help please, bearings

[9073]

Hi,

my old 90 has been giving me problems with the oil pressure for some time now. Now it has gotten to the point where it will not idle with out the engine idiot light on.

i figure it is time to do bearings

would you recommend doing all the bearings (including camshaft) the main bearings or just the connecting rod bearings

should i remove the engine of pop the bearings in from underneath (assuming im not doing camshaft bearings)

or should i just keep runing her or replace the oil pump

the vehicle has supposedly 100,000 miles on the engine but a max of 208000

thanks matt

 

[krawlr]

I would hook a gauge to it first and see where you're really at, could just be a bad sender. Then if it really is low I would get the pan off and inspect the bearings and oil pump. I would expect to see blowby/rings as a problem long before bearings unless it's been completely neglected.

 

[akoldnav]

I think you might need to remove the engine to get the oil pan off, since it is a 4X4. I have replaced just the bearings on a gasser, but I don't know if that is a viable option on the 7.3.

akoldnav

 

[icanfixall]

Pull the motor and do it right. But first get a manual gage and see if its really a problem. If it seems to be low oil pressure and you pull the motor you might want to replace the rear oil cooler header. It has the oil pressure regulator in it and the spring wears out causing low warm oil pressure. We don't have a repair kit available from Ford or anybody else like the powerstrokes do. I tried to repair mine but the spring is proprietary and not available. What happens over time the spring rubs on the piston and almost wears down half the wire thickness so now you have less spring pressure to make pressure. Plastic gage the bearings if you have the motor out and upside down on a stand. That way you will know what needs to be replaced and not spend money you don't need to.

 

[TLBREWER]

Pull the motor and do it right. But first get a manual gage and see if its really a problem. If it seems to be low oil pressure and you pull the motor you might want to replace the rear oil cooler header. It has the oil pressure regulator in it and the spring wears out causing low warm oil pressure. We don't have a repair kit available from Ford or anybody else like the powerstrokes do. I tried to repair mine but the spring is proprietary and not available. What happens over time the spring rubs on the piston and almost wears down half the wire thickness so now you have less spring pressure to make pressure. Plastic gage the bearings if you have the motor out and upside down on a stand. That way you will know what needs to be replaced and not spend money you don't need to.

So is this spring available from IH or do you have to buy the whole cooler?

Tom

 

[icanfixall]

The spring is not available from anybody. What you need to do is buy the rear oil cooler header because the oil pressure regulator is in that header. Like I posted before. I tried to repair mine but it was not a success. The powerstrokes have a repair kit and the regulator is held in the rear header with a snap ring. Matbe that kits spring can be used in our setup but I haven't tried that. How wants to spend the money and try it? In our header you will need to remove some aluminum to remove the regulator because is staked into the housing and there isn't much area to grind away.

 

[RKOCH]

I put a heavier spring in mine it has worked just fine.

 

[obinella]

9073-- pay attention to krawlr. do the simple stuff first,know what the problem is before you rip snort and tear. the gage's are known to be junk. if you put an aftermarket Gage on it and have press. you have no problem. if not move to the next simple thing, relief spring, and so on. don't be in a rush to fix thing's that aren't broke.

 

[9073]

i have a mechanical oil pressure gauge with a tube and it reads about 6 lbs at ilde.

according to alldata the vehicle should hold 40-70 lbs of pressure at 2200 rpms


when you rev it up to 2200 rpms the (mechanical) oil pressure guage jumps back and forth from about 20-28 lbs

Thanks matt

 

[icanfixall]

That does sound on the low side of normal. Is that reading on a warm motor? If so, then I would try replacing the rear oil cooler header and doing the oil cooler o-rings at the same time. How many miles are on the oil cooler bundle o-rings? I think I H and Ford are the only places that handle this item. Maybe check out a tractor supply firm if there is one in your area. Bearing from Ford are the most expensive but 2 places on Ebay sell them cheaply. One place is in Vegas and the other one is back east somewhere. Check them out on Ebay...

 

[highest_vision]

If you end up needing them, I recently bought bearings from IH, main and rod. Cost about $200 for all. According to IH, no camshaft bearing? So I didn't get one.
James