Oil Pump Removal

[curlej]

I thought I would post a new thread. So many people in this discussion group as well as every shop manual I read told me I had to remove the engine in order to replace the oil pump. After doing a lot of search on this board to get tips on removing the engine, one person, 99EB4x4, said he did it without removing the engine. On his advice, I gave it a try. It was not easy, but I venture to say it was much easier to do than removing the engine.
I jacked the engine up about as high as I dared (the rear a/c hose was almost touching the firewall. I put blocks under the motor mounts. I dropped the oil pan as far as I could, then tilted it towards the passenger side of the truck, which let me see the oil pump and get my hands inside to undo the torx bolts holding it in. I found it useful to remove both front wheels, and the inside fender liner/wheel well from the passenger side. With a little fanagling (is that really a word?) I was able to get the pump out. I cleaned the inside of the pan with brake cleaner (there was thick black goop at the bottom of the pan) and a paper towel (it takes small hands to do this, and skinny arms--I guess I can't complain too much since I have both). I removed and cleaned the inlet tube thoroughly, and used a new gasket to bolt it onto the new pump.
I inspected the old pump, and discovered the spring loaded pressure relief valve was not spring loaded any more, and that is what caused my filter to almost pop off.
Anyway, I fanagled the new pump back in and put blue rtv silicone around the bottom of the block (I chose not to put a new pan gasket on), rebolted it, lowered the engine, and voila! Good as new. Now, about that valve clatter...
It took about 14 hours total, though I did not time myself. The main struggle I had was with the rear passenger side torx bolt. It is well hidden and rounded off quickly, so I had to drill the head off to get it the pan off, and use pliers to twist it out once the pan was dropped. Feel free to contact me if you have questions regarding my procedure. 99EB4x4's post can be found by searching under keywords "it can be done". Good luck.
PS 1991 XLT pushrod

 

[Runnin'OnEmpty]

Congrats on the repair, Curleyj! Nothing can compare with working 14 hrs underneath a vehicle with oil dripping in your eyes....

How many miles are on the 91?

 

[curlej]

Thanks. One thing I forgot to mention is that I had the whole truck up on stands about as high as I could get it, so I could move around with relative ease. I could actually roll over on my creeper while underneath. That and a good pair of safety glasses kept most of the gunk out of my eyes. But you should have seen my hair. I was a true greaser. My Explorer has about 120,000 on it. I have been driving it since I bought it with under 90K. It has been a good truck. I do a lot of towing (pickup bed trailer) with it since I sold my '91 F-150. I like my Explorer, but miss having a truck. I drive my '92 SHO most of the time to and from work. I figured if I was selling my truck for a car, I might as well get a fun one. The Explorer has always been primarily my wife's to drive, except of course when I make an excursion to the mountains (which does not happen oftenenough for me.

 

[Opera House]

What about the inlet screen?

I've heard stories of these being almost blocked by pieces of gasket material. How clean was your's? You only mentiond sludge in the bottom of the pan.

 

[curlej]

There was also gasket material, 1-2 inch chunks and smaller, in the bottom of the pan, and a bunch of very small pieces stuck to the inlet screen. I sprayed it down with solvent (brake cleaner is what I used), then used an air hose. I did this a few times to loosen all the little pieces of gasket off the screen. I was a bit surprised about all the junk that was in my oil pan and inlet screen, though the screen was not blocked completely.

 

[1993XLTFAM]

What made you decide to replace your oil pump?

I have a 93 XLT with 165k miles on it.
I get about 40lbs oil pressure during the first startup of the day. After idling about 5 minutes, pressure drops to about 20. Out on the road at any speed when the RPMs are over 1100, I get about 20lbs. Once I stop at a traffic light or slow down below 1100 RPMs, pressure will drop to 0. I have installed an under the dash oil pressure gauge and by-passed the in dash idiot gauge.
Later startups will get about 20lbs initially and then drop to about 12.

I occasionally get a load clacking noise when I rev it up to about 2000 RPMs when it's parked and also when out on the highway at 65mph, I will get an occasional loud clacking noise. Also heard it when accelerating up a small hill doing about 45. Oil pressure will always rise to 20lbs when the RPMs are over 1100.

The engine also seems to have lost power. Cruising at 65, I get very, very poor acceleration. Once I tried to pass an 18-wheeler going 65 and couldn't; had to drop back behind him.

I bought the Explorer brand new and have done all of my own oil changes. I change the oil every 3k miles; twice I didn't change it until 5k miles. I run Pennzoil 20w50 during the summer and 10w40 during the winter.
(I live in Texas). Currently I have just put in Pennzoil High Mileage 5w30 and a bottle of Slick 50.

I do have an oil leak and add oil between changes. The oil level light will come on when I forget to add some.
I have never driven more than 15 miles with the light on.

From the description of my problem, does it sound like a problem with my oil pump, worn engine, or both.

Thank you for any and all responses.

 

[Stealthcb]

Thanks for the post, curlej. I have a similar problem with my 91.

The pressure guage fluctuates from high-normal to 0. Mechanic told me he thinks it's just a malfunction in the guage itself. I don't have ANY other symptoms of low pressure. No blue smoke. No clacking. Nothing like that. I have the FEELING I need to clean off the filter screen around the pump and get rid of the goo, but it sounds like removing the pan is too much trouble to be worth it.

Suggestions?

 

[rgarn123]

Breaking Oil Pump Intermediate Shaft

I thought I would post a new thread. So many people in this discussion group as well as every shop manual I read told me I had to remove the engine in order to replace the oil pump. After doing a lot of search on this board to get tips on removing the engine, one person, 99EB4x4, said he did it without removing the engine. On his advice, I gave it a try. It was not easy, but I venture to say it was much easier to do than removing the engine.
I jacked the engine up about as high as I dared (the rear a/c hose was almost touching the firewall. I put blocks under the motor mounts. I dropped the oil pan as far as I could, then tilted it towards the passenger side of the truck, which let me see the oil pump and get my hands inside to undo the torx bolts holding it in. I found it useful to remove both front wheels, and the inside fender liner/wheel well from the passenger side. With a little fanagling (is that really a word?) I was able to get the pump out. I cleaned the inside of the pan with brake cleaner (there was thick black goop at the bottom of the pan) and a paper towel (it takes small hands to do this, and skinny arms--I guess I can't complain too much since I have both). I removed and cleaned the inlet tube thoroughly, and used a new gasket to bolt it onto the new pump.
I inspected the old pump, and discovered the spring loaded pressure relief valve was not spring loaded any more, and that is what caused my filter to almost pop off.
Anyway, I fanagled the new pump back in and put blue rtv silicone around the bottom of the block (I chose not to put a new pan gasket on), rebolted it, lowered the engine, and voila! Good as new. Now, about that valve clatter...
It took about 14 hours total, though I did not time myself. The main struggle I had was with the rear passenger side torx bolt. It is well hidden and rounded off quickly, so I had to drill the head off to get it the pan off, and use pliers to twist it out once the pan was dropped. Feel free to contact me if you have questions regarding my procedure. 99EB4x4's post can be found by searching under keywords "it can be done". Good luck.
PS 1991 XLT pushrod

 

[rgarn123]

Hey Curlej - My son's 2002 Ford Explorer / 4.0-SOHC / oil pressure went down to zero. I thought it was the oil pump, bought a new one - & in my research prior to getting dirty with my son - came across your post - which was encouraging & very useful. We took a long time replacing the oil pump, the first time, without removing the engine. Jacked it up, with the motor mount bolts loosened to flush with the bottom of the bolt - removed the sway bar, and the upper oil pan slid out very easy, once we jacked up the motor - maybe 1/2 inch, (put a 4x6 wood block between the tranny housing & that chassis crossmember - was really no problem). Then we were looking up into the crankcase, fully exposed, making it easy to remove & replace the oil pump. But when we dropped the oil pump down, the Intermediate Oil Pump Shaft came down with it - and we came to find that the upper gear on that 10" shaft had broken off - just below the upper gear. So we replaced the shaft and oil pump, (and lower timing chain guide - nylon piece that had broken off, without moving the timing chain - or skipping teeth / altering timing chain), and he drove it fine - nice & quiet - no lifter clatter - perfect. That was from Saturday 5/3 to yesterday 5/13. Yesterday he called me with no oil pressure - again. So last night we did the same procedure - without removing the engine - and had the oil pump back out, in under 2 hours. However - the shaft was broken again - in exactly the same spot. I have Ford Dealer Service Foreman looking into it, & from what I've researched - could be the camshaft sensor/synchronizer - which makes sense to me - as something's stressing out that intermediate gear shaft - causing it to break. What's puzzling is that it ran smooth, quiet, & strong for 10 days after we fixed it - before it broke again. I would think it would break immediately if it was out of synch. Your thoughts appreciated / what do you think. And can that syncronizer be replaced without removing the top end - (reeeeally don't want to do that - but may need to be done). THANKS!