How to change oil pump shaft on 300 - 6cyl engine 1988

jw5 · 2012-02-12T22:29:05+00:00

All of a sudden during a cold spell this 6cyl 300 engine lost oilpressure. I caught it in time and shut it off. The lifters weregetting noisy which alerted me. The oil level was ok. The engine doesstart right up, so no rods are blown or anything like that. (Of courseI'm not letting it run).I was told that either the oil pump itself broke, or the shaft thatdrives it broke or stripped out under the distributor. Several peoplesaid I have to pull the pan, which itself dont seem too difficult, butto get it off, I was told that the engine and tranny mounts must beunbolted, intake manifold, starter, radiator, exhaust pipes and linkagesremoved. I'm NOT willing to do all this. Too much work for an old 1988beater - farm truck. I'd rather just junk it. However, someone else told me that it's more likely the shaft thatdrives the pump, than the pump itself. He said they strip out under thedistributor. He said he's heard of guys pulling the distributor andremoving this shaft with a long needle-nose plyers. That seems simpleenough. But is this true? How long needle-nose do I need? I figurethat I'll give this a try before I junk it, if it's not that shaft, I'mnot out much time and no cost (unless I need to buy a longerneedle-nose).Anyone know about this?Thanks

Feb 12, 2012 22 Replies

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jw5 14 years ago

This was a new one for me too.....

But what you say makes sense. I only used this truck daily on the farm, to haul hay bales and other chores. It never really got warm, it's not even licensed for the road. What's weird is that my tractor is used the same way and never had this problem. I guess tractors are made for this type of use.

I guess that to use a truck in this manner means that I need to let it idle for long periods every few days. But with the cost of gas, who wants to waste it. Guess the solution is to just use the tractor for farm use, especially in cold weather.

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Jeff 14 years ago

If there were antifreeze in there, it wouldn't freeze.

Neat thing about cars and trucks is that they make their own water when they burn fuel. The byproducts of combustion are CO2 and water. If the engine doesn't got hot, some of the water vapor condenses into the oil.

Jeff

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