a thought.
Bryan

 

thanks guy's I have the front cover off and am going to change the pump out tonight if I have to.

I just dread taking the timing chains off and re timing it in the truck. On the other hand if I don't change it out and put every thing back together and find out it was the pump. Then the whole fromt of the engine comes back off agin!

 

Suavy,
From my experience, oil pumps run in oil and rarely fail. You would probably experience lower pressure if the clearances grew too big, but not total loss. You have the engine apart so a little precaution would not be bad and wouldn't hurt.
When you get it back together be sure and put a mechanical gauge on it and see!
Best of luck!
Bryan
Another thing you can do is cut open your oil filter and see if any damage is evident.

 

Suavy,
is the actual "OIL LIGHT" coming on, or are you getting fluctuation in the analog (needle) gauge only?

if the RED OIL WARNING LIGHT is coming on, it means that you are producing less than something like 15PSI of oil pressure!!!

this is obviously a problem as you should have closer to 80-90psi.

if you are just getting a fluctuation in the gauge, then that's another story.

the factory gauge is not accurate and nothing more than a glorified idiot light, so you need to get a manual gauge on there A.S.A.P.

good luck.

later,
chris

 

The truck has not run over a second or 2 with the idiot light on. There has been no noise or ratteling going on. Believe me I have a small fortune invested and would not drive it with out that issue being resolved.


Thanks for the input and please keep the ideas flowing I want to put this issue to bed and race my damm truck!


Suavy

Superfords, the needle gage reads high but when the RPM's drop off the neddle fals as if I turned the truck off. The red idiot light come right on also. I put a new sending unit on it during the rebuild.

 

Suavy,

Replace the Oil Sending unit. Mine acted flakey showing "0" oil pressure at times scaring the hell out of me for about a week.

I replaced the switch and never had a problem since.

EDIT: I just went back and read your last post about replacing the switch. You could have bought a defective one. It's worth checking out.

Later,
Chuck

 

Thanks Chuck, I did that when I rebuilt the engine this past weekend. I have another unit that I'm gonna replace it when I change out the pump. I have the front of the engine tore off so I might as well change the pump while I'm in there. It's just the timing I hate to do.


Suavy

 

hopefully it's just the sender Suavy...

again, I'd HIGHLY recommend hooking up a manual oil pressure gauge to eliminate any doubt.

as I said, you could have as little as 15 or possibly even less PSI and the gauge will read "normal" and the oil light will be off.

quick question, what block did you end up using? new or old?

if new, did you install these oil restrictor plugs at the front and rear of the block?



new blocks may not come with these plugs installed, they are fairly small "freeze" type plugs around 11 millimeters in diameter if I remember correctly. one at the front and one at the rear of the block. failing to install these plugs in a new block will cause the exact condition you are describing. unfortunately, there is no way to check for them without removing the transmission (and rear main seal plate) and/or the timing cover.

just a thought...

good luck, and I'm hoping for you that it's just a faulty sender. like I and others mentioned above, those senders fail frequently in all types of Ford products, but normally only when cold.

later,
chris

 

Also you might check an make sure there is an oring on the oil pick up tube that will cause the same condition.Stan

 

Superfords, I know there is one in the rear of the block cuz other wise I would have a flooded garage. The front one I'm not sure? I have to get the fan off of the water pump for the front cover to come off.

Bless you for your guidance!

Ruslow, I am going to check that as soon as I get the front cover all the way off.

One other thing...

I did remove the driver side black hose that comes out of the valve cover and goes in to the intake rubber boot. I blocked of the rubber boot on the intake, and put a valve cover breather like is on the passenger side. Could this have any thing to do with my problem?

Respectfully,

Suavy

 

actually suavy, these plugs are kind of funny, because even if you left them out, EXTERNALLY, the timing cover blocks the opening of the front one, and EXTERNALLY, the rear main seal plate/cover blocks the rear one. HOWEVER, INTERNALLY the holes are only partially blocked. inside the crankcase, the timing cover only blocks about 1/2 of the front hole, and the rear main cover blocks nearly ALL of the rear hole except for a seemingly random groove machined into the cover itself, this groove is coincidentally enough a perfect passage for oil to flow through.

what I'm saying is that these plugs could be missing and you'd have no external leaks, but you'd essentially be bleeding oil flow and thus pressure back into the pan at both ends of the block.

these plugs could be missing and you would still have SOME oil pressure due to the restrictions caused by the timing cover and the rear main cover, but you wouldn't have FULL oil pressure.

to further confuse the matter, if this were the case, you'd likely have enough restriction that WHEN COLD, or with higher RPMS, you'd have enough oil pressure (15+psi) to make the gauge read normal and the oil light to be off, but once the oil gets hot and the engine (and thus the oil pump) are at lower rpms, you'd get an oil light.

again, before we get too carried away, assuming you hadn't already started taking the motor back apart, I'd do a manual gauge pressure test, it's relatively quick and easy once you get yourself a gauge. it'd be wise to do this before you start tearing things apart for no reason, as there are certainly other possible causes to consider as well.

good luck.

later,
chris

 

superfords, I will have the front cover all the way off tonight then I will see if the front plug is off. If it is then more than likely so is the back. I did get an 03 block from reman this time. So the other block I used was an older style.

I'm gonna do the check and then check the pick up tube.

I amy have to slide the tranny back to check the rear cup plug. I will only do that as a last resort or in the event I find the front one not there.

If I every thing else but the rear checks out then I will slide the tranny back and check that one.

I can't check oil pressure now cuz I have the engine half way torn apart.

Thank you everyone I will up date tomorrow.

Peace, Suavy

 

Good Luck Suavy! I know you've had a heck of a time with getting everything swuared away. Be Patient, it will all come together.

Then we can line them up!