this can't be good

[PaulT]

My 90 w/ 4AFE sat for a couple years before it was given to me. It just passed 185,000 mi

I've put about 2k mi on it since I put it on the road.
Yesterday the oil light started coming on intermittently. A quick blink at low idle, but going uphill more steady.

She's full of oil, has 2k since the last change, but the stuff that came out then was pretty nasty.

How hard is it to get to the oil pump?
Considering what came out, could the screen be clogged? Maybe another change and fresh filter? Any suggested product that might help to clean things out?

If I do end up replacing the pump, what else should I do while I have it apart? I was thinking main bearings, timing belt (that's a given). I'm accoustem to Ford/Chevy V8s but never went into a Toyota motor. I'll have to dig out my book for this one.

Idealy a fresher motor with a few more hp would be nice, but this is my DD and I'm not ready to get into that kind of project and dealing with the ECU and rewiring.....yet ;-)

[Pineapple]

Try an engine flush. Get oil pressuse gauge to make sure you're low in pressuse. It could be a bad presure sender. Also could be a lose oil pick up or bad gasket. Drop the pan and take a look. Tight everything up while you're at it.

[canadiancelica]

Well ID imagine theres quite the bit of gunk in that engine, so put in some nice new thin sythetic oil and the best damn inter engine cleaner you can find, seafoam if you can get it. Follow the directions on the bottle, then run fresh sythetic oil, 5W30 preferrobly, 10 if you have leaky seals. And hopefully thngs will be ok, if not, then

Oil pump
Timing belt
Water pump

if you really wanna go nuts, do the front and rear crank bearings and the cam bearings

[PaulT]

I was thinking about the sending unit on the way in today. My bronco's "guage" was virtually useless, replaced it with a mechanical guage. Think I'll pick one up at work tomorrow night (love my 20%).

I did run seafoam for about 300mi before changing the oil. I love that stuff!
Think I'll use that and bump the next 2 oil changes to 1500 mi. and see how it looks then.

Thanks for the input

[Pineapple]

Remove the sender and clean the hole on the sender. It could be gunk up also.

[farqy]

don't do it.

don't change to synthetic oil, especially after a couple hundred thousand miles!

all of your seals in your engine are used to the properties of mineral type oil, and are soft and seal stuff because of it. if you change to synthetic oil after that long, your seals will dry out, and crack, and start leaking like crazy

the best thing you can ever do for your engine is ALWAYS stick to the same oil, no matter what kind it is. if you are changing oil types a lot, you are changing your seals a lot, and they don't like that...

a flush sounds like a great place to start. but if your engine is making thick, goopy oil, it sounds like overheating or water or coolant in the oil. check head gasket for leaks, and check your crankcase breather (PCV??) to make sure it is free and clear.

[Pineapple]

^Totally wrong. Old engine leaks after switch to synthetic is because the oil clean out all the sludge on cracks and lose seal. Seal don't get used to any oil and synthetic does have additive to keep seal soft.

[farqy]

not true

not all oils are created equal, and not all oils have additives to keep seals soft. in fact, cheap oils made from crappy crude make them too soft, opposingly really expensive oils are so pure they do not have the contaminants that make the seals soft, and keep them hard all the time. switching however is a bad idea, as well as using an oil that is designed for "High Mileage" cars. these oils have additives designed to make the seals extra soft, the problem being, now the seals wear faster and create more problems in a short term

i am a used oil chemist and i see this sort of thing all the time when oil types get changed on everything from heavy equipment to cars to motorbikes and boats... changing oil types creates leaks and other chemistry related problems

[Dixon]

Changing an Oil Pump....

heh.... your in for a fun go...