zero oil pressure is very hard to occur unless pump isnt pumping (driveshaft, input shaft, bypass, etc) or its sucking serious air (broke pick-up, loose pick-up, cracked housing, or no oil). Serious damage though. I ran a oil pressure warning switch on race car and it found a broken pick-up (welded and lengthened, and it broke eventually). without a pressure switch, I can definitely see driving for a while before the pressure issue is noticed.
Yeah it sure does. And as bad as I feel for the OP.. Melling's warranty almost undoubtedly doesn't include replacing entire motors anyways. I would also be concerned that openly admitting to "driving for a few minutes until being able to safely pull over" may also constitutes negligence from any other parts warranty standpoint. They most typically assume that you have a safety system in place with light or gauge and will immediately shut down the engine to avoid further damage. High value engines/systems will usually have ignition or fuel cutoffs via pressure switch. Good luck with it all anyways.. but I'm not overly optimistic because through the years I've seen this same exact scenario play out several times. Limited warranties and exclusions always apply to protect the bottom line.
Hello, I had no choice but to get it off the freeway. I also have oil gauge. One thing I forgot to say was the oil filter was dry when I pulled it off the block. When I pulled the timing cover I could see the oil pump shaft was in the pump. When I put the oil primer tool on I could see the shaft turning , but still no oil pressure. thanks for all the info. I will post the results once I get them. I'm looking for a 302 block, so far no luck. Tony
i wish you best of luck on getting your damages reimbursed. has anybody at melling or summit said that they would pay for the damages? was their any debris in the oil pan?
One tiny sliver of metal is all it takes to lock the pump and snap the drive. Lost an engine myself due to a lose cambolt. Cam lobe hit the block. Debris got into pump through screen. Broke drive and thats all she wrote.
this reminds me of a car i had when i was young, it was a 70 1/2 falcon/torino. i got a 429 out of a wagon, and proceeded to build the snot out of it. Upon breakin the oil pump took a dump, and luckily only wiped out the mains and rod bearings (from what i could tell). turned out the clearance from the pump impeller tot he plate was too tight, it galled and **** just went haywire. PAW was still around, so i did the same thing and contacted them. i sent the pump in, they inspected it and sent me new bearings, ALL of them, new lifters, cam, and anew pump. (all of which was bought from PAW) mind you this was in 92? at 20 yrs old i was really releived as i had eaten lots of ramen noodles to get this car built back then. I hope you have the same luck i did.
Hello, can't find another 302 block. Has any body run a 302 +.060 with no issue? I need to get my Mav back on the road fast. Thanks Tony
A .060 overbore 289/302 can be done, there are pistons and rings made for it. However, depending on the condition of the block casting (core shift, core thickness, etc) a .060" overbore on your 302 may not be a safe proposition. It can make the waterjacket too thin and result in cooling problems. Typically Ford recommended no more than .030" on the smallblock thin wall castings (with .020" being preferred), unless serious checks were performed (like ultrasonic or x-ray) that are way beyond the norm for most shops. I have been following this thread, and I know the motor got disassembled quickly without an indepth checks. But what I wanted to say, is that I have never been aware of a pump breaking on its own accord. Its always something getting caught in it, most typical is rtv. a pump wears and over time will have less pumping capabililty. You may not be happy with the reply you get from Melling. On the other hand, it could be a pump failure and they really work up a good fix for you. But I wouldnt hold my breath on that. the thing that still rings out to me is the assumption that zero psi is truly zero. If the pump was turning. then you are looking at an air path on the inlet side, or a possibly an internal failure of some sort. Even when a motor has serious damage on the rotating assembly with very well trashed or even missing bearings, the pump still does something. It may be 2 psi, but its something. I had an extended pick-up once for a deep pan. 10years after the fact, the car dies on the return road, with the low psi switch. Once i got back to the trailer, I bypassed the switch to see what I could determine. the motor had zero psi, not 1-2, but absolutely no movement. Once home and taken apart, the pick up had fatigued and had a hairline crack in the weld. Had the pick-up been sitting on the bench, it would have passed quick visual inspection. But only after I got the zero psi (after 10years of running that pick-up, as well as 2 rebuilds, using that same pick-up) did it force me to really take a look. the psi switch saved me. But this was a track car. A daily driver shutting down with low psi is sever safety hazard, and could easily be argued with any sensible shop. Take a look at your pick-up. Its likely not your problem, but none the less, know whats going back into the motor, before it gets buttoned back up. Make sure the bolts and interfaces on the pick-up and new pump are clean and leave no room for problems. I hope you get some financial on the re-rebuild from Melling or the possibly the shop that did some of your work, if its directly traceable to a 'particular'.
going from the work bench to the motor on the stand, a guy dropped the oil pickup tube O-ring. he didn't notice it was missing until they tore down the 427 crate motor that seized up on the dyno.
Hello, I don't thing there is a "o' ring for the pick-up tube on a 1972 302. There is a gasket and it was in place at the oil pump base and at the pick-up tube. This is what I did 1. hook up a direct reading oil pressure gauge 2. checked oil level and water level both were full 3.started the engine, it fired right up ,let it idle for about 1 minute, no oil pressure shut it down. 4. pulled the front timing chain covers . Check to make sure the drive shaft was in place at the oil pump. It was 5. pulled the dizzy and install my oil pump primer. Spun the oil pump for about 2 minute still no oil pressure. I also made sure the oil pump were still in place and not leaking. Ithen pulled the intake and spun the oil pump to check the oil plug under the intake. Plug was in place and not leaking . 6. Pulled the engine,oil pan off next. Pick up tub in place and bolts tight. Metal in pan 7. pulled the oil pump bolts were tight. 8. pulled heads 9. pulled rod bearing. All bearing look good and rod nuts were all tight. pulled pistons #2.#4,and #6 were black, stiff and had groves. 10. Crank spin great by hand. 11. Pulled main caps bearing look great. Crank has no wear that I can see 12. Pulled Cam and lifter. Had some rough edges on the lobs. Lifter look O.K. 13. Cam and oil plugs in back of block look good. Since I really don't see anything bad, and it started right up, it is driving me crazy. I need to find out what went wrong. I hope Melling can shade some light on it. If I did something wrong I need to know. This is my 8 engine I have rebuilt. The last 7 were for street/strip(this one is too). I had no issues. Tony
I'm running a 77 302 block .060 over with 10.5 compression. Aprox 400 HP..this is my 3rd summer running. Have had no issues.
