I recently acquired a 4.6L S/C from an 03 Cobra which has not been run in about 2 years. The motor has never been opened up and I am curious if there is any way to run the oil pump and pump oil through the motor while it is stored until it is installed. I know on the small block Chevy it can be done through the distributor opening with a long shafted screwdriver blade on a drill. Is there a similar process on this motor since it does not have a distributor? Also, what is the original/recommended oil? I generally use 5w-30 full synthetic mobil 1... will that suffice?
Oil Priming the 4.6L?
- Thread starter pw_cc_runner
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What I did when bringing a Mustang out of long term storage was to pull the plugs, give each cylinder a squirt of oil, put a rag over the plug holes to catch the oil misting, then spin the engine with the starter motor. To prevent the injectors from firing you can either use a spare key that has not been PATS coded or just hold the gas pedal to the floor while turning the key. I turned the engine over for about two seconds, waited about 30 seconds, then spun it for another 5 seconds. If your oil pressure gauge moved you have oil pressure, if it didn't, spin it for ten seconds. Continue until you get oil pressure. Don't spin it for more than 10 seconds at a time, it might overheat the starter motor.
The car I did it to showed oil pressure after about fifteen seconds of cranking. I put the old set of plugs in it, fired it up, drove it for around thirty miles and changed the oil, coolant, and plugs. It's run fine ever since and that was five years ago.
The car I did it to showed oil pressure after about fifteen seconds of cranking. I put the old set of plugs in it, fired it up, drove it for around thirty miles and changed the oil, coolant, and plugs. It's run fine ever since and that was five years ago.
What about in terms of a motor that is on an engine stand and going to be out of a car long term? There wont be any power to crank it any time soon. It's been out of a car for about 2 years now, it has oil in it, but not much on the dipstick. Would you recommend oiling via the plug holes and then turning it over by hand as an alternative?
There is a priming kit that you can buy from Ford. I couldn't tell you how much it costs or the part number. It works though.
Just take the valve covers off and squirt oil on everything, then do like stated above and squirt a little in every cylinder, then turn over by hand. In OHC and/or DOHC motors it's the valve train thats most important when it comes to oiling. Ever wonder why they recommend 5-20 oil. It's so the oil gets up into the heads quickly on cold starts.
You can also remove the oil pressure sender, and screw in an adapter going to one of those inexpensive garden pressure sprayers. Put three or four quarts of oil in the sprayer, pump it up, and it will pressurize the entire oiling system in the engine. Including priming the oil pump. Then just drain the pan and refill the engine with the correct amount of oil. And squirting a little oil down each plug hole and turning the engine over by hand wouldn't hurt either.
So 5w-20 is the OEM weight for the car? Good to know. Thanks
Thanks for the tips, I just want to protect my investment and this is along the lines of what I was looking for.
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