I need HELP or OPINIONS

[krazzzzy8]

I recently rebuilt my wifes 2003 sport trac 4.0 it had only 86000 miles on it but it over heated,blown head gaskets,etc. I replaced everything with new or remanufactured except for the crankshaft and rods, i put about 2000 miles on new rebuild with the only problem being a little rattle coming from the drivers side front of engine, it almost sounded like it was coming from the power steering pump, but it wasnt it was a bad tensioner that was new but would not prime up or hold presure, so I got another one primed it before I put it back in and sound went away, then I decided to drive it to FL and thats when oil presure gauge started bouncing all over the place and then would go back to normal, I was thinking bad sending unit, but about 30 min latter oil pressure gauge droped to 0 and it started knocking real bad , stayed running and got off the interstate and parked, towed it back home (6hrs) and now iam not sure what to expect or what kind of damage has been done, it will still start and run.

 

[koda2000]

In my experience, when the oil pressure gauge starts bouncing around like crazy and drops to zero it's because there is something in the bottom of the oil pan blocking the pickup. The pickup literally sits in on the bottom of the lower oil pan on the SOHC engine and it doesn't take too much to block it. I've found broken pieces of timing chain guides (which tend to be curved and do a really good job of blocking the pickup) and a flat piece of spring steel that I believe came from the jack-shaft tensioner. I assume when you did your rebuild you had the oil pan off, but maybe a broken piece of plastic was hiding somewhere? Drop the lower pan and check for any junk and make sure the pickup screen is clear.

If while you had no oil pressure your engine started knocking you've probably wiped material off your rod and main journal bearings.

 

[krazzzzy8]

complete tear down and new oilpump ,timing set even pistons. I had a bare block