Never seen this before....

[87gnguy]

I was driving back from the track Sunday and noticed I had normal oil pressure. I went about 5 miles and looked at my gauge and it was reading 20 lbs of pressure ( was cruising at 65mph). I went a little further and watched the oil pressure drop to about 17 pounds so I pulled over and shut off the motor. The motor wasn't knocking or making any noise so I was hoping for a bad sending unit or something but I called AAA and they towed me home. Then I pulled my oil filter and noticed there were chunks of metal in the check valve about the size of a BB . I took the oil pump cover off and pulled the gears out and the top of the gear that attaches to the cam sensor had chunks missing from each tooth on the gear. I drained the oil out through a white towel and there is no metal in my oil there. The gear did gouge the cover up at the top of my pump so I just ordered a new front cover with gears. What would've caused this and has anybody seen this before?

 

[X Ray]

The only time I have seen a pump gear go is from collateral damage from another parts failure.

 

[87gnguy]

The only time I have seen a pump gear go is from collateral damage from another parts failure.

Hey Rick, I don't know if you remember me or not. We at dinner at a steakhouse with Jason White, Don Cruz and some others up in NC at Richard Clarks event. I sat accross the table from you. . Everything else seems fine in that area. I pulled the cam sensor and it's ok. I'm gonna check the cam gears when I pull the cover off but what else could fail to cause this?

 

[earlbrown]

You'll need to drop the pan to see what chunks are in the oil. The way the oil pan drain is built, the bottom 1/2" of oil and crud don't drain out during a change.

Did I read that correctly? The gears themselves were busted up inside the gear pocket?

 

[87gnguy]

You'll need to drop the pan to see what chunks are in the oil. The way the oil pan drain is built, the bottom 1/2" of oil and crud don't drain out during a change.

Did I read that correctly? The gears themselves were busted up inside the gear pocket?

Yeah, I'm going to do that too. Yes, you read correctly unfortunately.... Just some BB sized chunks were missing from the top of the main oil pump gear. The amount of metal I pulled from the check valve would equal the amount of metal missing from the gear...

 

[earlbrown]

Interesting. Any idea what brand the gears were. Were they HV gears or stock length?

 

[87gnguy]

No sure what brand of gears but it's a high volume pump with thicker gears. I just ordered a new cover with gears from TA Performance.

 

[earlbrown]

I've seen posts in the past where HV gears had come apart. seems like they cracked from the center out then the shaft would spin in the gear without driving it.

I'm wondering if that's what happened with yours as the pressures was going down, until the failure escalated to severe failure.

 

[X Ray]

Hey Rick, I don't know if you remember me or not. We at dinner at a steakhouse with Jason White, Don Cruz and some others up in NC at Richard Clarks event. I sat accross the table from you. . Everything else seems fine in that area. I pulled the cam sensor and it's ok. I'm gonna check the cam gears when I pull the cover off but what else could fail to cause this?

THAT WAS SOME GOOD TIMES. I hope you find your issue....I see you already ordered new parts but personally I would blueprint and clean out the timing cover and use the stock gears.

 

[87gnguy]

Well ive got a few options im considering right now but I havent ordered any parts yet. Before I do anything im gonna pull the front cover and oilpan and look around. I'll probably end up pulling the motor and having it checked out. Just got to save up some money first...

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[earlbrown]

I know the feeling about having to raise money first. I traded Julio a complete timing cover/oil system last week so now I'm trying to install the alky kit and do a bunch of little stuff before winter. Those nickles and dimes really add up sometimes!!

If you need any help with your cover let me know. I'm guessing you've already found the article a wrote way back when.

 

[87gnguy]

Thanks I really appreciate the offer . I have decided to pull the motor and just take it to Don Cruz and let him go through everything and make sure everything is ok. I figure better to be safe than sorry and maybe thousands of $$$ poorer if its not ok.

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[earlbrown]

That's a refreshing attitude. I can't tell you how many times I've seen people patch up something to save a few bucks, and end up destroying the engine turbo and coolers doing it. In your case, you might be able to get away with not doing that.

It seems that you mentioned that all chunks are accounted for. One good thing about large bits is they can't get past the bypasses like small pieces of grit in bulk.

If you drop the pan and it's not that bad, you might be able do put the engine back together and keep on trucking. By shutting it down early you might have saved yourself a build.

Do you have a magnetic drain plug? And if so, did it look any different than normal during the last oil drain?

 

[87gnguy]

Yeah ive learned from past experiences that you cant fix a broken leg with a bandaid, so id rather spend a little more now than a ton later. No I dont have a magnetic oil plug but ill be getting one when I put it back in. Hopefully I should have it saturday so im gonna look around in the pan and a couple of other places before I take it down to Don.

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[earlbrown]

Dropping the pan will tell you a lot. The way the factory did the standoff for the drain plug will amplify a result. Any solid debris your engine has made will be there waiting on you.

With any luck you won't find anything outside of some timing teeths.

 

[1fastcobra]

This may help.

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[psycho6cyl]

 

[87gnguy]

Very interesting. Mine didnt crack however it did start to break apart. Then I found chunks of metal in the check valve. Im gonna try and post a pic of my gear so I hope it works.

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[1987GNASTROROOF]

Nice video bro,and good catch of tha crack gear.


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[earlbrown]

That is amazing. I've never seen or heard of anything like that.

It's almost like something made it into the low pressure pump cavity and was able to start beating the crap out of your gears while they were spinning. That doesn't make much sense though due to the 90 and 180 it would take to get there. Plus the width of the oil slot most likely wouldn't hold the debris in place very well. ????


No matter how it happened, it's a good thing you caught it in time!!