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xrotaryguy · 06-06-2021, 07:03 PM

Oh, and since this question seems to come up a lot, I DID need to remove my distributor. There's a manifold mounting stud on the front right that prevents removal of the manifold without removing the distributor. You just can't slide the manifold up over the stud before running into the underside of the distributor.

xrotaryguy · 11-28-2021, 12:44 PM

Time for an update. I finished replacing the oil pump and cracked pickup tube a long time ago. That's working great!

I also finished swapping all the valve lifters. No more loud clacking noises!

I've taken the motorhome on a couple short trips across town and such. All seems well.

Oh, back to that distributor removal. Buy the Ford distributor wrench!!! It works as though it was made for the job!

The oil pressure is normally high on these engines. Like 75 psi. I'd never seen such a high oil pressure spec so I thought I had a pressure problem. Nope! All is well!

D Gardiner · 11-29-2021, 10:45 AM

Thanks for the update.

Glad all is well again with the engine. I'm sure that was a big job. Can't remember how long its been since I've had a 460 Ford apart.

CharlesinGA · 12-02-2021, 09:09 PM

If the instrument cluster is Ford provided, it most likely has a gauge hooked to a simple on/off pressure switch on the engine. The instrument cluster has a resistor in the printed circuit on the back side that at normal operating voltage holds the gauge in a relatively middle position on the gauge. This is the way my '91 Ranger works and the way everything (Ford truck wise) works up until the fully computer controlled vehicles of recent years. The gauge on my Ranger will move about a bit and it is due to changing voltage in the system.

Charles

xrotaryguy · 12-03-2021, 05:42 AM

CharlesinGA
Oh, that's good to know. My gauge currently reads high. The sending unit is not a large, analog unit for a gauge so I bet there's only a couple switches in the sending unit.

I have a new oil pressure sending unit. I have somehow never installed it. Haha. I bet that's the issue. I know pressure is good though!

RealNiceTent · 12-06-2021, 11:01 PM

Charles in GA and XRotaryGuy Ford used a variety of oil pressure senders through the years. The true oil pressure guages use a sender that is easily identified because it is a can type, that is a roughly 2 inch diameter metal can usually gold colored with a single spade connection, there are also several plastic "Bakelite" versions that primarily look like a shrunken version of the metal cans. Oil pressure switches for lights and ECM calculated value displays for earlier PCM managed systems are also primarily the "Bakelite" dome but it is really short, still one spade connection, but engine off will read very little resistance (Technically it should be zero), and if you apply between 5 & 10 psi it will go full open circuit, a sender will increase or decrease in resistance.

Even if the oil pressure reporting system in the vehicle in question is calculated by the engine control computer(module), it apparently works. In your original post, XRotary, you noted irregularities in oil pressure readings. If you had not had that information from the instrumentation, you may not have investigated and found the broken pick up tube. You might have just replaced the lifters without fixing the pick up tube, not finding it until it was damaged enough to cause a sudden loss of oil pressure and catastrophic engine damage. We are all familiar with Murphy's Law, and as such should understand that just like auto repair shops, Murphy lives in our unique wheeled houses! So with this in mind we know the catastrophic failure will occur 378 feet after leaving the Toll Plaza to cross the Golden Gate Bridge @ approximately 3:17PM on a summer Friday afternoon.

Don't listen to the bull about gauge feeds being designed to placate the driver it is only half truth. Gauges are designed with the drivers assumptions taken into consideration and play a large part in the needle position in normal operating conditions, that is why for so many years 55 was top center on speedometers. The government wanted us to drive 55, or should I say the NHSTB and the Insurance Industry, so 55 got moved top center of the speedometer into the perceived "normal" operating range. The gauges still provide you as a driver with information "you" need, no matter what eye-pleasing position they normally display. The average driver rarely looks at the gauges which is why a lot of manufacturers use "idiot" lights in addition to gauges. Even though it has been a few years since I was on the shop floor, I can tell you that the inputs into the average modern engine control module provide enough live data and often pressure/temperature/position readings from several locations in the engine to provide more accurate readings than single source gauges. All of the variable valve timing, ultra lean emissions, high output engines require a lot of feedback to keep those systems working together so actuators frequently incorporate sensors to take a reading at the point of actuation. The ECM then uses those readings to calculate operating values for the actuator at that time.

Sorry about going long winded on this one, sometimes I start and the useless knowledge in my melon just doesn't stop pouring out. I have one more little nugget about engine oils triggered by this thread, but it gets the next reply.

xrotaryguy · 12-08-2021, 10:20 AM

Charles,

Yes, I'm familiar with the larger sending unit used for a gauge. Nearly every manufacturer used one that looked very similar back in the day. Mine is the smaller switch. I guess it's a multi-switch pressure sender for use with a gauge.

I do miss the days of straight-forward analog gauges. My 2015 Ford Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid is totally devoid of anything but virtual gauges and certainly nothing so esoteric an an oil pressure gauge. I wonder what it's oil pressure is when the electric motor is running but the engine is off haha.

GypsyR · 12-08-2021, 11:50 AM

If you have the smaller one then it's just the on/off switch style. My 1995 F150 has that. It makes it look like the oil pressure gauge is doing something useful but it really isn't. Trick on my truck is to pull the instrument cluster, clip a resistor and add a jumper wire. (Or some such.) The you can swap to a gauge type sending unit and have you oil gauge impart some at least vaguely useful information. Sorry to say that though I did swap a factory tachometer style dash into that truck (originally had no tach) I have not gotten around to doing the oil gauge modification. Instructions on how to do it are out there in Ford truck forums.
In a Mustang I have I chose to run an oil gauge AND a warning light. Here's a picture of the dual port extension and both senders that allow me to do so. (Entire setup factory stock on some 1990's F350 trucks.)

House Husband · 12-12-2021, 01:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GypsyR

If you have the smaller one then it's just the on/off switch style. My 1995 F150 has that. It makes it look like the oil pressure gauge is doing something useful but it really isn't. Trick on my truck is to pull the instrument cluster, clip a resistor and add a jumper wire. (Or some such.) The you can swap to a gauge type sending unit and have you oil gauge impart some at least vaguely useful information. Sorry to say that though I did swap a factory tachometer style dash into that truck (originally had no tach) I have not gotten around to doing the oil gauge modification. Instructions on how to do it are out there in Ford truck forums.
In a Mustang I have I chose to run an oil gauge AND a warning light. Here's a picture of the dual port extension and both senders that allow me to do so. (Entire setup factory stock on some 1990's F350 trucks.)

Did that oil gauge mod to my 95 F53 when I put in the stroker engine. I elected to install the new sender on the rear of the block, just behind the china wall. The cluster resistor was easy to jump around with a short wire and some solder.

Richard