Lost Oil Pressure! Oil Pump???

gregpro50

gregpro50

Member
Sep 11, 2004
140
0
16
Binghamton NY
#1
I was driving my '92 GT today and all of a sudden the oil pressure guage dropped to nothing. I didnt think anything of it because I thought it was just a problem with the sender so I drove it for about 10 minutes and then it started ticking slightly from the top end so I immediately pulled over and shut it off. Then I got a ride home and went back and towed it with my truck. The car only has just under 80,000 miles on the original motor. Does this sound like a bad pump?? I have never had one just go bad on me like this before. I cant think what else it could be other than the shaft from the dizzy to the pump coming loose but I just cant see that.
 

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#2
Sudden loss of oil pressure liek that could either be no more oil in the oil pan (which the low oil light would have came on) or the pump took a crap... or something got stuck up in the oil pump pick up. Time to pull the motor.
 
#4
the oil pump drive shaft is made out of plastic sometimes it decides to take a crap on us.... frpp makes a steel oil pump drive shaft... this may cure your problem.... you also may wanna go ahead and replace the lifters now if u started to hear a tick
 
#7
TooFoxy said:
the oil pump drive shaft is made out of plastic sometimes it decides to take a crap on us.... frpp makes a steel oil pump drive shaft... this may cure your problem.... you also may wanna go ahead and replace the lifters now if u started to hear a tick
Click to expand...
Funniest thing i've heard all month. Plastic :lol:

Seriously though, pull the distributor and see if the oil pump driveshaft is still there. Chances are the top of it snapped off and you hear a clink sound as if falls off when u pull the distributor out. If so then its probably mangled into a twizzler. The most common case is that something got picked up by the oil pump pickup tube and locked up the oil pump. The oil pump doest wanna spin but the cam wants to spin so the oil pump driveshaft snaps.

If thats the case then its on to damage assesment. Drain the oil and run a magnet through it and look for metal shavings. If none then take off the oil filter and open it up. If no shaving are present then you MIGHT be in the ok but i seriously doubt it since u drove it 10 miles after the fact. But if so, then just drop the oil pan and replace the oil pump and oil pump driveshaft. I had this happen to me and the motor was fine.

The ticking sound you were hearing was the lifters. They're the first thing to make noise when there is no oil pressure because they need oil to stay pumped up and when there is non they tick louder and louder.
 
#8
Over the winter I had the motor out and I changed the oil pan gasket and the top end gaskets and cleaned up the motor. I put about 1000 miles on the car before the oil pressure problem and all was well. I cant see the screen plugging with something because everything was so clean in there. I pull the distributer out today and check the shaft. This bums be out because I thought the car was done and I was so metuculous in pulling the engine back together. :nonono:
 
#9
Well I just pulled out the dizzy and I think the shaft broke. It still there it just seems to be jammed in at a funny angle and you cant move it at all. I tried putting a magnet on it and sure enough it is one of the plastic ones. I cant believe someone thought that was a good idea. Well, out comes the motor...again...

These crate engines are starting to look very attractive.
 
#10
once again-plastic?? man, i've pulled dozens of sb Fords apart and have never, ever seen a plastic oil pump driveshaft on a 302. there should be a little retainer that keeps the pump shaft from "walking" up and down in the block.

anyway, like nito said, time for damage assessment
 
#11
Same thing happened to me. I did not have to pull the engine, but replaced the oil pump and she was purring like a kitten. It's a probably a intermediate mechanic job. Drop the K-member,starter, front wheel assemblies, drop the pan. It was a mess. But you should check that as opposed to just pulling the engine.
 
#12
plastic ???

im a ford technician for 12 years and ford never used a plastic oil pump shaft...

however since you already know the shaft broke... you can replace the pump and the shaft with the engine in the car... without taking the k member down..

remove the motor mount nuts and jack the motor up as high as it will go.. remove all the pan bolts. the pan wont come out of the car but it will drop far enough for you to remove the oil pump the broking shaft and the oil pump pickup... once you put the new one in.. change the oil of course and start the car up.. make sure the oil psi comes up as normal... you may still hear ticking from the top end of the motor... this is normal... dont drive the car whatsoever... let the car idle... till the noise goes away... what you are hearing are the lifters pumping up with oil... since there drained completely from not having oil psi...

after the noise goes away... recheck the oil and roadtest softly.. come back after roadtest... check for leaks and oil level... afterwards go have fun and beat it up good...


mike
ford technician
 
#13
coming4you said:
im a ford technician for 12 years and ford never used a plastic oil pump shaft...

however since you already know the shaft broke... you can replace the pump and the shaft with the engine in the car... without taking the k member down..

remove the motor mount nuts and jack the motor up as high as it will go.. remove all the pan bolts. the pan wont come out of the car but it will drop far enough for you to remove the oil pump the broking shaft and the oil pump pickup... once you put the new one in.. change the oil of course and start the car up.. make sure the oil psi comes up as normal... you may still hear ticking from the top end of the motor... this is normal... dont drive the car whatsoever... let the car idle... till the noise goes away... what you are hearing are the lifters pumping up with oil... since there drained completely from not having oil psi...

after the noise goes away... recheck the oil and roadtest softly.. come back after roadtest... check for leaks and oil level... afterwards go have fun and beat it up good...


mike
ford technician
Click to expand...

:stupid: I have been a ford tech and never seen or even heard of a plastic o/p drive shaft. Crazy stuff man.
 
#14
gregpro50 said:
Well I just pulled out the dizzy and I think the shaft broke. It still there it just seems to be jammed in at a funny angle and you cant move it at all. I tried putting a magnet on it and sure enough it is one of the plastic ones. I cant believe someone thought that was a good idea. Well, out comes the motor...again...

These crate engines are starting to look very attractive.
Click to expand...
its not that its plastic, its just that its so twisted and mangled it literally is like a twizzler. It probably lodged itself in the oil pump and will not come out. And even if it wasnt lodged, there is a retaining clip like was said before, the only way to remove it is from the bottom.
 
#15
This thread is funny.

no such thing as a plastic one. Lol. I JUST replaced my pump/pickup screen and driveshaft on an engine i'm building.

the oem one is steel, however, it's week, and they twist. Buy a ford racing oil pump driveshaft for $20. MUCH stronger. DO NOT get the arp shaft, as you'll have to grind and resize to fit, where the ford driveshaft is a straight up fit.

here is an oem one (right) vs the ford racing one on the left. Same length. the ford racing one has a tubular design in the center section that resists bending/twisting.

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#16
TooFoxy said:
the oil pump drive shaft is made out of plastic sometimes it decides to take a crap on us.... frpp makes a steel oil pump drive shaft... this may cure your problem.... you also may wanna go ahead and replace the lifters now if u started to hear a tick
Click to expand...

:rlaugh: :lol: :rlaugh: :lol:

I don't know which motor you pulled a plastic oil pump shaft out of, but whatever it was, it sure was not a 5.0
 
#18
v8only said:
This thread is funny.

no such thing as a plastic one. Lol. I JUST replaced my pump/pickup screen and driveshaft on an engine i'm building.

the oem one is steel, however, it's week, and they twist. Buy a ford racing oil pump driveshaft for $20. MUCH stronger. DO NOT get the arp shaft, as you'll have to grind and resize to fit, where the ford driveshaft is a straight up fit.
Click to expand...

I got the ARP shaft for my 85 302 and I didn't have to grind anything. It's a fairly close fit, but no grinding involved...on mine anyway.
 
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