Hope I didn't blow it up

conan · #1 (**permalink**) 06-12-2010, 02:09 PM

Was out for a ride today, pushing it kinda hard and the motor just shut down. Got it home and checked spark and had no spark. Found the distributer not turning, pulled it and found the roll pin that holds the gear on sheared. Checked to see if the oil pump would turn and it is locked up. Seeing as spark to the motor shut down when this happened, did I do any more damage to the engine?

Thanks,

John

rustyBob · #2 (**permalink**) 06-12-2010, 02:27 PM

was the gear still on the end of the dist.???
is the gear in the motor ???
if the gear is still on the dist. and you cant turn the oil pump
look to see if the roll pin pieces are still in the gear...if they
arent in the gear then they are probably in your oil pump...not good

conan · #3 (**permalink**) 06-12-2010, 03:16 PM

The gear came out with the dist. The roll pin was still in the gear and dist shaft. I have all the peices of the pin. Looks like the pump locked up and that's what sheared the pin. The gear on the dist looks ok and so does the cam gear looking down the dist shaft hole.
It's a Ford racing crate motor and I'm also concerned about putting the same oil pump back in it.

blykins · #4 (**permalink**) 06-12-2010, 03:18 PM

Pull the pump, pull the cover on the pump and see what's going on with it. There may be some metal in there. If so, maybe you can identify and see where it came from.

conan · #5 (**permalink**) 06-12-2010, 03:23 PM

I'm going to put a new oil pump in it. The engine only has 4000 miles on it, so I am concerned about going with the same type of pump.

Three Peaks · #6 (**permalink**) 06-12-2010, 05:24 PM

You'll need to see what caused the pump to stop turning. The Ford Motorsports are great pumps, but any pump is going to freeze up if a foreign object gets stuck in the impeller. Foreign material may also indicate a more serious problem, so it is worth your time as Brent said to identify what is in the pump and try to figure out where it came from.

Bob

rustyBob · #7 (**permalink**) 06-12-2010, 07:14 PM

4,000 miles....what about a warrantee on your crate motor ????

FWB · #8 (**permalink**) 06-12-2010, 07:30 PM

i don't want to bash ford or sound alarmist but, the past two crate motors, one a small block the other a big block that i got involved with had issues with too tight tolerances in the bores and on the rod bearings, both had to be torn down and gone over. just because it came from ford doesn't mean its right.
when the pan is down check everything you can. don't assume anything...

IMLost · #9 (**permalink**) 06-12-2010, 09:22 PM

How long has it been in? Is it a standard pump shaft? I heard they are subject to fail.

conan · #10 (**permalink**) 06-13-2010, 07:51 AM

As far as warranty, the engine has been in the car for 6 years so i doubt that Ford would warranty anything. Not sure about the shaft being standard. I am assuming the pump locked up and that is why the roll pin sheared on the dist. gear. Or could it possibly be the other way around. I'm pretty sure that I found all the pieces of the pin.

Thanks,

John

bobcowan · #11 (**permalink**) 06-13-2010, 08:33 AM

Once you shear the pin, the pump stops working. Then the distributer stops working, so the engine dies. Odds of doing more unseen damage are (fortunatly) pretty slim.

Like Brent said, you need to pull the pump and figure out why it froze up.

Snakebit · #12 (**permalink**) 06-13-2010, 09:31 AM

you will be able to check it out once you pull the pan and pump. I don't think you did any damage to the motor as far as loosong oil pressure since everthing shut down at the same time.

conan · #13 (**permalink**) 06-13-2010, 03:50 PM

Thanks guys. Gonna pull the pan and pump tomorrow. I forgot to mention that the engine still turns over fine and sounds like it has good compression. Keeping my fingers crossed. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again.

John

blykins · #14 (**permalink**) 06-13-2010, 06:43 PM

Don't be turning it over without anything to drive the oil pump.....you'll damage the bearings.

conan · #15 (**permalink**) 06-14-2010, 02:41 PM

O-K pulled the pump and found a piece of aluminum stuck in the pump. No metal in the pan at all. Put a new pump in, changed the oil and filter and bam she fired right up, engine sounds fine no knocking at all, WHEW!

Thanks for all the input guys,

John

DAVID GAGNARD · #16 (**permalink**) 06-14-2010, 03:20 PM

Any idea what the "debris" is/came from????????? That would still bother me as to what it came from to be in your pan in the first place.....

David

conan · #17 (**permalink**) 06-14-2010, 06:00 PM

David, the debris was aluminum. Not sure where it is from. It's a cast iron block with GT-40 aluminum heads. I'm guessing that it was slag. The pickup screen is intact and there was no debris stuck to it. The pan was clean, no metal shavings at all. I can't believe it got into the output side of the pump as I was pushing it hard at 7000 rpm at the time the engine shut down.

John

DAVID GAGNARD · #18 (**permalink**) 06-14-2010, 06:13 PM

John;

I've seen 2 other oil pumps that sucked up debris and froze, both small block Fords, both twisted the oil pump shaft to look like a drill bit, and then both shafts broke about mid way.......

I would have suggested a new oil pump shaft, it's back together and running, so that part is done.... Hope you cleaned out or at least checked the pick-up tube for debris or obstruction while you had things apart, while things are apart I try to check everything I can.....

Glad it's up and running with no ill affects, you should be o-k with the motor.....at 7,000 prms, things are turning mighty fast and your oil pump is working hard and pumping max. fluid,things can and do happen.....

A good while back after a couple of hours of running a new engine on my engine run-in stand, I changed the oil/filter getting ready to install the engine, I found 6 to 8 small pieces of unusal metal on the magnetic drain plug, couldn't identify them, showed them to a couple of mechanics and one said it looked like bits of oil expander rings..... I couldn't install the engine like that, tore it down and he was right, comes to find out, it was a defective set of rings, company owned up to it, saying they did have a bad batch and this set must have shipped out before they got them all back........

I'd still wonder what the debris was and where it came from, I'm thinking your gonna be fine with the engine if it runs good and has good oil pressure.......

David