I have a 1992 2.3L Convertible, I drove it home the other day and it was having oil pressure problems, it was a quart low, so i put one in, it sounded fine, and drove fine. I get it to my house park it, go back out like 20 minutes later and it has no oil pressure and sounds like a mac truck. Still has no oil pressure to this day, i figured it was the oil pump but the guy at the local parts store told me thats uncommon for that to go. This is my only source of transportation, I need to fix it and dont really know which parts should be replaced, any help?
I would say it's relatively uncommon for a low mileage engine, but if it has a lot of miles..... If the car was driven without adequate oil it could have burnt up your crank bearings-the main arteries, if you will, for your engine. I don't really know what sounds like a mack truck means exactly but I assume it is making some sort of loud noise but without a good description can't help you. Does it run rough or have a metallic tap or knock? What were these oil pressure problems you had before it lost all pressure?
I have a 1992 2.3L Convertible, I drove it home the other day and it was having oil pressure problems, it was a quart low, so i put one in, it sounded fine, and drove fine. I get it to my house park it, go back out like 20 minutes later and it has no oil pressure and sounds like a mac truck. Still has no oil pressure to this day, i figured it was the oil pump but the guy at the local parts store told me thats uncommon for that to go. This is my only source of transportation, I need to fix it and dont really know which parts should be replaced, any help?
How did you know you were having oil pressure problems? Were you using your dash gauge as a reference? You might want to check the health status of you dash cluster gauges because I had 2 gauges start to fail on my 89 and at first I thought they were accurate readings, but turned out not to be. Even though the guy at the auto parts store said that about oil pumps, consider the source. Anyone can work at a parts store with very minimal automotive knowledge so I would disregard what he told you. It very well could be your oil pump, especially if you aren't the original owner of the car. A few questions; how long have you owned the car, how often do you change your oil, what kind of oil and filter do you use, are you leaking any oil?
Okay by mack truck i mean the engine does seem at all to be getting oil, the valves are knocking bad. As far as the oil pressure problems before hand. It went to the shop in need of a new steering rack. When i got it back i started it and it sounded like ****, the dash gauge said LOP so i checked the engine oil and it was like a quart quart and a half low, i replenished. Turned the motor on and it sounded great, like it did prior to bringing it to the garage. I drove it back to my house parked it, it sat maybe 20-30 minutes and when i returned and started it up, the noise was back and it had no oil pressure again, now the motor is good on oil, no leaks, just no pressure. It doesnt have high mileage or anything, the car has 60k miles, that being said im guessing everything is factory in it.
Hope this helps a little.
Had it for about a year, Every 3000 miles, Fram DG, No leaks
I really hope that you're not driving this car while this problem remains. Have you checked to see if the oil pump drive shaft is still connected to the bottom of your distributor? I really think that your oil pump is going bad and if it locks up on you, its going to destroy your distributor gear and that'll be a hell of a mess. Replace the pump.
I don't want to give you paranoia but it sounds like your garage may have messed with your car-from selling auto parts to garages back in the day I would NEVER trust a garage with my car for all but the most necessary things-alignment, tires, etc. where you can watch them. It seems there is a majority of dishonest mechanics out there. Either way it sounds like the damage is already done. If it is just the oil pump you can check that by hooking up a cheap oil pressure gauge available at any auto parts store to the oil switch port on the back of the engine(have fun removing it-it's tight back there I used a basin wrench to get mine out) and see if you have any pressure. Don't let it run for more than a few seconds. If no pressure, replace the pump and hope the engine quiets down.
Im not driving it, its been sitting. Its actually my girlfriends car. I live with her and her mother insisted on taking it to a garage. She didnt seem to think i could change a steering rack. Thats neither here nor there. Now im stuck with this mess..
like dakine858 said- it could also be the pump drive. sometimes they break and/or ruin the distributor and/or gear. but the most likely culprit is the pump itself. it shouldn't be too bad of a job to replace, but will likely take most of a day without a lift. test the pressure with the mech. gauge and go from there.
If you had them install a high volume/pressure oil pump it usually puts such a parasitic drag on the gear set that it usually destroys the dist gear. But you say it runs right? That wouldn't make sense then....
You need to start opening it up. Take off the cam cover and see how things look. Is it dry? Are there signs of metal fatigue?
Check the oil pump drive shaft as suggested. If in fact it is good, the oil pump pickup is probably clogged. It's a common problem with high mileage 91-93 2.3 Mustangs. The material they used for the oil pan gasket degrades over time and the little crumbs find their way into the oil pump pickup screen.
I had the same problem several years ago and after finding that the oil pump drive was good, I spun the oil pump with a power drill and never saw oil pressure. For kicks and grins I spun the pump backwards for a minute or so, then spun it forward again and got oil pressure back. I pulled the pan thinking I was dealing with sludge. Once inside I found the motor was very clean but the pickup was clogged with gasket crumbs.
This is a 92 - DIS engine = NO DIZZY !! and it sounds like your oil pump is hooped.
But there's still a dummy shaft that takes the place of the distributor (I hate dizzy). That's what drives the oil pump.
Trevor, The oil pump driveshaft is either under the distributor on pre '91 models and under the dummy shaft (in the same place the distributor is found) on 91-93 cars. It's a 5/16" hex shaft.
Oil Pressure Problems, 1992 Mustang 
