500-1000 for oil pump change?????

[Lefy]

i've got some questions regarding oil pumps.
i was reading a decent amount about that type of stuff.. nbut need some peoples opinions

my oil gauge started going a little crazy during a ski trip about a mounth ago . i was cruising at about 75 for a good 2and a half hours and the gauge started flicking back and forth It worried me but it went away and i thought it was electrical glitch..

then the other day it started going crazy bouncing back and forth and all over the place. and it went dead as i pulled into my street. I stopped listened to the engine and heard what i thought was lifter chatter. but i'm not sure. It was sorta like metal tapping. i turned her off and checked oil level seems fine. but i don't know if the pump is dead and i'm too scared to drive her anywhere so she is sitting in the drive way for about two days while i figured out what was going on.. I don't think it's not my sender but my pump.
turned her on again today to check it out and it definately sounds like lifter rattle. and it started to smell kinda bad after running for 2 minutes so i turned her off.
hope i didn't fub anything up.

I've been quoted 500-1000 for a oil pump change.
is this anything that i could do myself. I'm driving a 98 sport. 4.0sohc. and it's got 126000 miles so i'm thinking it's the pump after that amount of miles.

thanks for any info

 

[Gonzo]

The first thing I would do is check the gauge and make sure it is working correctly. I have heard that Ford gauges are not all that accurate. That would be way cheaper and easier than the oil pump. I don't know exactly how to test it, but I think I remember seeing a thread on here how to do it. Do a search and see what you come up with. If the oil pump is going out, wouldn't your temperature gauge read hotter than normal?

 

[Opera House]

The lifter noise would be VERY obvious

Chances are this is just the oil SWITCH going bad. This is on the front drivers side at about where the pan and block meet. The problem is so common that I suggest you just go out and buy one for $7. That will give you enough adventure. Your gauge doesn't read pressure, just a cute idiot light. If you have to ask how easy it is, you don't want to drop the pan.

 

[Stover283]

I had a similiar experience with my Explorer. I have a 92 sport 4x4. My gauge started acting very strange one day. Seemed like it would work sometimes, then show high pressure, then show low pressure. Now I am not a Certified Mechanic, but in my experience, nothing causes an oil pump to do this. If you lose your oil pump, you either gradually or immediately loose pressure. Anyway, my problem was the electrical connection on the Oil sending unit! I could watch the oil pressure gauge show low oil pressure, have someone wiggle the wire, and the needle would come back to where it should be.
My personal solution, only for the comfort of mind was to install a manaul gauge instead of one of the crappy OEM types. I absolutely love having my mechanical gauge. I have it mounted under that dash and monitor it all the time. I have about 220K mile on my original motor.
Hope this helps.

 

[unclemeat]

When the oil pump went on my 91 X It was pretty obvious. The lifters went crazy. Cost estimate was about $750. I decided to put a remanufactured motor.

 

[ammo troop]

A good shadetree trick to check the pump is to pull out the sending unit, disconnect the coil and have someone crank it over, if it shoots oil out of where the sending unit was your pump is working, I'm not a certified mechanix, but i have done this trick on various junkers through the years. Hope this helps,

p.s $1000 bucks sounds like a ripoff to me

 

[BAYDOG]

Actually, that price is not all bad (700-1000) due to the fact that the engine needs to be pulled to do it. There is no way to drop the pan as far as I know, to get to the oil pump.

 

[TPLYNCH]

Lefy, first off, there is no need to double post the same problem in different forums. All it does is take up precious bandwith, and causes confusion about which thread to reply to. Everyone generally reads al the new threads in both Under the Hood and General Explorations.

That said.... See my reply in Under the Hood.