oil Quantity and other weird things
I was about to take a 3000 mile trip with this rig when suddenly.....thanks in advance for input.
I recently bought a used 1989 Uhaul F350 with the 7.3 diesel. I'm not a diesel guy but can read and understand what I read.
All the books for this engine say it takes 10 qts of oil. 9 in the case and 1 in the filter. BUT what appears to be a factory placard on the air cleaner housing says put in 15qt at oil change time and run it for 5 minutes and remeasure and tweak up to 'full'. The Chilton Manual refers, somewhat obtusely, to an oil "reservoir" which I can't find but have looked for in all the likely places. This engine has the 'tubular oil cooler' between the filter and the oil pump header. The pan sump dimensions are about 8.5" x 8" x 11". When I measured the oil Q with only 10 qts of oil the dip stick came up dry. When I measured with the added 5 qts, w/o the engine running it came up to nearly "full". So..question No 1 is..what is the right amount of oil?
Question No 2 is more complicated. When I started the engine, as instructed, after the oil refill (w/15 qts) and then stopped it after 5 minutes to remeasure, something had bit 5.5" off the measuring end of the dipstick. This is the factory steel dipstick..Ford Pn..29.5" long overall. What is even more bizarre is that it appears to be the 2nd dipstick to be eaten this way. The first one came with the truck and was broken and I assumed that maybe it was forced and broke or was old and somehow damaged. So I borrowed a dipstick from a friends 7.3L (Same part no) and that is the one that was bit off and when extracted had a very small bend at the broken end. I don't believe there are any moving parts in the sump and that the oil pick up is the only thing there. Question is of course..what is going on here?
So, now I'm out of $33/@ Ford Dealer priced dipsticks and am reluctant to continue this way, so I took a wire coat hanger and flattened out about 6 inches on one end and measured it to equal the length of a factory dipstick. I had previously detailed the 'measuring end' of a dipstick on paper so as to display 'low..full' etc, because I thought I might have to fabricate something. When I dipped the coat hanger thing, without the engine running, it measures about 2.75" about where the 'full' line would be. I elected not to run the engine while it was in the pan. So now I have what may be at least 2, 5.5 dipstick ends at the bottom of the sump. After extracting the hanger, I ran the engine and it seems smooth and what I consider normal. I don't believe this 'debris' is going anywhere because of the depth of the sump. Again..the Question is what is happening to break these dipsticks? Can the dipstick be deflected upward into the crank?
Engine is a rebuilt by REVIVA(?) of Minneapolis, Mn..about 2 years old with about 6500 miles on the truck since replacement. Oil pressure is mid to low normal at 850 RPM, does not smoke or make obscene noises, and oil pressure does not drop off when decreasing from driving RPM to curb idle. Starts and stops very normally and everything else in the Eng compartment is relatively new. Uhaul maintenance records show this rig has had some expensive and loving general overall Maintenance in the last two years. It was a local full time lease with the local Uhaul maint center taking care of it. Truck has a rebuilt automatic xmission same age as engine so it turns up about 27~2800 at hiway speeds.
I expect I will take it to the FORD dealer for a fix but I would like to go there with a bit more technical knowledge than I have now. Its Sunday and I don't have any other resources to turn to. I hope you can provide some help. Thanks
capjim-Carson City, Nv
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05-13-2007, 05:00 PM
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