Welp, my engine has no oil pressure...blown.

5spd GT

"the 5.0 owns all"
Founding Member
Aug 7, 2002
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Arkansas
Well, my engine is gone (or atleast part of it). Car overheated and shut off going down the road while in neutral. I pulled into a local restaurant and the car is now sitting.

What appears to have happened. I had "solved" the overheating problems for quite sometime now. I just filled up on coolant/water and made sure it was topped off before I went anywhere. Anyways, it got down to the low-teens last night and it froze (or part of it). It didn't allow any coolant to flow thru the engine. Well it overheated and the car shut off after some major detonation.

I looked at the engine and don't see any visible oil leaks besides the rear main and coolant (normal) from the pump area. But I turn my key on and my oil pressure is WAY WAY low. I did hear clinking from the engine bay after the car was pulled over and I put it in gear (car was off). Welp time to pull it:)

I called a buddy and where going to move it to his house tomorrow probably. I'm curious as to what is all wrong...I had longtubes (already have the hpipe) on the way to...and I was getting a ported lower but I need to put that money towards a rebuild it looks like...

I'm stupid...D

Just thought I would post...
 
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Believe me, I'm feeling it...this is my ONLY car too:( I was all siked about adding a few mods. Now it appears I need to rebuild...10:5:1 compression 306 maybe? I'm more worried about the heads than anything...yikes:p
 
It'll be tough to diagnoss without taking the motor out to examine the internals. Clanking / clicking before it stoped rotating isn't usually a good sign but sometimes you can get lucky.

Basic rebuilds can run $400.00 in parts and then $400 in machining / labor for the block.

Do you know what part of the cooling system froze or stopped working yet? Typically the engine / cooling system is warmer than ambient air temps. They don't typically freeze.
 
Well the clanking was after the car was parked for several seconds. Metal on metal sound? The engine actually shut off right before some "bad" detontation. So bad, I couldn't really accelerate. My hands are still cold and this happened about over an hour ago...:)

We are pulling the engine shortly...

Oil pressure is gone though...it barely registers on the guage...

Rebuild time:D Downtime is going to be the worst part of it...
 
back in the summer my car did something similar. but i was showin off. i hammered it from 2nd through 3rd and went to 5th cause i was already going pretty good and about a mile down the road it just quit. i was like WTF??? pulled the car over and tried to start it and it wouldnt even turn over. well i thought it was blown, but it turned out that the p/s pump locked up and kept the engine from turning over at all. i had to get a pump and pulley pay the machanic for him figured out the problem. around $150 for all

I hope urs is some simple like that!!! Good luck!!
 
My power steering pump was acting up yesterday. It was low on fluid. I overfilled it yesterday and it is seaping p/s fluid out. It's funny you say that...because I hadn't noticed a problem from it at all till a couple days ago, but I didn't notice nothing from it this morning (enough fluid) before all that happened and I was going straight when it happened.

I have no oil pressure though, that is a good sign it's 'gone':)

Thanks for the encouraging words...
 
How much are bare blocks? I want to do a 10:5:1 compression 306 after I do some more research on streetability. It really depends on how my rotating assembly is.

Oil is fairly low probably...but my oil dipstick isn't real accurate.

The stock guage peaked, it is accurate enough in my car anyways.

I just hope that the block isn't cracked and I hope the heads aren't cracked:( I'm worried about the heads. Can a machine shop fix cracked aluminum heads?
 
5spd GT said:
How much are bare blocks? I want to do a 10:5:1 compression 306 after I do some more research on streetability. It really depends on how my rotating assembly is.

Oil is fairly low probably...but my oil dipstick isn't real accurate.

The stock guage peaked, it is accurate enough in my car anyways.

I just hope that the block isn't cracked and I hope the heads aren't cracked:( I'm worried about the heads. Can a machine shop fix cracked aluminum heads?

Yea,they either epoxy them or weld them,but they shouldnt be cracked.

Once the guy at this shop forgot to fill our car back up with water,and driving it back the temp got to around 245* ,but the heads were fine.

A 10.5:1 306 with fresh stuff would pick you up some power,and run better.

Probably wount cost to much,assuming that your internals are good or can be fixed with minor machine work.Finding a good 302 block isnt that hard,but find a good 50oz crank and good rods might be a little bit to pay for.
 
Dave I know your likely a little down about the whole new motor thing, but I wish you all the best with it. Looking back at the engine upgrade...aside from the $ part of it, me and the guys had a great time putting the new one in and getting her running. Good luck man.
 
bluevenom867 said:
Yea,they either epoxy them or weld them,but they shouldnt be cracked.

Once the guy at this shop forgot to fill our car back up with water,and driving it back the temp got to around 245* ,but the heads were fine.

A 10.5:1 306 with fresh stuff would pick you up some power,and run better.

Probably wount cost to much,assuming that your internals are good or can be fixed with minor machine work.Finding a good 302 block isnt that hard,but find a good 50oz crank and good rods might be a little bit to pay for.

What sucks is that I was going to order the longtubes today. I have a hpipe that I have no use for and I just got thru chatting with tmoss about intake porting...bad timing for sure!

Well I don't know what it is until I get to pulling it out...hopefully on sunday or monday or something? The balancer looked straight. No obvious oil leaks. Something isn't right though, I do know that.

I'm very worried about the heads. I did see a trickly of oil by the intake/head mating surface at the front but it has always leaked oil there but this seemed "more so"...I'm scared and shaking in my boots...lol.
 
DMAN302 said:
Dave I know your likely a little down about the whole new motor thing, but I wish you all the best with it. Looking back at the engine upgrade...aside from the $ part of it, me and the guys had a great time putting the new one in and getting her running. Good luck man.

Derek, I appreciate the kind words:nice: Yep, it's going to hurt my wallet. I am going back to school in January and I need a ride. Will see how it goes...I'll know more when I pull it...I am excited though..very. I'll have time to make it all clean again and touch up a lot of stuff:) Thanks again!
 
bluevenom867 said:
You got some room on the motor?

Try pulling the distributor and have a look down there,maybe you'll find something minor (like the shaft broke would be it,I would hope).

I'm pulling it either way within the next few days. I am a very busy guy which ended up getting to my car and my not addressing things like I should have before a problem arose. I'll definetly update...I'm at work now and it's killing me not being able to do anything to it. It's going to be heck trying to get it on a trailer...it is parked at a slanted parking lot...:bang:
 
correct me if I missed something, but you said you turned the key "on"...not started the car, but turned the key on and the oil pressure was low. You don't have oil pressure until the car is started, so of course it's low. The gauge might move a little when you hit the key, but it doesn't build pressure until started unless you have some kind of non-stock electric type oil pump or something (if they even make those, they would be a horrible idea - bad wiring or a short would cause a blown motor in a hurry!).

"Hope for the best, expect the worst, and accept what is handed to you" - that's what an older friend told me - or something similar, anyway ha ha. Seems like you're pretty much doing that.
 
Question: (this might be a stupid question but it's for peace of mind)

You said that you "turned the key on" to check the oil pressure. Was the motor running or was this after it had pinged and quit?
 
TheUser said:
correct me if I missed something, but you said you turned the key "on"...not started the car, but turned the key on and the oil pressure was low. You don't have oil pressure until the car is started, so of course it's low. The gauge might move a little when you hit the key, but it doesn't build pressure until started unless you have some kind of non-stock electric type oil pump or something (if they even make those, they would be a horrible idea - bad wiring or a short would cause a blown motor in a hurry!).

"Hope for the best, expect the worst, and accept what is handed to you" - that's what an older friend told me - or something similar, anyway ha ha. Seems like you're pretty much doing that.

James, in the panic of having a failing engine on my only car I probably wasn't thinking clearly. I swear that I could turn the key on and oil pressure would show...lol...but I was thinking about when you prime the engine thru the dist. hole and you see it rise...I'm stupid:bang:

The engine was clicking after the car had been turned off and the car actually shook a tad bit...lol...this was internal?