2002 5.4L No oil pressure, shutdown, now starts

[john08007]

I have a 2002 Ex with a 5.4L in it, I was driving it down 95, looked down and saw I had no oil pressure, I started to pull over, the engine shut down. I coasted off the ramp and pulled over, I tried to start it and it wouldn't crank, I thought for sure the engine was toast. I checked it has the correct amount of oil on the dipstick and there is no smell of anything burnt in the oil. After having it towed home I tried to start it a few days later and it starts right up, no smoke out the exhaust or anything, pressure is ok and it purrs like there was nothing wrong. ANY IDEAS???? I hate trying to fix a problem that is intermittent, my first guess was the oil pump but I can't see that fixing itself, I believe it runs off a chain on the front, if that broke it's not gonna fix itself. I think my next plane will be to drain the oil and inspect it for any kinda metal/plastic, if I don't find anything there I am stumped. If it was just the oil pressure sending unit that's not going to shut down the engine. Any one have something like this similar happen to them??

 

[FordandPolaris]

Sounds more electrical to me... If the engine died in correlation to no oil pressure, chances are slim in my opinion that it would start up and run like nothing ever happened haha. Usually if you cook a bearing you'll know.

Still I agree with your next move to check the oil. Run a magnet through what you drain out. It's a cheap and reassuring test.

My dad's 2000 has the oil pressure gauge go all the way down for some time (10 mins), and then come back up. We have found that it has nothing to do with oil pressure, but is most likely a loose solder on the back of the dash, which apparently is a common problem for dashes with the electronic odometer. Does your odometer go out once in a while?

Engine dying might not be related to the gauge going all the way down. When you tried to crank it, could you hear the solenoid clicking or was it completely silent?

 

[john08007]

I was kinda in a panic because I thought I just blew my engine but I believe it was clicking, like the engine was locked up. The oil pressure was the only gauge that went down, I have never seen anything else goofy happening with the gauges. I hate intermittent problems, I was driving it for about 2-2 1/2 hrs when this "incident" happened. I have thought about running it in the driveway for a few hrs watching the gauge but the utter boredom would kill me. I cant see what would electrically kill the engine coincidentally when the oil gauge dropped, it's almost like the engine has a low oil pressure shutoff to save the engine but that is not the case as far as I know. It could just be an oil pressure sending unit causing the pressure gauge to drop.

 

[toms89]

Just so you know the oil pump is mounted over the crankshaft behind the timing gear at the front of the engine. If you lost oil pressure it is likely oil pump itself has failed.

Could be oil pressure sensor, wiring, or faulty gauge though not sure these have low oil pressure shutdown.

Is it possible the engine stalled and that was the reason for low / no oil pressure reading? Mine stalled on me when my fuel pump failed and I noticed the gauges drop to zero before I realized it was due to the engine stall.

 

[FordandPolaris]

My dad's 04 blew a motor due to low oil. His engine did not shut off until the bearing was melted to the crank...

 

[toms89]

My dad's 04 blew a motor due to low oil. His engine did not shut off until the bearing was melted to the crank...

That would tent to confirm they do not have low oil pressure shutdown!



hmmmm... might consider adding one. Would be costly with my engine if the oil pump was to fail.

 

[john08007]

I know the gauge was reading no pressure before it stalled. After I saw that I had no pressure I pulled over to get off the highway, when I was getting off the ramp it stalled because the power steering cut off (not fun driving an ex at 60mph with 6 people inside and no power steering) I doubt it could be the oil pump or I think there is a chain driving the pump because either one of them will not fix themselves. I start it not and it runs fine with plenty of pressure. Another idea I had was something clogging the oil pickup, but if the lack of oil caused the engine to stall why would it unlock up and run now.

 

[toms89]

I know the gauge was reading no pressure before it stalled. After I saw that I had no pressure I pulled over to get off the highway, when I was getting off the ramp it stalled because the power steering cut off (not fun driving an ex at 60mph with 6 people inside and no power steering) I doubt it could be the oil pump or I think there is a chain driving the pump because either one of them will not fix themselves. I start it not and it runs fine with plenty of pressure. Another idea I had was something clogging the oil pickup, but if the lack of oil caused the engine to stall why would it unlock up and run now.

That was my point. All my gauges dropped to zero and until I went to turn did I realize my engine had stalled till I had no power steering. That would explain a lot as far as your situation. But if you are certain the engine was running then it still is a bit of a mystery.

The oil pump is driven directly off of the crankshaft so it's impossible for that to fail.

 

[FordandPolaris]

That would tent to confirm they do not have low oil pressure shutdown!



hmmmm... might consider adding one. Would be costly with my engine if the oil pump was to fail.

Haha yeah that was the point I was trying to illustrate. We were on a trip and didn't know any different until it lost all power and came to a rolling stop.

I know the gauge was reading no pressure before it stalled. After I saw that I had no pressure I pulled over to get off the highway, when I was getting off the ramp it stalled because the power steering cut off (not fun driving an ex at 60mph with 6 people inside and no power steering) I doubt it could be the oil pump or I think there is a chain driving the pump because either one of them will not fix themselves. I start it not and it runs fine with plenty of pressure. Another idea I had was something clogging the oil pickup, but if the lack of oil caused the engine to stall why would it unlock up and run now.

Did you happen to look at any other gauges while the oil pressure gauge was low? My thinking is that the oil pressure gauge went down, and then your truck stalled for an unrelated reason. Have you seen the gauge go down since this happened? My dad's would do the electrical fault thing about once every two weeks.

My money is on electrical somewhere. Unlike mechanical items, that will fix itself without further aid, so it is probably a bad ground or a fault somewhere. Electrical explains why it would not start up initially but does now, though I would think you would not have heard any clicking when trying to turn it over. But I think it is also possible it was getting some power (enough to click the solenoid) but not full power to crank the motor. Any insight on this Tom?

Best thing for electrical is to start testing things. Have the alt load tested, run a multimeter on the systems to see what you are getting. I have had plenty of things happen once and never happen again, so you might not ever deal with the issue again which would be good. If it happens twice though you really need to start diagnostics.

 

[john08007]

I am positive that all of the other gauges were working, I am also sure that it was running with no pressure because I changed lanes with no problem and could tell when the engine cut off because the steering became almost impossible to turn. When the steering became tough from the engine stalling was when all the lights and warnings came on the dash. Not that it matters but there are not any kinda "saved codes" or anything causing the check engine light to come on, I think I have my dads code reader in my garage, if I get a chance I will try hooking it up and see if it shows anything.