Oil Pressure Problem

[Eliminator89]

I've been thinking about a mishap I had a while back with the oil pressure in my truck.

 

1989 4.0

 

I had installed new rod bearings to regain some oil pressure while setting aside money for a complete rebuild. I had to do something as the truck was my daily driver. Everything went fine. Fresh oil and a NAPA Gold filter. oil pressure was definitly better. Drove home (60 miles) and around this small city and to work a couple of times. No problems, good oil pressure.

 

A few days later, I started it up in the morning and drove around the corner and heard something hissing. Leaving the truck idling at a stop sign, I got out expecting to find a tire going down. It was coming from the engine compartment though. I popped the hood and there was oil everywhere. It was squirting out at the filter/adapter interface. I shut it down immediately. I saw a trail of oil down the block. I followed it and saw it started back at my house. I pushed the truck back home (slightly down hill luckily). I found the oil filter blown up like a balloon. The oil pressure sender was also destroyed by this.

 

I figured the oil filter had failed. Is this the likely scenario? Seems the oil would have gone to the filter and been stopped right there. With nowhere to go, it blew the seal due to the extreme pressure. For this to be right, I think the oil must enter the filter through the holes around the center mounting hole and then into the engine through the center mounting hole.

 

I replaced the oil and filter and everything was good from then on.

 

Any thoughts on this odd occurrance?

 

BTW, the NAPA store where I bought everything did offer replace the filter (to that, I said no thanks) and the oil (I did take that). I've been using Mobil1 filters since then.

[ifixit8]

there was a big thread about oil filters with problems.

 

here it is http://www.comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=8961&highlight=oil+filter

[dragonrider477]

your oil pump pressure releif valve was probably stuck causing very high(150-200 psi) oil pressure.this is what blew up your filter and oil sender.could have been some debris had gotten the valve jamming it.it may never happen again or it could happen tomorrow.the valve is part of the oil pump.its probably best to pull the pan(again!) and install a new oil pump.

[carnuck]

Ditto on the relief valve. I could see the filter if it was a Fram, but Napa Gold (AKA WIX) have a bypass valve.

[JeepcoMJ]

relief valve, or oil pump.

 

my question is, why didn't you replace the oil pump and sender?

 

rods have about oh, .02% to do with oil pressure compared to the pump and sender.

[Eliminator89]

Rod bearings were bad. Replaced them and my oil pressure came back up quite a bit (and for a short time, WAY UP). Actually, the mains were not great either but I was nearly broke then. I felt I needed to do something about the noisy engine and that was about all I could do at the time. Changing the rod bearings was relatively simple and certainly helped.

 

The oil pressure problem never happened again. I was just talking to a friend about it and got to wondering if it was the filter's fault or if it might have been something else. I didn't realize the oil pump pressure relief valve could cause the problem but that must have been what happened.

[Pete M]

Once upon a time I was changing my oil in the 88 and when I fired up the truck, I noticed oil pouring out onto the pavement. I shut off the truck and popped the hood to find that oil had been spraying all over the engine bay (thank god it wasn't shooting towards my battery). As it turns out, the oil filter had a tiny dent in the lip and it was enough to cause the rolled edge to fail. Then when I went to the store, I noticed several more filter on the rack that had the exact same little dent. My best guess was that some idiot dropped the box of filters. :roll:

[Eagle]

I once had a 'Yota pickup, an old 4-cyl beater. I guess the filter gasket isn't "captive" in whatever filters I was using at the time. I changed the oil one day, and about a week later (when towing a friend's sailboat for him, naturally) the filter (or so I thought) exploded and dumped all the oil on the road at a traffic light.

 

Turns out, when I took off the filter there were two gaskets -- the old one had stuck to the housing rather than come off with the filter, and I didn't notice it when I screwed the new one on. When the engine got good and hot from the towing, the gaskets softened up enough that the interface between the two of them couldn't hold the pressure.