Trusting a low oil pressure 302 for a long trip

[supton]

Originally Posted By: expat
You are using the most expensive way to cross the continent!


But if he using a camper in the bed of the truck then he may have the cheapest nights while traveling. Free to sleep in on the side of the road, or in a truck stop, or in some Walmart parking lots. State parks can be cheap per night. And if he is going to be in one spot for two weeks, then that might be quite the savings, unless if he returns the rental car for the duration and walks.

But I don't know if he can get 15mpg while cruising back roads.

 

[dccarpenter]

Supton,

Regarding the costs you are spot on. We will be away for four to five weeks so the hotel savings by using campgrounds/state parks are significant. My wife also is really excited about the camping with camper aspect of the trip .

As far as milage I get 12.5 to 16 with the type of load I will have on it , in the middle of the country and coasts on flat highways doing 55 to 65 , 15 is a safe bet. The truck is a regular cab , 2wd with stock size tires and a overdrive transmission. It is highway geared as well, probably 3.08 for the rear gears.

 

[eljefino]

Warm it up, shut it down, pull a valve cover. Start it, idle it, see if oil's getting up there. Rev it and shut it down before it makes a gigantic mess.

This should put your mind at ease.

I'd rather sleep in my own vehicle than in some sleazy bed bug ridden hotel.

 

[SS1970chrysler]

Go for it. As long as there's no knocks at startup and PSI increases with engine speed, you should be ok.
When the PSI decreases with engine speed, then you're in trouble. I've had more than a few 302's and 351W's.

 

[lukejo]

Originally Posted By: dccarpenter
We will be away for four to five weeks so the hotel savings by using campgrounds/state parks are significant. My wife also is really excited about the camping with camper aspect of the trip .

My '94 has 209k and seems to be one hard to kill engine. What route do you plan to take through or near IL? We've done lots of camping in this tri-state area and might be able to offer some good suggestions.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: mene
How low is that "low oil pressure" at highway speed?, if you have been here at bitog for a while you would have read the low viscosity commandment of reducing oil viscosity until you get 10 PSI/1000 RPM, my father used to have a mopar 318 that had 1 PSI at idle but as soon as you revved it up a bit (1000~1200 RPM) the oil pressure will go up to over 15 PSI, to me it was a sign of impending doom, to my dad who knew a lot more than me was almost normal and the engine lasted more than 100K miles then he sold the car, we/he did countless long trips and he had a very heavy right foot, basically idle or WOT no in between. This long story is to let you know that you might be OK, I'll double check the oil pressure at cruising speed and if over 25 PSI, I'll go for it, heck, try to find out how much pressure and at what RPMs Ford considers normal, Don't we do that here to find the lowest viscosity the engine will take under our personal conditions?


The last 302 I had apart that had oil pressure issues had somewhere around 15psi hot at idle on 20w-50. It had no rod bearings left in it (all were to the copper) and the mains weren't very great looking either. He's got 5psi, so his bottom end is even less healthy than that.

A healthy 302 will have north of 30psi hot on an xw-30.


If this were mine I'd do exactly what I did with my buddy's plow truck: Swap in a low mileage 302 HO longblock.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Can you afford the potential problems that may arise if you have a catastrophic failure on your trip? If so, then by all means jump in and enjoy the ride and the potential adventure that may happen.

If you can't afford the potential failure of a vehicle with known issues, or can't/won't deal with the adventure of taking an old vehicle on a long road trip, then consider a different means of transportation.

 

[another Todd]

5 psi at idle is not unheard of. The more important oil pressure numbers are at highway speed. Can you verify oil pressure at 1,2,and 3,000 RPM? Also 4 and 5,000 rpm if you dare. As a general rule, 10 psi per 1000 rpm is a sufficient minimum. Since you are loaded (camper), you want more than that minimum.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: another Todd
5 psi at idle is not unheard of. The more important oil pressure numbers are at highway speed. Can you verify oil pressure at 1,2,and 3,000 RPM? Also 4 and 5,000 rpm if you dare. As a general rule, 10 psi per 1000 rpm is a sufficient minimum. Since you are loaded (camper), you want more than that minimum.


That rule is for the SBC, not an SBF. Every engine has a different minimum pressure spec and will have a different rise with an increase in RPM.

 

[expat]

You did not say up front that this would be a Road Trip/Adventure.

If that is the case, more power to you

Perhaps someone here can suggest where you might pick up a good 302 on the way?

What route do you intend to take?

 

[another Todd]

You say there is no ticking noises so I suspect your bearings are not too bad. If your so inclined you could pull the oil pan and check the intake screen and replace the pump (they are cheap). Worn pumps at that mileage are a known issue.

 

[GaleHawkins]

I think long trips make us freak sometimes.

We have a lot of high mileage stuff and just drive it where we want to go.

We did 8K miles in the old MH with the 454 TBI. It never missed a note even when we went up the Old Priest Run going into Yosemite by accident but the pucker factor was over the top.

It is not cheap but I would change the oil and add Archoil AR9300 if it was my truck. Just picked up a gallon of the AR9100 and used the first of it today in the high mileage F700 with the 429 gas engine. Will be adding it to the tractors too and all the other stuff.

Read up on it. The AR9100 is a little cheaper but older technology.

I do not think you will see an oil pressure increase but resurfacing of the rod and main bearing while you drive could be helpful. It is mainly use for ship and rail engines and the like.

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: another Todd
You say there is no ticking noises so I suspect your bearings are not too bad. If your so inclined you could pull the oil pan and check the intake screen and replace the pump (they are cheap). Worn pumps at that mileage are a known issue.


Comically, the engine we tore down that I mentioned earlier sounded just fine. It had low compression and was consuming oil, but it SOUNDED fine. He had been driving it that way for at least a year. It shocked the socks off us to find the bottom-end looking the way it did when we took it apart.

 

[Le_bow_ski]

Originally Posted By: GaleHawkins

We did 8K miles in the old MH with the 454 TBI. It never missed a note even when we went up the Old Priest Run going into Yosemite by accident but the pucker factor was over the top.

The pucker factor is even worse going down the Old Priest Grade in an old motor home.

 

[GaleHawkins]

Originally Posted By: Le_bow_ski
Originally Posted By: GaleHawkins

We did 8K miles in the old MH with the 454 TBI. It never missed a note even when we went up the Old Priest Run going into Yosemite by accident but the pucker factor was over the top.

The pucker factor is even worse going down the Old Priest Grade in an old motor home.


I was thankful the mistake was made going up for sure. If the engine had died I kept looking at the rock wall to back into. We actually when out the Fresno side. Never plan to be in that park again most likely but would not want to do it in a MH again because of the length. That was in 2011 and have not driven the MH 1000 miles since. The kids are now 17 and have other fish to fry. I had been told to do a trip like that before they turned 16 which was good advice. They actually turned 14 when we were in Carlsbad CA taking surfing lessons.

The motor home was up in good shape so we make a run for CA by the way of the Badlands and back by the Grand Canyon/TX route. Old stuff is OK. Had it died hard on us far from home we would have sold it for scrap if possible and came home in a van with out stuff.

 

[artificialist]

When I researched 1970s GMC RVs, many people promoted electric vacuum pumps that were connected to the brake booster. Those kinds of pumps were originally used on engines that didn't produce enough vacuum to operate brake boosters.

 

[Skid]

Have you been out West before? You might drive like a grannie out East, but you'll be flooring it up the hills in Colorado and California.

 

[dnastrau]

Originally Posted By: another Todd
You say there is no ticking noises so I suspect your bearings are not too bad. If your so inclined you could pull the oil pan and check the intake screen and replace the pump (they are cheap). Worn pumps at that mileage are a known issue.


+1 on this. I worked at a small town Ford dealership from 1985 to '91 and saw many 302 and 351W engines that had low hot oil pressure due to sludged up oil intake screens. A cleaned out oil pan and screen along with a fresh pump and they were usually good to go even with high miles.

 

[GaleHawkins]

I do not think an engine with regular oil changes will have the screen stop up based on my experience especially when the RPM's goes up so does the oil pressure. As long as the oil film is there the parts sound not be making physical contact when running.

 

[Cujet]

I'm a bit of a risk taker, so I would use a high viscosity oil, bring some STP and oil along, and go on my way. Making sure the engine had sufficient oil levels always, and accepting the risk of an "adventure".

One thing though, I might consider some straight 50W oil if pressure really is that low. AND, the biggest, lowest restriction, oil filter I could find. Yes, there are some extended length oil filters that will fit on a Ford.

We drove Ford delivery vans back in the 1970's. Those small block V8 engines were so sludged up, they would lose oil pressure when driving down the highway, as all the oil would accumulate in the valve cover area!

They would start ticking like crazy. We'd pull over and let the oil drain back down. Then go on our way again. These vans kept going for years. But we also knew how to handle the situation.