Broke down on the highway. This doesn't look good.

I was on highway doing about 65. I passed a truck, probably took it up to 75 ish. As soon as I passed him it started losing speed. I kept dropping and putting my foot down didn't do anything. I got onto the shoulder and it died as soon as I stopped. I know the temp was fine, but I was focused on getting away from traffic and I didn't check oil pressure.

I cranked and the starter only turned a little. Like the battery was near death.

I got it towed home so I charged the battery, which was still at 12.5 to begin with, and when it was done it fired right up and idled nice. And then I heard the knock...

I took the valve cover off and was greated with debris. What the heck happened?

I thought that's what it was. I just started it. I have an aftermaket psi gauge which has always worked, and I get no reading. It flickers a tiny amount when I rev it. It didn't keep it running for long because of it. I'm not sure how soon the gauge should see pressure.

I just checked again. There's a clear tube that runs to the gauge, and no oil is coming through. The valve cover is off and the knock is coming from down low. It's loud. Rockers are moving normally. I think my engine is dead.

Edited by Dino - 09-April-2024 at 12:45PM

Dino wrote:

Pressure was fine when I drove it last week. What the heck?!

where was the oil level at last week, how often / when was the last time you checked it?

running it no oil during the vid? have you filled the sump and run it yet?

you have a serious amount of broken valve stem seals laying in the head trough, they'll migrate to the oil returns at the ends of the heads and clog the drain holes, some of that debris will make it down into the sump and onto the oil pump pick-up screen. the old style pick-up screens with a metal band across the mesh have a hole in the mesh under the screen, when the screen clogs the pump suction pulls the mesh up away from the metal band and lets all the debris into the pump. sometimes the pump locks up on a piece of trash, sometimes the trash makes it through the pump headed to the oil filter. sometimes the trash gets trapped by the filter and sometimes the trash passes through the oil filter bypass and heads to the crank and rod bearings.

i don't think i'd run it any more until you RDI, Remove Disassemble and Inspect. it's possible you can save it with a clean out and a set of bearings. i had one do similar, had a shop change out the bearings because the weather was not on my side. it lived but did not tolerate oil with much time on it, i had to keep fresh viscosity in it or it would start 'talking'

see the clean spot on the screen? guess where that crap went

72 GT Ute

Do you have a lot of oil residue underneath the car? Like, even on the front of the muffler, all over the transmission pan, rear axle, shock absorbers, etc? My 351C had a rear main seal leak that showed up mainly at highway RPM, and it would take the oil level from full to low enough that the oil light would come on when pulling up to a stop in ~250 miles. I would also get an oily mist on the back of the car. It wouldn't leak much if any idling in the driveway, but if I held it for a few minutes at 2800 RPM (that's the RPM it does at 70 mph on the highway), then got out and looked under the car, I'd see a serious leak. Changing the rear main seal fixed it and now it loses hardly any oil.

All this to say that that's the only thing I can think of that would leak out all your oil that fast. You'll burn some without having good valve stem seals, but nowhere near that much that fast. If there were a break in the line to your oil pressure gauge, I'd think your pressure would have read low. It's also possible for a front main seal to go, but then you'd have oil all over the front of the engine and suspension.

1972 Gran Torino station wagon, light blue, 351C 2V, prior owner upgraded to 4V (2V heads), originally had a C4 but prior owner changed to C6 for some reason.