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Run of bad luck


Cool Zr2

Question

Posted

I went on an off-roading trip this past weekend and had a little problem, it is VERY strange and yet I was lucky enough to catch it early.

 

Ok, SOMEHOW a rock punched a hole in my filter (see pic below), and I had to run to K-mart and get a filter and a couple quartes of oil, now I have no Idea if that event started my problem or even had anything to do with it.

 

Later, I smacked my front x-member on a rock, really, really hard, didn't do any frame damage or skid damage, in fact, you can't even tell it happened...... and noticed after that if I ran it about 3500 RPM for more than about 10 seconds it would lose oil pressure. Right away I dropped the oil and got my pen magnent out, and sure as poop, there was my pickup tube laying at the bottom of my pan. Don't ask me why it came out, I have no idea, but it did.

 

Any way, I run Mobil 1, and I know for sure that I ran it high and with out oil pressure a couple of times before I noticed the idiot lights, (kinda hard to see them with your head out the window watching the body/wheels from hitting rocks/trees). Now, I filled it back up with oil, and drove it home 250 miles with no problem, the motor ran fine, and I made sure to keep the RPM's low to avoid sucking down the oil to the pump.

 

My question is, with mobil 1, it ran no longer then 3 seconds at a time with out pressure, (guess, but no longer), did I do bearing damage or something else? Like I said it runs like normal, but If I have to tear into the bottom of truck/motor to replace the pickup tube (and dipstick) I would like to know your opinion if I should just take the motor out and have it rebuilt to save me the hastle. Also, the oil was clean, no flakes, and I dropped it after I got home and it is clean also.

 

I talked to a good friend who has built SBC after SBC and said that with the synthetic I should have nothing to worry about, becasue it virtually eliminates friction and even without pressure the oil in the mains would be just fine untill the pressure came back.

 

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0 answers to this question

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Posted
3 seconds?  I wouldn't worry about it.

 

 

 

 

Thank you for your reply to this event of my bad luck.

 

I figured that it would be no diferent than startup after an oil change but the high RPM's worry me.

 

Now, why do YOU think that tube fell out? I never touched it, I got the motor and threw my pan on it and cruised, I did check to make sure it was tight, your opinion? It had to be a different sequence of events becasue I've worked on some pretty seized pumps/tubes in the past......????

Posted

No, nothing else is broken or damaged, I must have wiggled its way loose some how, I don't know how, but that smack made it fall out.

 

I have to take the pan off no matter what, and tell me about this tack brazing method, I thought you couldn't weld unlike metals, steel to cast iorn.

 

 

i have to rip into it to replace my dipstick tube anyway, this is just a bonus i guess. :tear: or incentive to get it done quicker........

Posted
I'd cut that filter in half and look inside.

 

 

 

 

I would not bother because if the engine only ran 10 seconds or so without oil pressure it would not have hurt anything whether it had dino oil of syn in it. mAny years ago I drained the oil out of a engien I was going to pull to see what it would take to toast it and we had to work at it for a while (more than a hour) to lock it up. It never knocked much either till the very end.

 

 

 

 

But if you whacked the engine hard enough to loosen the pick up tube, who's to say you didn't also loosen something else which was instantly ground up and spit into the oilpan?

 

One vote for, one vote against, looking inside. You decide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

THe stress on the moving parts far exceed any "wacking". I have seen engines in cars that hit brick walls and telephone poles that still run fine when pulled. The oil pickup is about the only thing that can fall of in there anyway.

Posted
I'd cut that filter in half and look inside.

 

 

 

 

I would not bother because if the engine only ran 10 seconds or so without oil pressure it would not have hurt anything whether it had dino oil of syn in it. mAny years ago I drained the oil out of a engien I was going to pull to see what it would take to toast it and we had to work at it for a while (more than a hour) to lock it up. It never knocked much either till the very end.

Posted

I had one lock up in less than 10 minutes after losing the front seal and dropping all the oil.

 

You never know.

Posted

I have always been told that since the pickup tube is pressed into the oil pump, any engine subject to abuse (racing, off road) that it should have a tack brazed at the pump to make sure it stays in.

Posted
I had one lock up in less than 10 minutes after losing the front seal and dropping all the oil.

 

You never know.

 

 

 

 

 

My test engine was in a vehical that never left the shop and driving it would increase load. Once many years ago my wife had a Subaru that lost oil pressure late at night on the way home with a infants in the car. (someone had lossened the drain plug, it was not me because there was about 3000 miles on the change when it happened too) She drove it about 4 miles home and I fixed the problem the next day and replace the oil and drove the car for 3 more years before we got a new one for her and it still ran fine.

Posted
I'd cut that filter in half and look inside.

 

 

 

 

I would not bother because if the engine only ran 10 seconds or so without oil pressure it would not have hurt anything whether it had dino oil of syn in it. mAny years ago I drained the oil out of a engien I was going to pull to see what it would take to toast it and we had to work at it for a while (more than a hour) to lock it up. It never knocked much either till the very end.

 

 

 

 

But if you whacked the engine hard enough to loosen the pick up tube, who's to say you didn't also loosen something else which was instantly ground up and spit into the oilpan?

 

One vote for, one vote against, looking inside. You decide.

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