I was driving down the highway when I lost all oil pressure soon after I lost power steering and the engine diedI have checked the radiator and it is still full of fluid pulled the starter off and try to crank it it still turns the cannot get the engine to turn over it clicks but wont turn over there are no oil leaks underneath the vehicle that I can see. I’m just not sure where to go or what to do from here
Did you check the oil level on the dipstick? If the engine shuts down for ANY reason you will lose oil pressure.
The best way to tell if an engine is dead is a compression test. If the engine turns by the starter, than it’s not siezed. When an enginge stops running the oil light is the first thing to come on. You loose power steering because its driven by the engine. Do you have spark? Have you squirted a little starter fluid in the intake to see if it starts? If it does it is fuel pressure.
Yeah first thing it was right in the middle, no coolant on the dipstick ether
Could you explain (pulled starter off and it still cranks ) How would it crank with the starter off?
Not sure what you mean by “pulled the starter off and try to crank it it still turns”.
The complaint is too murky for me to weigh in on.
By loss of oil pressure do you mean the red oil pressure lamp came on?
You refer to “soon after” the PS and engine quit. Does soon after mean after the red oil pressure light came on and if so how long is “soon”?
Have you tried rotating the engine by hand?
I read it as the oil pressure dropped off, and the op kept driving then the engine stalled. If that is the case the engine probably seized.
My gut feeling is with SteveC76; just looking for some clarification.
If the engine cannot be turned by hand it might be worth removing any accessory belts to weed out the possibility of a seized accessory which is preventing the engine from rotating.
That’s an unusual scenario but I have run across it a few times. In one case an A/C idler pulley bearing froze up on a Nissan Sentra and shut the engine down instantly. The car was towed with the owner expecting and willing to spend thousands for a new engine.
He was stone shocked over a less than 50 dollar fix and when told about it over the phone he actually refused to believe me when I told him what the cause of the locked engine was.
I read it as the op pulled the started and was able to move the flywheel/ring gear by hand but the starter wouldn’t crank- Just clicks.\
If the engine is seized, the sound the starter makes should make would be best described as a clunk.
I would start by putting a known good battery from another good car and see if it cranks. If you don’t have access to one, take the battery to a parts store to have it charged and tested. It could be as simple as bad connections at either end of either battery cable, a bad cable or a bad engine to bodt ground cable.
So I took the bolts off the starter but left the wires connected, turned it over and could hear the starter running. I drained the oil to see if there was metal shavings, there was none…l was going about 65 to 70 mph saw the check gauge light came on saw that I had no oil pressure with in 10 seconds lost power steering tried to make it to the side of the rode but before I could the truck died.
While the starter motor doesn’t seem to start the engine now, it wasn’t the starter motor that caused the engine to die on the highway.
Try to turn the engine by hand using a socket and 24" ratchet. This will show if the engine has seized.
About 30 years ago a friends 2.3 liter mustang died/would not restart. The oil pump picked up small pieces of broken valve seals and seized. The distributor/oil pump sprocket is driven by the timing belt, when the oil pump seized the timing belt lost some teeth. This prevented her from driving the vehicle to the point of no return.
The point is there are may possibilities, you need to start with the basics. Perhaps you could share the model year and engine size with us.
Sorry though that when I put in my info about what I have it would be on here, 2000 ford ranger 3.0l manual xcab 4x4
Your engine stalled and likely has a mechanical or electrical fault. When your motor stalls the guages drop and check engine illuminates.
Tow it to a mechanic and likely find you need a repair not an engine…
OP, why don’t you put a big wrench on the crankshaft bolt and try to turn the motor over by hand? If you’ve checked the oil (no metal) and the coolant (no overheating) maybe you got lucky and it’s something cheap and easy? Start with the crank bolt and see if the motor turn over, the post back. Good luck! Rocketman
Had to travel 300 miles to go to a b day party. Will try the wrench when I get back tonight.
If the crankcase was full of oil, then some sort of internal engine failure cut off the pressure oiling system…We know it’s a Ranger P/U, how about a little more information? Model year, engine size, mileage on truck…How long have you owned it?
2000 ford ranger x cab 4x4 manual about 50,000 on a rebuilt engine, had it since 2004
3.0 L
“Rebuilt Engine” That can mean anything…Did YOU have it rebuilt or the former owner? Apparently this rebuild did not achieve the hoped for result…
Basically, now, the truck is salvage and not worth the cost of another engine…