So my son drives home and says... The oil light came on last night can we check that?

[BillRod]

I Can't believe it, He actually drove from his buddy's house to his appt.
Then from his Appt to my house... All with the oil light on the whole time!!!
He said he wanted to check the oil level here at home.
He's 18, I can't believe he's never heard me say that you must STOP the engine if the gauge or light says you have no oil pressure!!!!

88 Ranger, 2.9L, 5spd, 4x4, ext cab, 160+K.

I asked him if it made any ticking or rattling noises like the valve train running dry and he said yeah it kinda ticked some. So....

When I got home we pushed it into the driveway.
I have not started it yet.
I want to hook up a mechanical oil gauge first and just hope like hell it is a bad sender or something simple.

So, I may be asking about engine swaps here soon...

Wish me luck!!!

Bill

 

[IRKillroy]

good luck!!

 

[Cybergasm]

good luck !

 

[CraigK]

Decades ago, I let my buddy borrow my MGB for a night so he could take his date to the drive-in. (He swapped me his CB750 Honda.) I had just rebuilt and replaced the engine, and an external oil line got cut and pumped out all the oil while on his date. When he brought the car back he informed me (piss drunk) that my car was "fuxxed". He had been tapping the oil pressure gauge all the way home (read zero!). When I started it the next day, it sounded like a shovel scraping a rock. Horrible. Then it ran great for many years. Go figgur.

CraigK
PS I never did tell him what I did to his 750.

 

[tanbuddy]

My light came on 2 times since i owned it, it was only about one and a half quarts low, which wont kill the thing. Its probablly fine.

 

[IMenriched]

Umm... good luck!

would not hurt to repalce the oil filter too...maybe it suffered internal damage??

Fram is known for internal failures that can starve oil supply

 

[RangerFabWorks]

CraigK
PS I never did tell him what I did to his 750.

what did you do?????????????????????????

 

[logicgear]

CraigK
PS I never did tell him what I did to his 750.

YEAH I WANNA KNOW TOO!!!!

 

[BillRod]

Turns out it was the switch on the engine.
I hooked up a mechanical gauge and the pressure was great.
Replaced the switch sender unit and all is well.

I told him to go and buy a lottery ticket.

Bill

 

[polarbear]

i run my 2.9 with oil light several times still runs great

 

[Jspafford]

The check oil light simply means your low... Not you have no oil PSI.

It can lead to no PSI though if it's not checked.

 

[Flat Toy]

A few years back my then son n law called and told me his 2000 Ranger had died on him. Took the flatbed trailer out and hauled it home. Turn the key and it just clicked.
Got it home and checked the oil and there was not a drop in it. Motor was frozen tight. When I asked he said it had been knocking for a day or so and he knew it needed oil but he could not afford cigeretts and oil so he bought the smokes.
I found a 2000 4.0 for $400.00 and the mechanic who works at my father n laws car lot said that he would put it in for $700.00. (I did not want to mess with it, you will see why in a bit)
His Mom said no. She said that my inlaws would have the truck stolen and get it stripped down and sell off the parts.
His mother had it towed to a shop and almost $7,000 later it had a new motor. The crankshaft was broke in two places.
Well the motor never really ran great but about 30 days later he called me up and says the truck stoped running. Since it was about 2 miles away I ran down with the van and a tow strap and when I got there turned the key and it started. There were several rods knocking so I knew it was trash so I had him drive it home. Again there was no oil.
Seems that when he started it up at work someone told him he had a bad oil leak and he drove it anyway, going out of his way to drop off a co worker. So it was about 23 miles with no oil.
I found him an 86 Buick to drive and less then a month later he tells me it got hot and didn't run right. The water pump had gone out and all the water was gone. He was at his mothers house and she told hime to just drive it home. So he did. That car was toast.
Before the truck he had a 98 Escort and it was run without oil and the head cracked on it. Since it was close to his parants house and he was at work I went and got it off the highway and took it over to thier place. They come home and want to know why I am leaving it there and then called the cops on me for doing so. The car was in their name so I guess the cops didn't follow up. At least they didn't come see me.
Since he has been gone who knows what he has blown up.
So see, your son is not all that bad.

 

[Roadkill]

Dang, smart like box of rocks wasn't he?

 

[351rangerxxx]

yeah if its labeled low oil its the level not the pressure. about a 1 quart low is when it turns on