Oil Pressure Issues?

Andrew Temoshek

New Member
May 21, 2016
6
0
1
New guy here. (Well at least to Mustangs)

I'll jump right into it.

I picked up a 2002 Mustang 3.8 off a local for sale group 123K on it. Seller stated it had codes For the Camshaft and crankshaft position sensors which i confirmed, and that it also had an oil leak. For $500 i figured i would take my chances with it.

On the quick test drive i got out of it i noticed the oil pressure gauge reading nothing. Searching i saw it's common for the sender to fail and figured that was it. Picked up a manual tester kit on the way home to be sure. The car did not have any abnormal engine noises.

Got the manual gauge hooked up today and fired it up and nothing!. Gauge didn't move. Took the gauge off the hose and no oil even in the line. Once again no abnormal noises with the engine running. Oil level is slightly overfull from previous owner.

I decided i would start easy and pulled the oil filter, Drained it out and ran a magnet through it, Didn't find any metal shavings. Primed a new filter and installed, Started the engine and still nothing.

Im thinking of pulling the oil pump next, Or should i be looking somewhere else? As far as the oil leak is concerned it's coming from the pan area leaking down the bell housing. It's a constant leak. I haven't cleaned off the under side to try and pinpoint it yet. And i've read how fun it is to pull the pan on these cars.
 
  • Sponsors (?)


You might try cranking it over with nothing in the port for the manual oil pressure test. Might be plugged so the sensor sees no pressure. If there are no noises from the engine when running, maybe pull a valve cover and see if there is pressure there.
 
Not really sure why i didn't think to pull a valve cover several days ago. But anyway got it off and it looked pretty dry in there. There was a little bit of residual oil in the deeper spots. I took my chances and started it and let it run for about a minutes and went back to check. It didn't look like any oil had come out. I'm going to pull the oil pump next and see if there's something going on in there.
 
So here's the update. Pulled the oil pump and immediately noticed the drive shaft was very loose and would spin freely. Pulled the cam sync and the cam gears are shredded. I'm about halfway into getting the timing cover off, to pull the gear and replace it.
 
So here's my next question. I know the cam sync has to be properly timed upon installation. Since the gears were shredded i had no way of figuring out where it was upon removal. Whats the easiest way to re time it?