If an oil pump fails it's not instant death for the engine? Whachu talkin about, Willis? Engine life can be measured in seconds with no oil pressure. I mean you might be able to shut it off and save it if you're puttering around the neighborhood. Maybe.
It's no guarantee. As an owner of a modular, I can tell you those pumps are all aluminum and they wallow out over time. When you get low oil pressure it's starts eating itself from the inside out. I'm replacing my pump when I open it up for the timing job. I already have the Melling HV replacement.
You missed the point
No oil pressure doesn't mean there still isn't a film of oil still coating the parts. No you can't drive 5 miles to the repair shop, but 20-30 seconds to pull off to a safe spot should be ok. There isn't much oil pressure at idle anyway and not much stress on the bearings either. Timing belt goes and you don't have even a second to shut it down before the engine is done.
Why would you have to get out a dropped bolt in the first place?
20-30 seconds if you're lucky. What if you're in the left lane doing 80 on a busy urban 4 lane? Accelerating hard away from a stop while towing a trailer? Nah there's just too many scenarios that this isn't going to work out.
FordTechMakuloco shows how to change them without pulling the engine, it does involve removing suspension parts though.I fumble a lot. I could very much see myself dropping the bolts that hold the oil pump to the block
No, I meant, if you did drop a bolt down there, why would you have to get it out? It won't hurt anything.I fumble a lot. I could very much see myself dropping the bolts that hold the oil pump to the block
None of us were in the truck, so we only have the abbreviated story to go by. The oil light came on; he pulled over. Did he shut the engine off and allow what little oil remained to settle to the bottom and then restart the engine at idle, with JUST ENOUGH oil to keep the light out? Perhaps. Also, he got 5 quarts of oil to top it off before driving 30 miles. But where did he get 5 quarts? No one I know of drives around with 5 spare quarts in the bed. So he probably drove a short distance with the oil light on (again) to get that 5 qts. Or maybe not? We simply don't know. Even after adding oil, the engine pooped the bed; probably because the 5 quarts he added came way too late. What we do know is that engine was run for a significant amount of time with no oil pressure; several minutes or more would be my guess. The way the bearings were just obliterated doesn't happen in 20 seconds of no oil pressure. That engine ran (nearly) dry for quite some time. And so the heat and drag on that oil pump belt was WAY more than what it would see in a long time span, if ever. So my point was that judging the belt's condition as if it were "normal" wear and tear is not at all applicable in this case.
So, again, you’re going to take one single example of a failure after known abuse and apply it to millions of that engine family that have accumulated hundreds of millions of total miles?
Well thats a lot different than the light came on - then went off - so yes - if it ran without oil then you can't blame the belt.
Absolutely, this is a great example of what happens to a wet belt design under extreme stress. All others will follow similarly if oil starved.
What about all the great examples of the failure modes of every oil pump type that’s ever been invented? Worn gears, snapped pump driveshafts, shattered gerotors, pickups that fell off, the list goes on. Are you swearing off all those types as well?
