Dj_Seph

As most of you know, I've been battling an oil issue and now that school is about to end in two weeks, I'll have time to yank the engine out and do some work. From what I can tell, I have some type of oil issue but I'm not too sure it's the oil pump. So I'll describe my symptoms and y'all give me some idea. While I will have time over the break, my budget will be very small. College student woes.

Anyways, my vehicle drops oil pressure to the point of being just a small small part above the 0redline on the oil gauge but once I either stop accelerating or just go to cruising in fifth, the oil pressure jumps back up immediately. Also if I don't travel north of 2000rpm, the oil pressure stays in the middle or just above the middle. No matter what gear I am though, once I go a little over 2000rpm, the oil pressure drops and it drops fast. Is this an oil pump, or something else?

Also, it seems I have been losing almost all my oil ever two months. I mean, this isn't much of a problem due to the fact that I drive over 3k miles in that portion so I do oil changes at that time but what could this be? I just did the oil yesterday and when parking at my alma mater, I noticed smoke coming up through my center console. It smelled like burning oil. Which leads me to the possibility of the car burning the oil. Compression on the motor is excellent though.

So for right now when I have the motor out, I'll be doing the following:
All expansion plugs
Intake manifold gaskets and all new hoses.
oil pump and pick up and oil pan with 8qt pan.
Rear main seal...again. I've done this thing 3 times but I see oil dripping through the bellhousing.-_- Installation tips on that would be appreciated too. I'm obviously doing it wrong.

Anything else I should add? What do you guys think my true problem is? I have a nitrous kit itching to be put in and with compression being good, I thought I could until this oil problem came up. It was overheating with my last fox and oiling with this one. I can say I liked my overheating issues a lot better. This has just been a pain.

Thank you in advance for your advice. I just want this vehicle to run for another year and I need it to run well until my 331 is done.

::UPDATE!:: So we have a little situation. I'm getting a nice dose of light smoke coming into the car whenever I stop at a light or drive under 20mph. It's very light, wispy smoke. Kinda smoky smell. I know my rear main is leaking but would oil leaking from this be able to hit exhaust? Or are there any oil lines near the exhaust? I have noticed some splatter near the underside of the exhaust and on the sides. Thought it was the transmission but it's filled to the brim still.

mattdel

Pump gasket to block is bad.

My guess, anyway.

Dj_Seph

What makes you think that? Is there a way to test the pump? Oh hell, I'll replace it either way. It's only $5 with my O'reilly discount.

mattdel

Just the way your pressure drops off like that, reminiscent of a hydraulic problem I recently ran into.

rmodel65

id just buy a good explorer 5.0 and add a cam and your oil pan and timing cover/water pum to it and install that...

Dj_Seph

Thing is, that would cost a lot more.

mjr46

run a mech test with a mech gauge tapped into the port before blowing your wad , to verify it is not a gauge/sending unit/ bad connection issue

Dj_Seph

Done. It's definitely dropping.

rmodel65

last ecploder motor i bought from a junkyard was 200$ included the intake too and a used letter cam would be cheap then a 30 $ gaske set and youd be gtg

Dj_Seph

Or, with all the parts I'm doing right now, I'm only spending 80 bucks. Plus I have another motor in the garage but it's in the process of being done. 331 stroker. I just need this one to run one more semester.