I agree with the shop - LPOP's don't just fail on their own - not in twice your mileage anyway.

That said, it may not be lifters, and possibly the oil filter could have trapped any foreign object that went through the LPOP gears.

If nothing was found trapped in the pressure regulator or filter, then opening it up to inspect the LPOP is about the only thing to do.

Sorry for your troubles - it is a beautiful truck.

EDIT - it MIGHT be possible that the drain valve at the bottom of the oil filter housing is broken, but even with that drain valve left open you should be able to fill the housing in 12 seconds by cranking.

 

That’s my only hope that it’s not the lifters something else got trapped and went through the lpop.
Thanks for the response.

 

Keep us posted on this journey.

 

So sorry to hear about this trouble.....

When you get pictures of the LPOP, please post them up here. Lifter needle bearings can leave a recognizable imprint in the pump, I believe.

If it is determined that lifter failure is the most likely culprit, removal of the HPOP and perhaps a borescope can help you/the shop get a look at some of the cam lobes and lifter rollers to confirm it.

 

Yeah I’ll post them. I’ll probably head out the she shop to see for myself as well. And you are correct about the imprint so it should be pretty obvious.

 

It is hard to believe that a person's luck can be bad enough that a serious failure can develop in a weeks time when none was there previously. I would be very curious as to what oil was in it - curious enough that I would take a sample and send it in to Blackstone. You can get a sample by CAREFULLY loosening the drain plug (and keeping upward force on it when it is almost "unthreaded"). Looking for an "odd" additive or maybe an unusually thick viscosity oil being used.

 

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing about the terrible luck but that’s kinda half of my life lol!
what are the chance’s, apparently pretty high 😞.
Test drove the hell out of it, checked for blow by and everything was fine. It did need new tires and steering gear box which I knew.
Only positive is I got it for 12k and around here it’s a 18k truck, if it’s running obviously.

 

Sorry to hear. I would ask the shop if the existing LPOP looks newly installed.

The people I've conversed with who have lost a cam lobe/lifter never knew what hit them. Occasionally they may have noticed a thump at start, and it might be only one or two at start as I had, for a different reason.

 

Yeah it drove perfectly. I’m probably going to go by and see the lpop once it’s pulled.

 

My concern is your newly bought truck may have had a previous issue, and the quick solution was to replace the oil pump with only what else went bad. So it was a matter of time.

This might not be true, but a concern for me.

 

That was my thinking also, just didn't take it as far as replacing the LPOP gears before the sale. It does make sense as a way to hide/dump a problem.

 

Update: so it’s a lifter failure! I did buy it as is from a small diesel dealership that only deals in Fords, I knew it needed new tires, wheel studs and a steering gear box. I reached out to them and after some back and forth and now they are towing it from the mechanic here back to their shop. They are going to rebuild and bulletproof the top half of the motor (machine heads, ford gaskets, apr studs, egr delete, upgraded oil cooler, new front engine cover, new lpop) it already had a new hpop installed.

they said all the lower is going to need is a new cam and lifters. Now this is a larger shop that only works on diesel Fords. They said it will not need a full rebuild. All in they said they would only charge me 5k so I’m happy with that but what’s everyone’s opinion on not doing a full rebuild?

 

New to me truck for 2 weeks had lifter failed. LPOP was pulled yesterday and you can see the damage in the pics. Only has 150 k miles.

The dealer I got it from is towing it to their shop and are going to bullet proof it but said it won’t need a full rebuild. Top half gets heads machined, ford gaskets, arp studs, egr delete, upgrade oil cooler, new hpop, push rods, front cover and so on.

They said that the bottom will only need new cam and lifters. What’s everyone’s thoughts on this?

I bought the truck as is knowing it needed some work (wheel studs, tires and steering gear box). Truck ran and drove great until obviously the lifter failed. So it’s actually decent if them to even offer anything. They are doing everything for 5k. It’s a small dealership that only sells and builds Ford diesel trucks.

 

@bismic @TooManyToys @FordDoctor love carnage pics

 

The only way to know all the little particles of the lifter are not waiting to do damage to a new LPOP is to completely disassemble the entire engine, including with the oil gallery plugs removed, and clear everything.

 

When trying to start it after it shut down, did it have a thump in the intake? This is something you can also hear while behind the driver's seat. If it did, the lifter broke now. If not, the dealer may have been screwed in getting a truck in inventory from someone where it previously failed, and by the base description, the dealer is about to do the same thing. Replace what broke with a little more. If the dealer fixed a broken truck, that's a whole nother story.

The true determination will be during the teardown: Is there a broken lifter there now?

Mine was not a broken lifter, although it sounded like a broken lifter. It has a mis-ground cam lobe, which made the pushrod too short, and the lifter was worn enough to drain down.

I'll start the video at the specific time for the engine noise, you don't have to watch the entire video.

 

When one of my lifters went, I tore it down to the bare block and went through everything. Put in a Colt stage 1 cam (better performance, and to prevent this from happening again), new OEM lifters, pushrods, bearings, all the seals, including OEM head gaskets, UCF o-ring heads, ARP studs, and a bunch of other stuff I'm sure I'm forgetting. Basically the only engine parts I kept were the pistons and connecting rods.
All in, I probably spent $8-9k, in 2021 dollars. I know that's considerably more than your $5k quote, but having seen the carnage that is possible, I think I'd rather spend the extra up front and know what I have than to take a $5,000 risk, and worry that something else is wrong. Then you're back to square 1, and you just flushed all that money down the drain.
That said, I did it all myself, minus the machine work, so your results may vary. If I were in your shoes, I'd very seriously consider an Asheville long block (or even a short block if your heads are ok, but 90% of them aren't).

I feel your pain, man.