96 suffers 1st big problem... In need of some good help!

[DangerRanger96]

Ok, gonna try to make it short and sweet, but there's alot involved w/ my problem. Too many people have too many ideas on what's wrong.

I'm being told to pull the motor and replace the oil pump/filter:

Ok, intake gasket blew. Tore it down. Found oil sludge build up in the valley on the top of the block. Sucked out all the crap, scraping it pretty clean. THEN, a guy told me to fill my block up with kero. He had me crank it over for like 10 - 20 seconds after it sat for about 20 mins. Drained it all, put the motor back together and refilled oil and new filter. Started the motor..... NO OIL PRESSURE. I will get good pressure for like 1 - 5 mins...then it drops to zero. Flutters back and forth a little...then nothing. I've flushed the motor multiple times removing a ton of flakey oil from the pan..even filled the pan with mineral spirits and added air thru the dipstick tube. Won't disolve it.

I'm being told its the oil sending unit. It's the filter plugged. It's the rear main worn out. I tend to beleive its the filter plugged with all the crap I broke loose with the kero and cranking! New pump, new filter? Bad gauge?

Really want to be sure before paying to pull motor! Thanks in advance!
This site is loaded with great guys and excellent advice! 203,000 miles

 

[smokey]

the oil pump/filter is plugged from all the crud that broke loose from the "cleaning"

pull the pan and clhange the oil pump and while you have it off you cna pull a bearing cap off to check the bearings while it is apart.

 

[Will]

What I would do is change the filter and sending unit and see if the pressure registers. If it does, buy a bunch of cheap oil and filters (some place like Tractor Supply or Rural King will have a store brand oil pretty cheap) and every few days change the oil until it starts looking normal again.

You aren't getting that pan off without pulling the motor.

 

[Ranger5.0]

wow, thats not good...all that krap that broke loose prolly pluged up the pick up screen, or got into the pump, or cloged the filter. Check the filter first, do an oil/filter change. fire it up, if no pressure still, shut it down and replace the oil pressure switch. there is a cheep and dirty way to check the switch tho.

 

[DangerRanger96]

Ya, I've flushed the motor 3 times since this happened. Changed the filter too. Each time I seem to get longer run time with pressure, but then...DROP! It will even bounch back and forth trying to stay up. I figure screen / pump???

I've been told I can pull the sensor lead and touch ground " quickly " to check the sending unit?? Is that true? The isn't any way to fluch the pan/screen? I've tried a air hose and long curved wand too.....SO MUCH FREAKIN CRAP IN THERE! That was so dumb to do.....

 

[F150hybred]

DangerRanger, sometimes our best intentions have the worst outcomes. Best and possibly the cheapest thing you can do is pull the engine and repair as required. Better to do it now then after you spin a bearing.... or even worse... throw a rod.

 

[rags]

If you are putting on Fram filters STOP!

On a dirty motor you can't use that filter. I had the same problem with my 88 2.9, I changed oil on a neglected engine and used a fram filter, I made it 3 miles down the road and no oil pressure, let it sit for 5 minuts and got some pressure to drtive it a mile at a time till i got it home.

I removed the filter and it was plugged! came to find out FRAM filters do not go into bypass when the get plugged.

I put a Motorcraft filter on and waas good to go, although I did change it twice in the next 1000 miles just for good measure.

I have asked around and i'm not the only person who has experienced the same problem with those filters on older cars.

Just my 2 cents

 

[krugford]

One thing I would never have done is fill the pan with kerosene and then run it. Journal bearings require a minimum film thickness to prevent damage and kerosene just doesn't quite have the same properties as 5w30. Even for 20 seconds. Did the engine knock while running the kerosene through?

I would say your problem is all the crap you broke loose running a solvent throght the oil system. Clean the screen, replace the filter, and might as well replace the oil pump while your in there. Any debris that's made it past the filter, if it has a bypass, is going to leave it's mark on the main and rod bearings. I would pull the thrust cap and check for grooves/lines in the coating on the bearing.

 

[DangerRanger96]

No, didn't knock at all while it cranked over. I've only replaced the oil filter once during the 3 oil flushes. The new filter I installed, when I looked at it, appeared fine. Didn't see ANY signs of debris in it. That is why I'm stuck on thinking the screen is plugged. ( or atleast gets plugged after running a few ) I looks as tho I'm stuck with the big job!! I don't feel I have the skills to pull it myself. Time to bite the bullet and pay someone to swap it out. AND TO THINK I ALMOST DIDN'T FILL IT WITH KERO. It didn't seem right to me!!! #@$%@#&

 

[Jspafford]

I had never pulled a motor before and I was able to do it on my own with just a engine lift.

 

[Ranger5.0]

you need to cut the filter OPEN with a fiter opener so you can see inside, THATS where all the krap is traped, in between the pleats. I agree on ther fram filters, they all suck.pulling an engine isnt "easy" but it sure isnt hard either, its not labor or brain intensive, just a bit time consuming. Buy a hayns or chiltons manual, read it over a bit, and then have at it. dont be overwhelmed by the efi and al the other wireing, they are just wires, they wont bite you. Im not being sarcastic, thats a line my ems teach' uses when hes treaining us about "anaconda" which is his name for a 35 ft long wireing harness out of a loader..

 

[DangerRanger96]

Ya, I actually pulled the harness off to take the intake manifold off. Just made things easier. I've swapped trannies before on my own too. It's just breaking the tran loose, and the damn exhaust manifolds....IT'S A FREAKIN 96!! ***SNAP*** I just wish that I could buy cheap oil and filters and keep running it till it cleans up! Life is never that easy for me. I have the Haynes manual...one of the first things I buy with a vehicle. Anyone in Ohio want to pull a motor? lol... wanna buy a truck? lmao

 

[Will]

I have an idea.

Instead of flushing it while it's running, maybe you can flush it while it isn't running. You need a pump that kerosene won't eat. To go the the hardware store with an oil filter and rig a hose from the center of where the oil pump screws on to the external pump. Pump kerosene in and watch what comes out the pan. When you pump oil in through the center of where the filter screws on, it goes through the engine's lube system and drain-backs. It doesn't go through the oil pump. If you bought an oil filter relocation kit you could also flush the pump and screen backwards by pumping it through the part that the outer part of the filter sees.

Head gaskets alone and $100 I think. then you need the bolts because they are torque to yield--meaning they deform when installed, and can't be reused. If you bother to pull the motor, you better take it all apart. I would try to flush it as I described and see if you can get the gunk out.

 

[Ranger5.0]

dont worry about seperating the engine and trans, use the engine hoise to lift the engine once all the bolts are out, use a pry bar and some brains, and it should wiggle lose easy enough. Dont fuk around with trying to flush it out, odds are some shits gotten into the oil gallerys and ya, better save then sorry.

 

[woodyedmiston]

Those darn transmission bolts.

Borrow a couple extra 12" long 1/2 drive extensions from a friend or two. Get a "wobble" or universal drive for your 13mm socket. Make a 36-40 inch extension by adding them all together. This puts the end of the extensions out past the transmission crossmember. You can keep the socket in place, stick on a 18" breakover bar (and maybe a cheater and a friend to help) and you can break the bolts on the transmission relatively easy. If you have a good electric drill, pick up a 3/8 drive that will plug into the six sided drywall screw driver socket. (Lowe's - Home Depot) Adjust up to 1/2" and screw the tranny bolts out right quick. I also used an impact wrench but the socket jumps off and lands who-knows-where and you have to get out from under the truck to find it.

On the exhaust flanges. Go topside and splash around some penetrating oil the night before you start this project. They will come off a little easier - but you will still need a couple of the 12" extensions and a 18" breakover.

That's what I did. The others are right - there is noting in the wiring on my 99 that can be plugged in the wrong place other than the spark plug wires and maybe the two water temp plugs - and the oxygen sensors. Everything else has specific plugs. You can disconnect the wiring harness at the osygen sensors and remove the entire harness with the engine and/or set the intake and manifold aside with them still attached. I even left my AC hooked up and swapped out long blocks. Didn't leak (yet) and cools well.