Let me start by saying its is unusually cold here, with that said. I started my car ( 59 Edsel with a 292)this morning and no oil pressure. I let it run thinking the oil was cold and wasn't moving thru the tube to the mechanical gauge. It has reached normal temp and still no oil pressure. Its not rattling or knocking. I took the oil pressure line loose from the block and NO OIL PRESSURE. It has a new oil pump installed this summer and usually holds around 60lbs. Anybody got any ideas?
I would pull the rocker covers and see if oil is being pumped to the top. If not I would stop running it and pull that new oil pump to see if something has come loose.
If I remember correctly there is a rod that drives the oil pump, I wonder if it sheared? I would definitely solve the problem before I ran the engine any more. Probably not the problem but I had a '71 Opal GT that had a complete instant oil pressure failure. There was a back flow valve in the system with a spring loaded ball. The seat failed and the ball got loose. The loose ball was sucked back into the system and plugged everything completely. The car had the best stock gauges I have ever seen. A mechanical gauge with an idiot light next to the pointer on the mechanical gauge. I caught it before the engine was destroyed. Charlie Stephens
I just pulled the distributor and the oil pump the shaft is in tact, the pump was tight, The pick up tube wasn't extremely tight. the drive shaft is worn but still seem to hold. the pump when turned by hand seems to pump. If it had spun a bearing it should be making some noise, correct?
Run the pump with a drill or a speed handle to check for pressure, if nothing, it's likely a pick-up problem.
There's only three things it could be; bad pump, bad pump drive, or bad pickup. Fords are notorious for bad pump drives. Check the end of the distributor shaft for wear where the pump driveshaft fits in and both ends of the shaft. These can wear over time and 'slip'; if it's not slipping at the pump end, it may be at the distributor end. It may be a poor connection at the pickup on the pump sucking air, but you should have an obvious leak there if that's it. The pickups are one piece, I've never seen one fail. Y-blocks are pretty tough, I doubt that you hurt it. I knew a guy who ran a 312 with no measurable oil pressure for over six months before it finally seized....
There could be one other issue; some oil pump gaskets have 'extra' material that if it breaks off can block oil passages. To clean this out, you need to pull the pump and the oil filter base adaptor and blow the passages out. But if you get pressure by manually spinning the pump drive, it's very likely the distributor/pump drive connection slipping.
Could be the relief valve or spring inside the pump has failed. I once put rings & bearings in a 352. installed a new oil pump. it ran fine on start up. and as soon as it came up to operating temp the oil pressure went to nothing and the lifters clattered. Thinking I had the wrong bearings I tore it apart and plastiguaged it. It was within spec. Finally I took apart the oil pump and couldn't see anything wrong. Reassembled it and inserted the hex drive and spun it with a drill in a container of oil.it pumped a little then slowed down. The check valve was sticking. I put the old original oil pump back on and cured the problem.
If the hex drive on the dist. or pump was worn, the cold (thicker) oil may have finished the rounding out.
The seal on the pickup tube was the problem. I went ahead and replaced the driveshaft and the seal and now back up to 60lbs and there seems not to be any damage. Thanks for all of your input.
The Jalopy Journal
