302 Oil Problem

[FordTruck]

I've got a question about my 302 oil problems. My 302's got a little bit of white smoke coming from the passenger side of my motor and I hopped in it to take it for a little cruse and it was around 160 or so and my oil pressure was under 5 and it scared me that maby my motors on its last legs. The pressure does go up as you rev up the motor cold its about 25-30. So I was wondering if its on its last leg or if mby a heaver oil would do it good. Any ideas or advice??

[BRUTUS_T_HOG]

well you're going to have to hook up an oil pressure gauge to see if it is actually that low,

oil pressure like that could be from a stuck open valve on the oil pump

[71HANKER]

If the white smoke is coming out of the passenger side exhaust then you probably have a blown head gasket or cracked head, causing water to get into the oil. Maybe that would explain the smoke and the change in oil pressure. A fast way to check if the head gasket is blown is to use a radiator pressure tester, pressurize the cooling system up to 13-15 psi and with the engine running, see if the pressure reading fluctuates. The leaky head gasket can let combustion pressure from the cylinders into the cooling system and the pressure gauge will fluctuate. good luck.

[FordTruck]

well you're going to have to hook up an oil pressure gauge to see if it is actually that low,

oil pressure like that could be from a stuck open valve on the oil pump

I've got an after market equis oil gauge and an autometer copper oil line kit. I'm gonna try changing out the gauge for another just to make shure its not the gauge.

[FordTruck]

If the white smoke is coming out of the passenger side exhaust then you probably have a blown head gasket or cracked head, causing water to get into the oil. Maybe that would explain the smoke and the change in oil pressure. A fast way to check if the head gasket is blown is to use a radiator pressure tester, pressurize the cooling system up to 13-15 psi and with the engine running, see if the pressure reading fluctuates. The leaky head gasket can let combustion pressure from the cylinders into the cooling system and the pressure gauge will fluctuate. good luck.

Its not exactly coming out of the exhaust. My dip sticks a little broke so it'll come out around that and also a little comes out of the breather on the drivers side. The truck awlyes blow some white smoke out of both pipes when I first fire it up.

[peanutman]

Iv'e got a 302 and she smokes a little when i first crank her up after sitting a week or more, probably worn valve guides, but no blow-by. My oil pressure is 60 cold and 25 hot at idle, 40psi at driving speed w/150,000 miles. Run the tests suggested above. If all is ok probably just a tired engine.
I changed to shell 15w-40w and it improved my oil pressure by 5psi, also helped with the lifters tapping on cold start up.

[69rangerman]

I've got something similar but my motor only has 3300 miles on it. However, my truck has been sitting in the garage for at least half a year now. I fire it up once a week, but I'm beginning to suspect that the gas in the tank (also at least that old) has taken on alot of moisture and that's what's causing the white smoke.

Mine is very light (not clouds of steam).

My pressure is 60 cold and 35-40 hot.

[rjewkes]

I'd check on the health of your oil pump, is the screen on the pickup tube clogging, while in there with the pan off, you may need to pull the engine to get in there check for other problems like spun bearings loose rods and any play in the rotating assembly(rods, caps main and rod bearings) give stuff a gentle tug does it move a lot.

also check under the valve covers for the rear and possably front oil drainage holes to have old gasket material clogging them. This is what happened on my 302 those where clogged with old gasket material cuasing the pum p to suck air or cavitate lock down and ruin some bearings and fry a few rings.