Ford 1300, top end not oiling....

[BTDT]

Here is a page from the manual that shows the oil supply tube and it's location. I guess it could be a bad oil pressure relief valve too, but I might start with verifying that the tube is good first.

Pic 013 is of the manual for this unit.

 

[JC-jetro]

Jetro, I have the FO-44 shop manual, not sure if it's same as yours. It says it covers 1700 model also. Pushrods are hollow, and manual says they are cam followers (lifters?). They have a hole in the top of them, but I don't know if technically they are solid or hydraulic.

I just finished putting my youngins to bed and planning to look at my manual. I do have the same manual as you have. A bit cheesy and not the best but what can you expect from $25 investment. Cam followers are the same as lifters. if they are hollow the lifter must be hydraulic and it actually pump (squirts) oil in to the hollow shaft to rocker arm assembly. The oil pump discharges oil under pressure to crankshaft journal and also hydraulic lift housing. Hyd lifter have internal check valve and sort of a piston that have a reciprocating action following the lobes on the camshaft. this reciprocating action causes oil being pumped thru push rod. when I was a poor college student i had to overhaul my Buick engine with Short block. I remember that I could withdraw the lifters by removing the intake manifold on my v-6 engine. I'm sure a clogged oil passage way can impede pumping of oil to the the rocker arm assembly. I'll study the diagram a bit tonigh. I hope you'll find the repair soon.

 

[sandman2234]

I think if the guage you install in place of the sending unit shows enough pressure, I would pull the radiator,fan blades, water pump, and the timing cover to access the front of the engine. I would bet if somebody rebuilt that engine as you said that there is a chance the oil transfer tube has either come loose or rubbed against a moving gear and isn't allowing oil to go to the top end due to the path being compromised.
When I was in auto mechanic's class back in '75, we installed what Catman eluded to, an external oiler. It went in a '62 Ford panel van that the shop teacher owned. Sure beat having to tear the engine down to find what the problem with poor oil flow was. We pulled a tube off the sending unit and ran it to the rocker cover. Drilled and epoxied it thru the cover, then plumbed it into the rocker assembly. Didn't take much in the way of pipe, probably as small as we could find.
David from jax

 

[CATMAN]

If you guys are pretty sure it sends oil threw the lifters then up the pushtubes, I suggest to blew air backwards thru each pushtube, then use a strong magnet and remove each lifter(cam follower) and make sure they can flow oil thru them. Make sure you keep each lifter in order so they go back on their respective cam lobe and bore. These two checks would be simple before you dig into the front cover. You would hate to miss something simple after you had torn into the front cover.

Note: The .pdf file mentioned about balancer shafts. If you have to remove any gears what-so-ever, I would try to put the crankshaft on #1 TDC(front piston at the top) and use a paint pencil to mark those gear teeth where they mesh, and take a digital photo before any disassembly. Hopefully, the crankshaft gear and the cam gear will have alignment dots or "v" marks on them. The other really good marking tool is called an etching pencil. It uses an acid on the felt tip of the pen and once it is marked you can clean gears in solvent and the mark will still be there.​

One other thought about how one might test the lifters, I have read that to "pump up" Chevy hydraulic lifters before an engine assembly, people have put the new lifters into a can of oil(upright and vertical) on their drill press table and put a pushtube into the chuck of the drill press and used their drill press leverage to pump up and down on the new lifters (in oil) and this fills them up. I wonder if this method would show whether each lifter was operating correctly. Another thought is after you pulled the front lifter closest to the front cover, then rotate engine and see if oil comes out that bore in the block.

 

[CATMAN]

Sandman; The times I have added an external oil line to an engine to improve oil flow to the rocker arms, was on a truck engines where the rear Jake brake was weak due to lack off oil volume/pressure(too many excessive clearances) on old engines. Usually those excessive clearances were the lifters and their bores, which inturn somewhat starved the rockers and rear Jake brakes of enough pressure to operate correctly. We could add additional oil to a port at the #4 intake lifter (7th from the front) which is directly below the passage that goes up to the head, rockers and rear Jake brake. [$60 parts and one to one and a half hours later the Jakes worked correctly again] The other option was to totally tear down the engine to bare block and send block to the machine shop to have lifter sleeves installed=$$$. I just thought you might be interested in why we would even attempt something like this, but our customers where plenty happy to this alternative solution.

 

[JC-jetro]

If you guys are pretty sure it sends oil threw the lifters then up the pushtubes, I suggest to blew air backwards thru each pushtube, then use a strong magnet and remove each lifter(cam follower) and make sure they can flow oil thru them. Make sure you keep each lifter in order so they go back on their respective cam lobe and bore. These two checks would be simple before you dig into the front cover. You would hate to miss something simple after you had torn into the front cover.

I ditto that. let's eliminate the simple posibilities before we jump in there deep! very good suggestion and painless too

 

[RichNJKubota]

On all the engines I've rebuilt (gas not diesel) the oil supply for each rocker and shaft comes up from the head thru the rocker shaft support "pillar". There is an O-ring at the bottom of the shaft support to seal. The oil flows up from the head thru the support, into the rocker shaft and then thru a hole in the shaft to the rocker and then up thru a hole in the rocker and squirts or dribbles out. This is where you can see the oil.
If the oil supply comes up thru the head gasket I'd suspect the passage is blocked due to using the wrong gasket or the metal or rubber seal in the gasket came dislodged and plugged up hole.
Before I put any engine back in a car I run the starter to bring oil pressure up and verify that oil is getting to the head.
I think pushrods are hollow to reduce their weight. They also act as a "weak link" if a valve won't open for some reason the pushrod will bend and minimize some other serious damage.

 

[BTDT]

Well guys, I pulled the oil filter, cranked over engine, I have oil coming from pump there. I pulled pressure switch and went to try to find a guage. I wanted one that would just screw into block. No such luck. You have to rig up with plastic hose, fittings, etc. then to guage. I'll keep looking. Put pressure switch back in, hooked up air hose to filter mount, and blew air into who knows where. I could barely hear a little air escaping from top of head down hole where lifters are. This is the normal oil path, but not much air coming there. So, I pulled timing cover off, and lo and behold, no oil tube. There is a bolt with a copper washer screwed in to where I think one end of the tube should mount, but don't know where other end is to go. I guess I'll have to buy a tube, then try to see which holes match up.

 

[sandman2234]

Sounds like a plan to me, provided the parts place gives you the right tube.
David from jax

 

[john_bud]

Find out who rebuilt the engine and go talk to them. Tell them about the problems and ask what can be the issue with that engine. Head gasket on upside down and backwards is my first assumption, next is a blocked oil gallery. These engines usually have solid tappets and not hydraulic lifters, but that engine is from Japan and I just don't know how the oil routing goes.

Normally, there is some oil for the lifters but it can be splash lube. The high friction areas are the bottom sides of the lifters. Oil coming up thru the pedestals is normal. Some times it's by a drilled passageway to the hollow rocker arm shaft. The shaft can be put on upside down. Is the shaft hollow and if so, are the holes for each rocker on the bottom of the shaft?

The oil can also come up thru the pedistal around a bolt with a reduced shank. Putting a solid shank bolt in that location would block the passage way. You really need to find the oil delivery path. Your FNH dealer should be able to print you a picture of it. Usually free.

jb