Thanks, will look for the blue bronco!
Oops, that was a little tongue in cheek about the external oiling.
My theory is that I went fast enough on the freeway to where the internal crankcase pressure pushed all the oil out of the engine anywhere it could. Couldn't hear anything but road noise, and when I thought I was maybe losing power the dull factory gauges all reported fine and attributed it to a slight increase in grade. When I was positive something was not right I immediately got off the freeway and when I could hear the engine it was banging and clanking like crazy. When I stopped oil slicked underneath and it promptly overheated and showered coolant from the overflow. Made quite a scene. I was expecting a rod to be poking out.
This was over three hours into a drive and roughly an hour before everything was fine including the oil level. There was a known minor oil leak with the rear pan gasket. Could have been the rear gasket gave way, but there was also a lot of oil around the valve-cover vents, esp right rear.
Thought I was toast on the wrong side of the grapevine. Added 4 qts and babied it over the grapevine. Added another 5 qts along the way, but made it through LA and home to North San Diego. I could have stopped when I was in AAA range, but just kept going. The whole underside was so soaked even the bumper was dripping oil. No visible smoke out the exhaust.
When I first restarted the engine before the grapevine I spoke to a mobile mechanic that was helping someone else. He was more enamored with the Bronco and asked if he could take pictures of it??
The valve train sounds terrible and probably hiding the knocks. I have done a couple short rides, like to go get it steam cleaned. I am amazed I was able to make it all the way home.
I have a fresh/stock HO 302 and a few upgrades collected already, just need to clear enough space..
Bummer! But you likely won't be the only Bronco-less attendee, so not to worry. Plenty of others to look at, check out and generally enjoy.
By the way, there is no external oiling system on a Bronco. Unless it was added by the previous owner. Got pics?
All Broncos came with a standard 6-quart internal oiling system, rear sump pan (double-hump type) with a dipstick on the passenger side. At least the V8's did. Not sure what variations might have been around on the Inline-6's.
Some did have an oil-bath type air filter, but that's about it.
Back in the day owners would install special filters, some of which were mounted to the wheel wells, but still utilized the standard oil pan.
What does the external setup look like?
Paul
