Well, I might have lost the entire upcoming cruising/show season today. I think I may have lost my engine. I now know how many miles it will go with NO engine oil before it seizes up........4! It probably was hollering at me, but I had the windows down for the dog, and I'm half deaf. If I was limber enough to kick my own ****, I would have been doing it all afternoon. I forgot to do the number one rule after you do an oil change........check for leaks with the engine running. I must have either overtightened the oil filter or, my best guess at this time, I also had my head up my **** in forgetting to clean the mounting surface of the engine block before installing the new filter, because if I had done that I would have noticed that the old filter seal was still stuck to the block! #@$$#@!! (I checked the old filter I took off and there is no seal on it)I also did not check my oil pressure gage, so had no clue what was happening when the car started to lose power and die on the freeway. As soon as the tow truck pulled up to the driveway and I saw the m***ive oil trail, I knew what happened. It did not overheat, and no large bangs!, so I've got a small chance of not too much damage. Tomorrow I'll put another filter on, add oil, pull the plugs, and see if I can turn the engine by the crankshaft bolt, or if it's seized. Debating whether to pull the valve covers first, though, so I can lube the timing chains and 4 cams. Also, may add penetrating oil to the cylinders after I pull the plugs. Anybody remember what they mixed ATF with to make the good penetrating stuff, and how much do you put in, and how? My spark plug holes are about 5 or 6" deep.
Forget the ATF mix and use what many HAMBers have used for decades Marvel Mystery Oil Good Luck,hope things work out.
I drained the oil from mine with the intention of finishing the job later. Yes I forgot and had it idleing when it went squeak, squeak,squeak and died. The next day I found it was not seized so I put oil in it, pulled the distributor and used a drill to prime it. Still runs but seems to smoke more now. Broken ring maybe? Point is, maybe a way to pressurize your oil system before firing? (If not seized)
Is there any way that you can Prime the system first so that there is oil in the bearings before you try turning it?
4.6 dohc........no distributor, don't have a clue how it could be primed. Lots of work to remove the valve covers, but it would let me get to the 4 cams and the timing chains. The cam bearing lobes I'm reasoning must have oil p***ages though, so not sure if I could do any good there or not without removing the cams or at least caps. FYI, these mod motors have the cams riding directly in the aluminum heads, no bearing races. I'll research the pre-priming later today when the world wakes up.
I have never done this but happened upon this the other day. It is on this site. https://www.diyford.com/ford-modular-swap-guide-startup-tips/ Engine Priming Because the modular engine does not use a distributor, there is no oil pump driveshaft to connect to and prime the oil pump. Ford recommends priming the engine with a pressure tank connected to the oil pressure sender outlet. Proper priming of the bearings and chain tensioners is important to the survival of the engine. The Ford-recommended version looks like a steel garden sprayer, and that is what many builders have retrofitted to prime its engines. A good pressure sprayer with a fitting to fit the sender outlet and hoses strong enough to handle the pressure needed to feed oil to the engine works like a champ. Ironically, when I was checking with most of the dealerships in my area, none of them had a priming system to prime modular engines (and they gave me a curious look when I asked). It should be done with a new engine or an engine that has been sitting for a long while.
Sorry to hear what happened, I'm sure it's of no consolation but the same thing happened to me on a '72 Ford truck, I hope you didn't hurt it to bad. HRP
I should be ready to test it for seize shortly. My speed shop friend thinks the engine is probably toast in that odds are any damage would be in the crankshaft/bearings or pistons. Rebuild on these things are really expensive, so if it is damaged, I'll probably be hunting for a replacement engine rather than having it rebuilt. One hope I may have is that the computer shut off the fuel pump when it sensed something was wrong, so posibly not a seizure at all, and that's why the engine died. I know from experience, if the computer knows the engine is not running, it'll shut down the fuel supply in after 2 seconds
If you had only driven 4 miles since the oil change, you didn't drive too far with out oil because it took some time for it to push all the oil out. Maybe the computer sensed no oil pressure and shut it down.
I use a 50/50 mix of ATF and acetone as a penetrating liquid to loosen rusted bolts etc. It works. Not saying is would be any good to put in an engine though. Perhaps this is the mix you were thinking of, Texas57
Thanks Joe. Goodguys ain't gonna happen for the '57. I went thru all the preliminary stuff that we had been discussing, and just tried to start it. Crankshaft is rotating, but engine sounds really tight(to be expected), but after 3 or 4 tries, she started backfiring, so I stopped immediately. I had even cleared the computer memory in case there was something to tell it not to start. Rebuilds are very expensive on these, and at this point it looks like what it's gonna need, so I'm probably going to look around a bit to see what's out there for donor cars. I have about zero expectantcy of finding another lo miles donor car that had been in an accident, but that may be the only way I can go as we are all on retirement income at this house now. Don't see much hope of any shows or cruising this summer. I'm bummed.
sorry to hear that bad news texas57 not good at all...i very nearly got caught the same way doing oil change on my clevo.....the only thing that saved me was a nagging feeling i had so went over everything again and found the problem. hope you find a good replacement cheep and the swap goes well
So sorry Rich, I know that the worst part is that it was your mistake, but we all make them. It is obvious that you are a very resourceful guy, you will overcome this.
Wow, that just ****s. I would take about a week to grieve before even looking at it. Best of luck finding a replacement.
Wouldn't seem like tight/seized bearings would make it backfire. Maybe valve stems ran dry and the valves are sticking in the guides.
You could put some oil in it and disable it from firing, spin it over enough to get oil pressure. Then try to fire. You may have done that already when it backfired ? Feel terribly bad for you!
Thanks guys, yes, DIYGUY, that's exactly what I did, after turning the crankshaft a little with the plugs out, I figured hitting the starter a few times would get the oil pump activated. After that, I reinstalled the plugs and tried to start it, that's when it backfired. Wish I was more of a mechanic. I'm ***uming the backfiring was a timing issue, which would mean something jumped or got damaged, but that's an ***umption, and Failane 62 brought up another posibility. Thanks, that's why I'm on these forums.
You understand! Yesterday, my wife was like." yeah, you just found out your life got screwed up an hour ago, what's the matter now?"
Most likely cam was seizing in head and jumped time. The tolerances are tight on those motors and won't last long without oil. Sorry to hear about your bad luck.
I just ran a compression test on one bank. 50 lbs in all 4 cylinders which I believe is telling me I have major problems. If I lost the timing chain, that would have had to been caused by something else......bound up camshafts, etc. domino effect. Don't think there would be a simple fix for lost compression in a whole bank. No need to check the second bank at this time......I've already decided if it needs a rebuild, I'll look for another motor.
Did a little research on your motor. Timing chain tensioners work off oil pressure, which you lost. Also that is an interference engine, meaning not much room for error in cam timing. Probably a bunch of bent valves. I agre with you, find another engine.
That is terrible. I recall on the old Chevys with the canister filters, I would often find 2 or 3 gasket rings when I took the canister down. Not a catastrophic leak, just enough to get oil everywhere. See what Jasper gets for a rebuild, also ATK is popular. My mechanic friend uses both sources. Is the newer 4.6 Mustang the same thing? Check with a few junkyards to see what is around.
Interesting about the tensioners being controled by oil presure. I thought "interference engine" mainly was about the probability of losing an engine if the timing chain broke ............nothing to keep valve coming down when piston going up. Not saying it didn't happen, but I didn't hear anything that sounded like that. I'm going to pull a valve cover later today and have a look at the chains, cams, caps, etc.
The Jalopy Journal
