Can bad lifter(s) cause low oil pressure?

Do you see any scoring or discoloration on the crank journals? If not it's probably ok but you have some kind of oiling problem for that many bearings to be wiped.

 

Those bearings look like they came froma 100,000 mile motor run with Quaker State oil.

 

No discoloration, but some light scoring... Is it trash if it's not mirror-smooth or is there an acceptable threshold?

 

LOL. Ditto this bigtime. You dont run Q State now do ya??

So long as the crank doesnt have any major scoring your likely OK. Its tough to properly determine whether the crank is good with the crank in the car. You sort of have to install the bearings and keep your fingers crossed. You might want to mic. journals just to double check the bearing sizing. I dont trust any machine work or rebuilds till I double check it.

 

I've had a crank polished, with good results. Smoothed out any ridges, without removing much material. The guy I use to get to do my machining was an old time machine shop wizard.

 

Get some new bearings and a stick of green Plastigage to check the clearances. Check the oil pump and pickup. I still think you have an oiling problem.

 

Light scoring will be fine. I've done many bearings with lightly scored cranks. You can give it a quick, light polish with emery cloth to clean it up a bit. Like I said its real tough to measure a crank and check the engine properly in the car. You just do your best and hope it all works out.

 

Some background for those who may not have read about it in my swap thread... This isn't an engine I've had long. I've put maybe 200 miles on it if that much. It's used, but when I saw the bores and the cam bearings which looked great, heard the engine run and saw no smoke, heard no noises, checked compression, I was satisfied it was a good engine and didn't look any further. I should've let it run longer, get warmer, then I would have seen the pressure drop and heard the knock...

I guess unless I see something much worse as a take it apart, I will plan on just installing new rod and main bearings.

I think this has to be a case of accelerated wear. The rest of the engine looks too good for it to have 100,000+ miles on it. Maybe it was run out of oil... Another possibility, I know they ran the wrong flywheel on it for a while.

 

ITs tough buying used. You just never know. Kind of a crap shoot. Sounds like you did just about all you could before buying.
Thats why its a lot cheaper buying used than buying new with warranty though right??

 

Exactly... Sometimes I win on this stuff, sometimes not.


So is it standard practice to turn all the mains on a crank, or just the ones that need it? Of the two main bearing caps I've pulled, one has an .020" stamp, the other doesn't. So I guess I'll be ordering these individually instead of as a set. The rod bearings all have just the CB831P stamped into them (so far) so they should be standard. Should probably borrow a mic though; there's no telling...

 

You turn them all at the same time

 

So if one of the mains is .020" oversized they all should be?

 

It's standard pratice but not always true. I know a place so cheap on his rebuilt short blocks that he has been known to turn what ever needed to be turned (to save on labor). Some journals are .010, some are .020 and some could be .030. Nothing wrong with his engines until YOU go back behind him...then your lost on how much he turned and what he didn't turn. This is when Mic becomes your best friend...or a new crank.

 

My advice to you is pull the motor and do the job the right way. Tear it down completely and find the problem, fix it, then put the motor back together the right way. A low mileage motor, if that's what it is, with bearings that worn has major problems. Bore wear and cam bearings aren't a good indicator of mileage on the bottomend in late model motors. I've seen many late model 5.0's with excellant bores (crosshatching still visible at over 100K miles) that could have used new rods and mains.(but not nearly as bad as those you pictured) This is due to Ford switching to low tension rings and running tighter piston clearances and Hypereutectic pistons. As for the cam bearings, those seldom if ever wear out, they can often be left alone in a rebuild if the motor isn't hot tanked.

 

Yeah, that's the right thing to do, but if I just install new bearings and it doesn't work out, then I'm only out like $100 in parts. Worst case I end up having to pull it out and completely go through it later instead of now. Best case, I might just be able to enjoy my car for a few years instead of rapidly losing enthusiasm for it like I am now... I think I might have already got rid of it a couple of weeks ago if my 4 year old boy hadn't reminded me that's not an option:

Me: "So Reilly, I'm not saying I'm actually gonna do this, but... What would you think if I decided to sell my Maverick, or trade it, and get another car?"

Him: "Huh? What kinda car?"

Me: "I don't know, something cool though."

Him: (ponders for a minute) "You can trade your Maverick for another Maverick, but you have to paint it the same color."

Me: "Ok..."

Him: "Unless you're trading it to me, and then you need to paint it green."


Anyway, I agree, something went wrong with this engine. I suspect a couple of possibilities, one being the old oil pump and pickup tube; there was a lot of play in that pump and the screen was partially blocked.