3.2l mtx low oil pressure?

[milestoldyouso2]

so this weekend i took my intake and valve covers off to polish them up on the buffing wheel, upon reassembly i took it out for a spin and once i warmed it up i noticed that at low idle the oil light would flicker. i am running 10-30w synthetic and never had any trouble before with the light coming on, i already did rod bearings 9,000 miles ago. well the next day i started it up cold in the morning and pressure seemed normal, i applied the parking brake and released the clutch slowly to lower the engine speed and the light wouldnt even flicker untill about 400 rpms, i took it for a drive to warm up and the light began to flicker around 600 rpms. i removed the oil pressure sender and installed a gauge and found at warm idle it was only reading about 3 or 4psi. is this normal? hopefully i am just looking at a bad 17 year old sensor, ill be picking up a new one at ford today just to eliminate that as a problem. but is 3-4psi is normal for this engine at warmed up idle?

 

[rocket455]

check your oil level?

 

[stangeater]

Why is your car idling at 400 and 600 rpms? That is not even considered idling, and is normal for your oil light to come on that low because your car is not running fast enough to keep the pressure up to normal. Your car should idle between 900 and 1100 rpms.

 

[rocket455]

check all ignition parts. coil pack, wires, plugs and DIS module

 

[HotRodKid]

400rpm idle ? your engine isnt a briggs and stratton, raise the idle.

yea its neat that these engines can idle that low, that doesnt mean its the right thing to do

 

[milestoldyouso2]

i was making it idle that low buy slipping the clutch while in gear with the parking brake on, oil level is fine, pressure was fine when cold but once warm it would drop, but an update on the status of the engine after being told the sensor was faulty and 3 psi at normal idle was fine..a drive to work proved this not to be the case and i now have no oil pressure and an engine that runs and sounds like a briggs and stratton. i stopped and got a tow as soon as i noticed, teardown begins tomorrow, ill take pics and post updates on what killed the sho, maybe an extensive rebuild or maybe ill attempt a v8 sho engine swap since i have one that is available and the tools to fab up an adapter plate and whatnot. but i wont know until i look at what i got...my pride and joy just up and died so idk where my mind is, a part of me just died...if you know what i mean

 

[rick-ng]

probally bad main bearing or if lucky rod bearings

 

[SHOtime2511]

doubt that,I have never heard of main bearings failing on these cars.

 

[sperold]

Get a look at the pump before you go too far. There is a slight chance something got in the motor while the covers were off and the pump sucked it up, or it clogged the screen. I would start there.

 

[SHOtime2511]

Start with fixing the issue that is causing your idle to be way below normal.

 

[93rev2sev]

ugh with the responses about idle speed....

I would vote for debris trapped in the pickup tube screen. Drop the pan and have a looksee at whats in there.

 

[milestoldyouso2]

so i started it again today and cold idle the oil pressure was around 10psi with no sound of lose connecting rods, but an even rattle when i would bump it off of idle i have a hard time thinking that my rod bearings are the reason for low pressure since they are new, more that they are the result of low pressure and probably need replacing again, possibly when i pulled the valve covers off some small pieces of dirt fell in and eventually made there way into the relief valve on the oil pump causing it to stick open, or when i pressed against the front chain tensioner with the palm of my hand i could have possibly damaged the sealing surface and pressure is leaking out there, who knows but there is still oil pressure when cold and not enough noise to make me think the engine is toast, just need to find where all the pressure is going once the engine is warmed up.

 

[sperold]

The engine is not toast, but look at the pump and screen in the near future.

 

[HotRodKid]

you did not damage the tensioner by leaning on it. your not that strong and your not that fat.

if your rods are making noise, thats where your loosing oil pressure. Did you gauge all the bearings when you put them in ? are you sure they are all seated properly and all the caps are on the rods they came off of in the position they came off ? all tq'ed properly ?

 

[milestoldyouso2]

the rod bearings were all torqued to spec, plastigauged and done individually, i pulled the valve covers today and saw no problems there so i think it was just coincidence that it happened after i polished everything up. im starting to think the pressure valve on the pump may be stuck open, the pump was from a very abused and neglected 89 sho engine that probably never got oil changes before it was junked. the internals were black. new rod bearings and crank bearings are probably in order and maybe a reground crank shaft, i still have a good 3.2l oil pump maybe i can swap out the internals and use the 3.0l housing, pan will be off soon and ill keep ya posted, that way we can all avoid this :shakehead

 

[milestoldyouso2]

got everything apart. its bad, dont know why but rod bearings and crankshaft bearings feel like emery cloth and i dragged a magnet through the oil pan and it came up with a huge gob of what looked like valve grinding compound, cut open the oil filter element and spread it out flat and put a magnet by it and you could see the magnetic field. anyone got a 3.2l for sale??

 

[sperold]

Is there anything at all that suggests what happened? Anything in the pickup?
My 89 doesnot like synthetic oil and consumes it (never figured out why), but yours was still full, so what gives?
My guess is that this was not a slow demise, it all happened after your valve cover activity. Could kids or whoever have thrown something in, while it was apart? Sounds crazy, but this is very odd.

 

[milestoldyouso2]

thats almost all i could think of. the pickup tube had a few little pieces of brass in it, the oil pump was scoured up bad, along with a few of the rod bearings and all of the crank bearings, i imagine the camshafts and heads are scoured too, it looks like the bearings took all the damage and the journals are ok but ill have to measure them and see if its worth the rebuild or just look for a new engine, any idea where i can find the specs so i know what to measure for?

 

[SHOtime2511]

Strange...
I'd like to know what went wrong here.

 

[milestoldyouso2]

found the problem, i should of checked the main bearings back when i did the rod bearings, yesterday i only pulled the outer ones well today i pulled the two inner and there down to the brass except the brass is gone in the middle, i can almost peel it off. explains why there was brass chunks in the pickup tube screen and then eventually wedging in the oil pressure control valve leaving it stuck partially open lowering oil pressure even more and taking out everything, the worn crank bearings also explain why even after the rod bearings were done at cold start up i would hear a rattle like rod knock for the first few seconds, it was the crankshaft bearings causing this, the gritty like paste in the pan was just the result of catastrophic bearing failure. time for over sized bearings and a reground crankshaft. all else is good, thanks everyone for the help