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Solving 2.9 oil issues in one day.


Capri755

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Hey guys, if you missed my introduction thread, my name is Anthony. I'm an electro-mechanical engineering student from Long Island and I have a 1989 bronco II with the 2.9 cologne and 87,000 miles. I've been lurking around the forum for a while now reading up on these engines and this platform in general and all the information has been invaluable, so thank you all so much for that.

Now though, I need some real guidance and need it fast. I've been driving my bronco for about 6 months now. I bought it used from a ford dealership so it's really clean and has been rigorously maintained. It is a rust free example of a bronco II, which is pretty hard to find out here on the island because of the sale. As of a week ago, right when it hit 87,000 miles, I started having some pretty serious oiling issues.

As of now:
- ticking on start up, becomes faint after about 5-10 minutes of warmup

-oil pressure on start up is about 43psi, falls between 15-20 when warm unless I'm on the pedal, in which case it stays around 35

-intermediate LOUD ticking on the highway, which is usually followed by oil pressure of less than 15 psi if I stop the car and leave it in gear. At this point if it's in neutral or park, the psi comes back up. This symptom only seems to happen when I drive on the highway and after it's clicked into o/d. If I drive in gears 1-4 at moderate speeds (up to 50) I have no problem.

-heads really don't have any carbon build up, and after some inspection it would seem they're not cracked. I'm not losing fluid, and there isn't any gunk in the oil.

This needs to be solved immediately and in the cheapest manner possible because I have to leave for the first semester Of my masters in a week and a half, and I need to drive there. 1800 miles to Colorado.

I'm looking into doing a couple of things here and have a few questions. I've worked on a good amount of machines and cars, but I've never done serious engine work.

The oil pump and pickup are a definite, I'd rather be safe then sorry and It can't hurt to get a guaranteed boost in oil pressure. I know this is a daunting task but the works seems pretty straight forward, just time consing. No?

The camshaft bearings. I know this is kind of a disputed topic, but I want to know if it's worth it, given my current symptoms. Is the job complex outside of disassembling the top of the engine? Can the bearings be changed without replacing the cam and lifters? Can this be done with the engine in the car? Is there a write up? (I didn't find one)

Rocker Arm shafts, I know these get clogged up pretty easily, and I'm not sure if it's necessary to replace them all together but does anyone have a method for cleaning them out? If not is the replacement a pain?

Most importantly can this work be done in a 24 hour period by one or two people? is it worth it given the time constraints/ symptoms and condition of the truck?

Thanks for taking the Time, any input is going to be really appreciated.
 


Rowdy Fitzgerald

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I had pretty much the same issue. I put a quart of atf in the oil, drove it until it warmed up then changed the oil and pump.
After that I'd run a quart of Lucas oil stabilizer in it. It would start ticking at around 3,000 miles and I'd change the oil again.
That motor lasted another 30,000 without a problem and then I did my V8 swap.

I would just swap the oil pump imo.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

adsm08

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Replacing the rocker arms is not hard. Probably not causing your issue though.

The oil pump requires the engine to come most of the way out, easier to take it the whole way out.

The cam does not need to be replaced with new bearings, nor do the lifters, but lifter replacement would be recommended.

The cam bearings, I am told can be done with the engine in place, but I'm not sure how. A guy around here supposedly does it with the engine in the vehicle, doing nothing more than removing the front cover and cam, but I can't see how the lifters don't fall.

A good mechanic and a capable assistant could probably do all that in 24 hours. I can have the heads off a 2.9 in about 30 minutes.
 
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Capri755

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I had read on another thread on here about taking the oil pump apart in the pan, sliding the old one out and then reassembling the new one all while the pan is only dropped? Does this sound realistic?
 

BRUTUS_T_HOG

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I had read on another thread on here about taking the oil pump apart in the pan, sliding the old one out and then reassembling the new one all while the pan is only dropped? Does this sound realistic?
It can be done, but REALLY sucks. I'll never do that again. A few more bolts and hoses and the engine is out at that point
 

sjr53

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The oil pressure sounds good. It is the same as mine with a new oil pump in it. The engine that I just redid because of a failed head gasket used to tick if I took it on the highway, but was quiet if used in town only. Upon tearing it down to replace the head gasket. I found that the previous rebuilder had zero lashed the valve adjustment or else the cam/push rods/or rocker arms had worn down to give zero lash. When reassembling, I adjusted them properly for 1.5 turns tighter than zero lash and have about 3000 miles on it now with no ticking even with highway driving. I also had plugged up rocker arm shafts. They can be cleaned by removing the arms and pedestals and then spraying penetrating oil or stronger cleaning solvent into the shafts and then using something like a long thin tye-wrap to loosen up the crud and get it out of the shafts. I used an air gun to help with that. When reassembling, it can be done wrong because the center pedestal is not centered. I put mine together wrong the first time and had to flip it around. Also my arm shaft had some gouges in them so I put the previously bottom side up so the undamaged side was now facing down.
 

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