Jim Van Dam, technician, Moonlight Diesel, Logan, UT
On some projects, you just need to crawl right on top of the engine to get access to the repair. That’s what Jim Van Dam, technician for Moonlight Diesel of Logan, UT, did while replacing a leaking high pressure oil pump on a 2001 Ford F350 7.3L Powerstroke.
“We found a high pressure oil pump that was leaking externally so we are replacing it with a performance high pressure oil pump,” Van Dam explained. “It will give a little bit of increased performance since it’s a better pump than the stock one.”
Although replacing parts can be relatively simple, getting to the part that needs to be replaced can take a lot of work.
“This job takes about five hours to complete,” Van Dam explained. “It’s pretty intensive to get inside the hood to get the oil pump disconnected and out.”
As far as getting to the oil pump, Van Dam had to remove the fuel filter housing and the front cover for the back pressure sensor to get to the bolts that hold the gear that drives the pump.
“The biggest trick of doing this is there’s a washer that you don’t want to drop down inside the engine,” he said. “If it does, then you’re going to need to tear the front side of the engine apart to get it.”
Although the best way to avoid this problem is to have done this procedure multiple times, Van Dam explained you’re going to want to keep the bolt inside the washer and pull them both out together as an assembly.
“If the owner hadn’t replaced the oil pump, ultimately it would have leaked all the oil out and the engine would have shut down,” Van Dam said.