Good day!

I had some body contact me about a reply I made to a help request a while ago about a Ford 5.4 3 valve engine with cam codes. In my reply I describe how to build an oil filter with a fitting on the top to test from instead of trying to get to the oil pressure sensor on these engines. (Thank you for the burns marks on the back of my hand Ford engineers)

I took an oil filter that fits these engines and sweat soldered a 1/4" X 1/8" NPT reducer bushing to the top of the filter housing with 50/50 plumbers solder and paste flux after cleaning the paint away. [oil filter modified]

I put the fitting on with the hex up against the filter so there is more surface area. this leaves a 1/4" NPT male thread to connect you master gauge to. [reducer bushing]

If you Thread the "wrong" end of the bushing with a 1/8" NPT tap before installing on the filter you will also have a 1/8" NPT female thread on the inside of the fitting you can also use with you gauge set if needed. [modifying reducer bushing]

Once the fitting is soldered in place drill a small hole through the top of the filter housing through the middle of the fitting. The hole does not need to be large, 1/8" is more than big enough. 1/16" works great if your bit isn't already broken (it probably is).

Testing these engines is now a matter of spinning this filter on and hooking up a test gauge. When your done you can put on a new filter if you want, and a litre of oil that is lost to do this test (or reinstall the old filter if the engine is pooched any ways) and top off the oil.

The cost of the oil and filter is more than made up for in the greatly reduced time required to get a gauge on the engine.

Ward

Ward Zintel
Technician
Wayne's Driveline
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada

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