Originally Posted by
mcfairmont
Wow, that really is a nice truck! But a word of advice, by somebody who had this issue. Replace the timing chain set and the valve stem seals ASAP. About 10 years ago, I bought a very nice, one owner 79 Zephyr Z7, red with white interior, 302 automatic. It had just over 100,000 kilometers, about 60,000 miles. The 302 ran very well, UNTIL I was driving down the freeway one day at 60 MPH, and the oil light came on, and the lifters starting clicking. I immediatly turned the engine off, and coasted to the side of the freeway. The first thing I checked was the oil, which was right up. (I had changes the oil a few weeks earlier). So I was stranded in Chilliwack BC, about 50 miles from home, and no cell phone. Fun! Anyhow after I got the car trailered home, I tried to rotate the crankshaft with a ratchet and socket, but that few seconds of no oil pressure had virtually siezed the engine up tight. Later I pulled the engine apart, and found the oil pump driveshaft that operates the oil pump from the distributor, was twisted up like a barber pole, with the end snapped off. Upon further investigation, found a very small piece of hard debris had gotten inside the oil pump gears, which locked up the oil pump, and broke the oil pump driveshaft. Not only was there a number of small chunks of plastic in the bottom of the oil pan, but since Ford for whatever reason, decided to have a hole in the oil pump pick up screen, which gave plenty of room for the pieces to migrate into the pump, and cause all this havoc. Over many years, the nylon teeth on the cam gear, and the valve stem seals get brittle, and disintegrate, and can get into the oil pump. I know it was only a stock 302, but it could have ran for many more years if I had only replaced the timing set and valve stem seals before this all occured. Hate to see anybody else suffer the same fate that I did. If your 302 runs well, an afternoons work and less than 100 bucks in parts is money well spent.
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