Canary94GT

It's been probably 50-60 miles since we had the head rebuilt on my 65 Mustang 200 six. We did not replaced lifters, pushrods, or rocker arms since they all seemed to be in good condition. My machinist said the lower end of the engine appeared to be in very good condition and should last quite a bit longer. However, there was some pretty sludgy, black oil in there so during the rebuild I let it drain for probably 3 weeks and poured and drained cheapo oil through the engine before we started it up.

I put in some Mobil Clean 5000 10W-30 oil (kinda cheap) and used a Motorcraft FL-1a filter for those initial 50-60 miles, and the car had ran fine with around 40 PSI of oil pressure, though the gauge did not show it until I replaced the oil pressure sending unit.

Today I changed the oil to some Valvoline VR-1 10W-30. I let the old stuff drain for about an hour, then poured 4 quarts of VR-1 in and used a new Motorcraft FL-1A filter which I filled with almost half a quart. Waited about 10 minutes, then started the car and after about 30 seconds the gauge still read 0 oil pressure and I started to hear a fairly loud ticking noise, so I shut it off. Then I put on a manual oil pressure gauge, started it, got 0 PSI and still a ticking noise, so I shut it off immediately.

Pulled the valve cover and the rocker arms and pushrods all seem to be properly intact and adjusted. There are also no visible leaks anywhere.

What could have happened?

Stepman

Hmmmm....nothing easy with you, huh? I really don't know. Coinsidence? Does the 6 use the same oil pump drive as the 8? Maybe pull dist and see if you can manually turn the pump to get oil up top?....or you may have to drop the pan.

CAD

If it was fine and then you did an oil change and got no pressure with oil in it then I would check out the oil filter. Something weird could have happened.

Canary94GT

Could it be that I let the oil drain for an hour that it will take more than a minute to regain pressure?

Stepman

I doubt it. That thing only holds 4 quarts though? When the oil is in the pan, the pick-up sits down in it so, it should pick it up right away.

CAD

It shouldnt take very long to get oil pumping. 30 seconds should have been enough.

1slow67

Yeah they don't hold a lot of oil.

Canary94GT

It holds 4.5 quarts, but I don't usually like to fill it full right away. After I ran it for the 30 seconds, I checked the dipstick and it was slightly above the full mark.

Canary94GT

Well thank god. For some reason it must have just been taking quite a bit of time for the oil to pressurize and flow to the lifters.

I waited probably 4 hours since I last started it, then tightened down my mechanical gauge a little more and turned it on. Took about 5 seconds and then it pressurized to about 38 PSI and the lifter noise went away about 2 minutes later.

So total running time without pressure must have been at least 1 minute 30 seconds. I bet it was because I let the oil drain for more than an hour before I plugged and refilled it.

Thank you again for your time, and yes stepman it never seems to be easy... or does it?

Gun Jam

oil drain time has noting to do with prime up time. You shut the engine down all the oil drains back into the pan just the same.

hope it starts up tomorrow and builds pressure straight away. The oil pump might not be putting out much volume and it took it a bit to clear the air in the oil filter.


-Gun