Low to no oil pressure @ idle, 20-25 psi @ 2500

[Roush97]

Hey guys trying to complete my motor install; got some oil pressure problems. The motor is an 03 that had about 1k on it with no problems other than the head tick. I put a Canton road race pan and SHM billet oil pump gears, other than that the engine is stock on the bottom end. My problem is that I have no oil pressure (according to the dummy gauge in the car) at idle (700 rpms). If I open the throttle at all it goes up from zero. I know these gauges aren't worth a damn so I got an autometer mechanical gauge to make sure. I hooked it up and it reads 0 psi at idle and only about 20-25 psi at about 2500-3000 rpms; I haven't really let the car warm up an it has only run for very short periods of time. The problem with the autometer gauge is that I can't seem to get all of the air out of the line regardless of what I do; I have tried bleeding it several times and it always has air in the lines as soon as I turn the car off. What is the oil pressure supposed to be on these motors? Has anyone else had this problem with the billet gears? I heard that they cause lower oil pressure. I also have valvetrain clacking noise that is worst at idle but goes away off idle or is inaudible at least. I pulled the pan to make sure that the pickup tube was tightened to the oil pump and it was. This is driving me nuts! I've been working on this for about a year and now that I finally have it running this happens. I know this is a lot to read through but if anyone can help it would be great.

 

[tpapenberg]

oil

My oil pressure is around 50 - 60 at 2500rom when warm. It is a little higher then that when cold due to thicker oil. The oil I use is 5/30.

Before I go into the motor I would be sure your gauges are correct. If they are correct then who knows the head tick could be caused by the low oil pressure.

Also try thicker oil 10/40 to see if that helps but judging how low your oil pressure is I would not think that would give you enough oil pressure to drive if safe at all.

If engine work was done to this car it could be bearing clearance to wide or oil galley screw on a head no installed.

hope this gives you something to think about or try.. YES - oil pressure problems suck.

 

[Jdaniel]

How long did you run the car? A lot of times it takes up to a minute or two to get full oil pressure to an otherwise dry motor.

 

[Roush97]

I am running 5-30 right now and it seems like water when I drained it. I have run the motor for up to 5 minutes at a time so I am sure that the oil should have flowed by now. I need to bleed the rest of the air out of the feed tube to the autometer gauge obviously. No engine work was done, stock bearings, etc. I may try thicker oil but that will only make it slightly better and won't fix it; this is a stock motor that is made to run on 5-20 so it should be fine. As for tearing into the motor, not really an option at this point as I have no place to do it.

 

[Roush97]

ttt

 

[Roush97]

Update on the oil pressure problem guys. Ford is the culprit! I bought the updated driver's side head for the head tick fix from the dealer. The head was supposed to be complete, however it was not. I paid over $800 for a head and it was missing an $.087 3/8 pipe plug in the front that blocks the opening off to the oil pressure feed to the head after they machine it! And it's not like I was supposed to swap the plug over because there are two more holes that were already plugged!!!! Luckily I didn't run the motor for more than a couple of minutes and I made sure it had oil pressure at all times by keeping it off of idle. I now have 80 psi cold and 30-40 at idle and no more valvetrain noise. F@$* Ford! Blower sounds mean with the 2.8 pulley now though!

 

[WDW MKR]

Yes, several new heads have arrived missing one plug or another. If you have seen 0psig on any gauge, you very well could have done damage. I hope she pulls through.

 

[Roush97]

The pressure would only drop to 0psi when it dropped to below 1000 rpms and was never run under load. Plus I checked the inside of the pan and in the drained oil, there were no particles or shiny stuff; should be fine. So fricken stupid that they can't make sure those plugs are installed.

 

[TrickStang37]

I doubt you did any damage. I drove a couple miles with ZERO oil in my 5.0 (gauge sender unit broke and spit out ALL the oil.) That engine went on to a ripe old age of 140,000 miles when i sold it and still was running strong.