Low oil pressure light came on and Engine shutdown into safe mode NEED HELP ASAP

[steelfan247]

I have a 2003 Ford Expedition (E.B. Edition) 5.4 4x4 188,000 miles

Need some help and advice please...

I was coming home and I felt a loss of power all of a sudden and instantly a low oil pressure light turned on which directly following that my engine shut off. I checked my oil dipstick and it was a little low on oil but still reading on the dip stick above the low refill line and looked clean. I then started it and all seem fine placed into gear and resumed driving another mile same thing happened. I was less than a mile from my house at this point and restarted it and made it back to my garage as doing so light came on again and the engine shutdown again. I then decided to give it an oil change and inspect the oil. After inspecting the oil there was a small amount of shimmer to the oil this being signs of very vary small flaky metal dust within the oil that was draining. This getting me very worried about internal engine damage. I refilled the motor with 5w-20 synthetic blend motor oil and used a Mobil 1 Oil filter as the first oil filter I used was a Fram extra mileage oil filter which I'll never use again I'll be using Motorcraft from here on out. After doing the oil change I then restarted the engine it started and sounded good at idle no lights came on and could sit there and not have an issue, BUT as soon as I placed it into reverse instantly low oil pressure light came on and the oil pressure gauge dropped as it did before but this time doing so instantly once placing into a gear and could hear some engine noise not wanting to rev it up much but being able to and doing so slightly it would rev and gain RPM's but sounded like there was engine noise. I was literally just sitting in my driveway and placing it into gear as soon as I place it back into park oil pressure would return to normal and no more engine noise. The noise does not occur in park and the oil pressure gauge is at normal mid point and no low oil pressure light is on (the light is not on) but when placing into reverse or drive it instantly looses oil pressure and light comes on and any rpm rev results to engine noise.

Looking for some advice. Always ran good prior had no signs of anything wrong until now.

Steps I'm looking at taking to try and figure out what's wrong...

1. Going to do a pressure test today after work.

2. Results might change after pressure test results but most likely drop the oil pan and check to see if the oil pickup screen is plugged.

3. Oil pump failure not sure how to determine but sounds like their a pain to replace.

Not sure if this is the correct steps but figured its a good start...
Also it seems that changing the oil sending unit would be something that would not help as there is a for sure loss of oil pressure due to noise being heard from the engine when loss of oil pressure occurs and the low oil pressure/high temp light turns on when going into drive or reverse.

Also could a crankcase sensor be a culprit in what is going on? My gut tells me it's either the oil pickup screen that's clogged or the oil pump has failed or it's both the oil pump failing has led to the oil pickup screen clogging up due to engine damage occurring?

Any advice or expertise would be very helpful and I'd be very grateful for anybody's feedback about this subject matter. Thanks in advance.

 

[Bedrck47]

Just my opinion but I have been using Fram filters for over 30 years and never had a problem with them.

The Oil pressure sender does not measure OIL PRESSURE it is simply a switch that tells you either you have pressure or you don't. Think of it as a light switch as that is all it does.

If you know that the oil level is full then I would agree its could be the pump, screen or the sender unit. Not really into throwing parts at it But I would first replace the sender as that would be the easiest and cheapest and least amount of labor to change.

 

[steelfan247]

Okay I'll pick one up and replace the switch they're cheap enough being $10 or so I'd rather try that before having to drop the pan... Thank you for your response. I'll follow up with any updates good or bad.

 

[Skauber]

Changing oil pump means removing the front timing cover and oil pan, it's in the front driven by the crank. Might as well replace the timing components while you're in there if you decide on replacing the oil pump, though you should weigh the cost against the probability that the rest of the engine may have been damaged due to low oil pressure, and it may be better to just get a long block for it.

 

[Bedrck47]

I have had my expy 2 quarts low and still had good oil pressure (Didn't have it that low for long.) In your case it would depend on how often you change you oil and brand of oil you use. And how long you have had the expy. If recently purchased then I would say you don't know the past history and then you may want to suspect the worst.

 

[steelfan247]

Appreciate the feedback so far yes I'm going to have to way out the bad and ugly if replacing the oil pump really hoping that's not the culprit. I was disappointed to find out that the oil pump is that involved in order to replace.

I purchased this expedition around exactly this same time last year with the previous owner being the original owner and having documentation of all work done to it and proper regular oil changes being done. Bought it from a Doctor and I purchased it for a family vehicle to take on road trips it has gone to Myrtle Beach and back and to Pittsburgh several times always do the oil changes myself every 3000 miles and it burns up some oil so I check it often. I use VMAX Valvoline extended mileage synthetic blend 5w-20 and have used Fram oil extended life filters up to this point. I have done maintenance on the vehicle regularly and religiously and have gone through and replaced all areas of rust on it and gave it a new paint job as well which having a history of auto body work and have added many add-on features it as well Bull Bar, Light Bar, Front Trailer Hitch, and Aftermarket stereo with Video up front and in the rear replacing all stock equipment. I tow a 2000 26' McGregor Sail Boat in the summer and in the winter I tow some sleds and a trailer of wood when needed. I've owned 4 expeditions prior to this one some newer some older always had great luck with them but this is a first for me having a real issue prior to using and eventually selling... probably to much info but just some history on vehicle and the year I have owned it for. It was well taking care of previous to me though and have a huge yellow folder with a history of records of it having been well taken care of. As I have owned it it's also been well taken care of.

 

[Bedrck47]

My thought was that if any engine work was done it could be that the oil pump is loose. But I think having it for the past year and knowing its history That is most likely not a problem. Try the sender unit and see what happens.

 

[steelfan247]

Okay sounds good Sender Unit going in tonight and will update ASAP thanks to everyone for your feedback. Everyone has been a big help!

 

[Bedrck47]

Make sure that you top off the oil. Check the old sender to see if it is clogged.

Have you done any work in the area of the PCM or the Instrument Cluster lately??

The wire that comes from the sender goes to a connector near the PCM and then to the cluster.

 

[steelfan247]

I replaced a hose near the PCM that was in bad shape and was throwing an error code but wasn't the one that was going to the actual PCM a couple months ago.

I have replaced the Vacuum and Emmisions Purge Solenoid also about a month ago.

I replaced a EGR Pressure Feedback Sensor and the EGR Pressure feedback Hoses also because those were brittle and in bad shape as well and that was throwing an error code about 3 months ago.

I swapped a ignition coil that was on the same side of where the PCM is located. That was 3 months ago.

That being said I have not done anything with the Instrument Cluster at all though.

 

[k9education]

If there were metal flakes in the oil, the lifters would be my primary concern.

 

[steelfan247]

That's my fear so you think the engine is going to need to be rebuilt or replaced?

 

[stamp11127]

First thing to do is learn to hit the return key and break up the long paragraphs...after a long day at work it is hard to read a book with my old eyes.

Metal in oil indicates metal to metal contact. Instead of guessing what the problem is use your mind/tools and determine the cause. Have you changed the timing chains/guides? They can wear into the front cover and give you the metal flake look in the oil.

Low oil pressure - install a mechanical oil pressure gauge and read true pressure. As pressure drops the upper end of the engine starts to starve for oil - valves, lifters & rockers.

 

[steelfan247]

Installed a mechanical oil pressure gauge tonight the motor has spun a bearing. My guess is that it most likely happened by an oil pump failure. The pressure was good at first on a cold start up but after running the motor and it warming up it gradually loss pressure and eventually had no pressure this and the sound of clatter while increasing Rpms confirm there is internal damage also other info already stated. It's time to sell it as is or to do an engine swap. Thanks for everyone's help and input. Sorry for the depth of info just trying to be thorough to assist anyone reading this post understand what is occurring to help them give there input and advice. Not sure what avenue I'll go from here but need to weigh out some of the options that are still available at this point.

 

[46L281GT]

You could also have a mechanic replace the rod bearings. I did this in my mustang 4.6 and have about 20,000 hard miles on the fix with no issues and it's even boosted.

 

[steelfan247]

I'm pricing out some used motors from 90,000 to 120,000 miles with 6 month to 1 year warranty on them. I'll start removing the old motor for now because I'm looking at most likely fixing it. Replacing the rod bearings is another option. I'll most likely swap the motor though myself because I can get one for a good price it looks like.

 

[pratik]

Kind of late in the party, but what did you end up doing to fix the issue?

 

[riphip]

His engine was done. Time for replacement