1998 Ford Explorer No oil pressure and motor rattling

Hi there,

I would be checking the oil pump drive, pressure relief valve and oil pick up pipe, Try and get a pressure reading from a master gauge, this will give a better indication as to what is happening, if there is any oil pressure the pump is working, so it could be the valve or a cracked pick up pipe causing lack of supply, you will need to do some more diagnostics first. Hopefully driving has not caused serious damage yet, but if you do drive it with low or no oil pressure you will damage the engine.

Mark(mhpautos0

You stated you have a V6. Is it the 3.0 or the 4.0? If it is the 4.0 the engine is probably already done. Let me shed some light. The 4.0 has 4 chain driven shafts. The first is a chain from the crankshaft to an intermediate shaft at the center of the engine. Then it has one chain for each cylinder head. And last it has a chain drive for the balance shaft which also drives the oil pump. The chains have plastic guides which over time get brittle and break. After enough of the plastic breaks it pulgs up the oil pick up tube in the oil pan. Unfortunatley, by the time you know what has happened, the engine has run with reduced oil pressure for enough time to damage the engine. The other option is that the chain or guides for the oil pump shaft have broken, allowing the pump to not work at all. But with such high miles on the engine to begin with, I would be suprised if it is salvageable. I have never even been able to save an engine that has the broken guides and has NOT lost oil pressure. The reduced pressure enough runs out the bearings on the crankshaft. But you may get lucky. Feel free to PM me if you have questions, just remember to also post further on this posting as well, as it will help others who may have the same concerns. Thanks.
Dave