Canary94GT

Completed an oil change on my '65 Mustang I6 200 today. After I finished, I went to turn the engine on and found I had no oil pressure on my electric low/high gauge. Let it run for 10-15 seconds and began hearing rocker ticking noises, meaning it must not be a gauge issue.

I thought I may not have filled the filter high enough, or that it may have been a bad filter (Motorcraft FL-1A), so I went back to the auto parts store and picked up a new one. But in the process, I went back to look at the oils and saw the type I had just put in was 10w-30 PART SYNTHETIC. This was not intentional... I wanted to keep it on conventional oil, so now I believe this may have been the culprit.

I bought some regular conventional oil, drained the other oil and installed the new filter after filling it near the brim. Started up the engine and still heard ticking after several seconds... so I shut it off. I tried a mechanical oil pressure gauge and did not even see oil come up any part of the tube.

For some background: we had the top end rebuilt a couple years ago but the machinist said the bottom end looked fine so we left it as-is. Only ~1000 miles or less have been put on it since then. The bottom end is completely original. Engine has 120,000 miles on it.


What's the next step? I'm assuming it's probably the oil pump that has gone bad (I think it is the original)... but I do not know how to confirm that and there may be other places to check that I do not know about.

If it is the oil pump, are there any type or brand recommendations? I see that two brands which are available locally are Melling and Sealed Power. Are they any good?

Thank you!

Rudder

Just a wild guess but possibly the pump lost it's prime when you changed the oil. Pump may be cavitating... Anyway, before you toss money at it pull the distributor and turn the pump rod with a drill and have someone watch the gauge. I know 'easier said than done' but this will confirm whether the pump is kaput/lost prime. I don't recall which way to turn the pump rod so look at your dizzy rotation to be sure.

KMatch

Overfill it as a simple test. An extra 5 qts will raise the level enough to help a weak pump prime. If that allows it to prime, drain it back to the normal level and plan to fix it whenever. If it still doesn't prime plan on fixing it now.

JMD

My GUESS is that the oil pump shaft has twisted, broken, or stripped... (or the hex stripped out of the distributor shaft)

Oil pumps are not often subject to sudden failure.

If your pump simply failed to prime, then I will assume that the pickup is virtually entirely blocked.

From your description, it sounds to me like you have pretty much covered the bases already, I think it is about time to pull the distributor and drop the pan. (Although I might try the adding an extra quart thing first)

Canary94GT

Thank you so much for the responses.

How difficult is pulling the distributor for turning the pump? Are any special tools required? I've never removed the distributor before, just adjusted the timing, and am hoping that pulling it won't require further timing adjustment.

Also, can the oil pump be replaced without pulling the engine? (I assume I'd have to jack the car up if so)

crunchyskippy

I believe it is a 1/2" bolt holding the distributor clamp. Simply remove that single bolt and clamp. Then pull up on the distributor while allowing it to slowing twist a little (due to the helical gears). Pay attention to the general direction of the distributor cap for reinstallation. You will still have to re-time the ignition when complete.

Then note the size of the hex opening on the bottom of the distributor. Sorry I don't remember the size of that. Attach a hex driver to your drill (probably with extension) and drill away. You will need to go Counter Clock Wise (or reverse on your drill).

Lastly, you can drop the oil pan with the car on jacks. Maybe even without, although I've never attempted it.

Good luck.

Canary94GT

Thanks man! I'm a bit nervous, but you guys have explained it well.

Do I have to be cautious at all about how fast I spin the drill, and when do I know when to stop?

rtintwo

Have the key in the run position so the gauges work and have somebody watching to see if it goes up.

you dont need to worry about the speed of the drill cause the pump is designed to operate at several throusand RPMs.

1slow67

Take a picture of the location of your distributor, #1 wire, and location of the rotor on the inside of the dizzy. That way when you put the distributor back in place, that way your timing wont be off a ton.

Canary94GT

Got the distributor off. Marked the rotor and distributor positions for reinstallation.

Going to go to Autozone probably to rent an oil pump primer, unless it appears I can get a socket in there safely without the risk of losing it.