Zero oil pressure - 4/23/24 update - oil changed and seems to be working fine

[thegreatjustino]

Any updates Justin

I'm not going to type out all of the details of the phone conversation I had with the owner of the shop when I called to discuss the fuel contaminated oil with him. However, in this conversation he ultimately asked me to tell him what it would take for me to never call him again. I told him if he credited back $1,000 of the $3,000 I paid him to get the Bronco out of his shop, he'd never hear from me again. That $1,000 credit posted to my credit card on Friday. I now consider this matter closed.

What amazes me about this whole thing is the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde aspect of it. When the owner of the shop came out to buy the transmission, he was nice, personable, professional, and told me what was going on with the Bronco was an easy fix that shouldn't cost too much unless I wanted to beef it up with heavier duty mounting brackets. After getting it to his shop and having it thoroughly gone over, we agreed that fixing and reinforcing the current mounts was the best way to go. When I first went out to meet with him after he'd had the Bronco for four days and had addressed most everything I wanted fixed, he stressed that "we're only into this for four or five hours" so a reasonable repair bill under $1,000. He still needed to get the shocks and install them, but that should have added maybe another $1,000 to the bill. Two weeks later when I went out to talk to him again, the bill had ballooned to $4,600 with no explanation. Every conversation I had with him after that point was him attempting to justify the $4,600 bill with BS excuses - from changing the oil, to moving the Bronco in and out of the shop numerous times, to not being able to accurately track hours spent on custom work, to hooking up the oil pressure gauge to confirm there was no oil pressure. The crap he attempted to charge me for was ridiculous. Why stress the reasonableness of the repair initially, then spend weeks trying to justify over charging me? Bananas. As I've said throughout this thread, the type of shop that you leave with a bad taste in your mouth...

 

[Soylent]

Glad you got some amount of refund. Now you can move on. What a nightmare.

 

[tirewater]

What a nightmare, and also a bit unresolved as to *why* there was no oil pressure. Was the oil too thin to be sucked up by the vacuum of the oil pump? Are the oil pump clearances too big to prevent a decent vacuum? Was there blockage that happened to be dislodged when you changed the oil? Is there something still in the oil pan or pickup waiting to be sucked up?

I'd drop the oil pan to see if there's any debris floating around. The last thing you want is to have a blockage occur while out driving around.

Chris

 

[thegreatjustino]

What a nightmare, and also a bit unresolved as to *why* there was no oil pressure. Was the oil too thin to be sucked up by the vacuum of the oil pump? Are the oil pump clearances too big to prevent a decent vacuum? Was there blockage that happened to be dislodged when you changed the oil? Is there something still in the oil pan or pickup waiting to be sucked up?

I'd drop the oil pan to see if there's any debris floating around. The last thing you want is to have a blockage occur while out driving around.

Chris

The oil was so diluted by fuel it was too thin to build up any pressure through the engine. After changing the oil and filter it's running fine again (at least so far). Idled on my driveway for several minutes and maintained oil pressure. Drove around my neighborhood for a while, and went a few miles down the freeway, still maintaining oil pressure. I will continue watching it over the next several drives, but I believe the issue is fixed.

 

[bronco italiano]

Good to hear.
Do you mind sharing with us Norcal bronco owners so the shop owner will "never hear from us...." to avoid the same disaster you unfortunately incurred.

 

[thegreatjustino]

Good to hear.
Do you mind sharing with us Norcal bronco owners so the shop owner will "never hear from us...." to avoid the same disaster you unfortunately incurred.

Because the owner resolved things costwise to my satisfaction, I'm not going to post the name of the shop here publicly. Anyone who wants to PM me about it can do so and I'll provide the name. I will ask that you not post it publicly unless you yourself have an issue to bring up.

 

[rjrobin2002]

Because the owner resolved things costwise to my satisfaction, I'm not going to post the name of the shop here publicly. Anyone who wants to PM me about it can do so and I'll provide the name. I will ask that you not post it publicly unless you yourself have an issue to bring up.

It's nice you handled this with some respect, that's not the norm now days.

 

[73azbronco]

so stock engine, why do you need stronger mounts on anything?

while you should have made some oil pressure even with 100% fuel, it can be a problem having thicker oil in the valleys, preventing any pressure as the fuel sprays back into the pan.

 

[thegreatjustino]

so stock engine, why do you need stronger mounts on anything?

Not engine mounts, upper control arm mounts. The Bronco being discussed in this thread is the two wheel drive hot rod shown in my avatar to the left.

 

[jamesroney]

while you should have made some oil pressure even with 100% fuel, it can be a problem having thicker oil in the valleys, preventing any pressure as the fuel sprays back into the pan.

This is true in theory, but has demonstrated time after time to be incorrect. With low viscosity fluids, a georotor pump is not capable of self priming. The inlet side of the pump is a very short height above the liquid fill line, but it IS above the fluid level. (If the pump were submerged, it would always prime.) But since the pump is higher than the oil level, it needs to pull a slight vacuum to lift the oil to the georotor. Once the pump is primed, it will indeed make pressure as you described.

What happens with high concentrations of gasoline is that the liquid evaporates and creates pockets of air. If this happens in the georotor cavity, it allows itself to "burp" the fluid runs back down the oil pump pickup, and a big bubble sits in the pump. It can try to pump forever, but it can't generate sufficient vacuum trying to suck AIR to overcome the resistance in the filter and "valleys" as you describe it.

So the notion that it will make pressure with 100% fuel is only partially true. (and therefore false.) It will make pressure until you turn it off, and let it cool down. There's no shortage of external mounted georotor gasoline fuel pumps that lose prime. @thegreatjustino lost prime and then it would not re-prime against a full oil filter.