NEokcTERROR
BREAKING STUFF !!!!!!!!!!
I decided to do some major maintenance on the engine. Thursday before Thanksgiving dinner I started about 8:00am removing the 7.3 from my truck in my avatar. It looks so intimidating at first glance. However 3 hours later it was on the engine stand.
I had anticipated the cracked oil pump pickup tube so I had most everything laying there to do what I wanted to do. Got the pan off without destroying it by using 2 drywall style puddy knives and driving them through the silicone one at a time while the other was still inserted about one inch apart all the way around the pan rail, then using 2 more thicker Snap-on gasket scrapers in the same manner. Then unseated the pan end saddles by pushing upward on the scraper with the engine right side up applying steady pressure until the silicone gave up. Couldn't really find anything wrong with the pickup tube so replaced it anyway considering the possibility it could be leaking at the area where the 2 tubes are brazed together under different hot / cold instances.
After not find anything conclusive wrong with the pickup tube I dug deeper and found the timing cover chewed up where the oil pump gears ride on it between the suction and discharge ports, and the pump gears and pump body didn't look so great either. So, off with the timing cover, and back together with the new timing cover, new pump gears and body, and high volume HPOP off the '01 engine I bought off eBay for $500 a few months back. After much thought about it I decided while the engine was out I should replace the injector O-rings with the updated components. GLAD I DID! You wouldn't believe the shape they were in at 186,000 miles. Hard isn't even the word for them, and the upper square cut backup o-ring was actually deforming and pushing through the gap in the steel reinforcement ring above it. There is asolutely no doubt the upper 3 piece injector seal was leaking HPOP oil pressure back into the crankcase above the injector on every cylinder.
The engine went back in just as easy as it came out. It was obviously truly designed to be easy to work on. If you should ever try this on your own don't freak out about how long it takes to get it started again. Even after the HPOP is pumping oil it takes a long time to get the oil to the injectors and it has to compress all the air in the humongous oil rail in the cylinder heads. Before I put the oil pan back on it I filled the pickup tube with oil and turned the engine by hand until I had oil pumping out of the oil filter base. As soon as I got the pan back on it I turned the engine back right side up and poured 3 gallons of oil in it and filled the HPOP reservoir. It took 2 cranking sessions of 20 seconds to get oil pressure back on the gauge. After starting it will run rough for an extensive period of time, and may not start hitting on cylinder number 1 for 20 to 30 minutes idling or after a long test drive. It takes a very long run time to get all the air out of the high pressure oiling system, and you will notice extended crank times, and rough idling until the air has all escaped.
This whole "maintenance" adventure stems from a problem I have had for over 40,000 miles. After a highway run (anywhere around 50 miles or more) if I parked the truck pointed uphill for 4 or 5 hours on restart it would run for 20 seconds or so and die from the HPOP reservoir running out of oil, and the engine oil pump not picking up oil due to losing it's prime. I would then have to let the truck coast to where it was pointed downhill, and crank the engine for 12-20 seconds until the oil pump picked up oil and it would restart, and be just fine. I now have much faster starting, smoother running, more power, no air bubbles in my HPOP resevoir, and the oil pressure jumps right up immediately on start up hot or cold. I would recommend this to anyone with 150,000 plus miles for the injector o-rings if not anything else. I almost forgot what it used to run like.
I had anticipated the cracked oil pump pickup tube so I had most everything laying there to do what I wanted to do. Got the pan off without destroying it by using 2 drywall style puddy knives and driving them through the silicone one at a time while the other was still inserted about one inch apart all the way around the pan rail, then using 2 more thicker Snap-on gasket scrapers in the same manner. Then unseated the pan end saddles by pushing upward on the scraper with the engine right side up applying steady pressure until the silicone gave up. Couldn't really find anything wrong with the pickup tube so replaced it anyway considering the possibility it could be leaking at the area where the 2 tubes are brazed together under different hot / cold instances.
After not find anything conclusive wrong with the pickup tube I dug deeper and found the timing cover chewed up where the oil pump gears ride on it between the suction and discharge ports, and the pump gears and pump body didn't look so great either. So, off with the timing cover, and back together with the new timing cover, new pump gears and body, and high volume HPOP off the '01 engine I bought off eBay for $500 a few months back. After much thought about it I decided while the engine was out I should replace the injector O-rings with the updated components. GLAD I DID! You wouldn't believe the shape they were in at 186,000 miles. Hard isn't even the word for them, and the upper square cut backup o-ring was actually deforming and pushing through the gap in the steel reinforcement ring above it. There is asolutely no doubt the upper 3 piece injector seal was leaking HPOP oil pressure back into the crankcase above the injector on every cylinder.
The engine went back in just as easy as it came out. It was obviously truly designed to be easy to work on. If you should ever try this on your own don't freak out about how long it takes to get it started again. Even after the HPOP is pumping oil it takes a long time to get the oil to the injectors and it has to compress all the air in the humongous oil rail in the cylinder heads. Before I put the oil pan back on it I filled the pickup tube with oil and turned the engine by hand until I had oil pumping out of the oil filter base. As soon as I got the pan back on it I turned the engine back right side up and poured 3 gallons of oil in it and filled the HPOP reservoir. It took 2 cranking sessions of 20 seconds to get oil pressure back on the gauge. After starting it will run rough for an extensive period of time, and may not start hitting on cylinder number 1 for 20 to 30 minutes idling or after a long test drive. It takes a very long run time to get all the air out of the high pressure oiling system, and you will notice extended crank times, and rough idling until the air has all escaped.
This whole "maintenance" adventure stems from a problem I have had for over 40,000 miles. After a highway run (anywhere around 50 miles or more) if I parked the truck pointed uphill for 4 or 5 hours on restart it would run for 20 seconds or so and die from the HPOP reservoir running out of oil, and the engine oil pump not picking up oil due to losing it's prime. I would then have to let the truck coast to where it was pointed downhill, and crank the engine for 12-20 seconds until the oil pump picked up oil and it would restart, and be just fine. I now have much faster starting, smoother running, more power, no air bubbles in my HPOP resevoir, and the oil pressure jumps right up immediately on start up hot or cold. I would recommend this to anyone with 150,000 plus miles for the injector o-rings if not anything else. I almost forgot what it used to run like.
