LS1, metal shavings, chunks in oil pan
05-19-2013, 08:41 PM
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LS1, metal shavings, chunks in oil pan Picked up this motor off a friend. Motor ran great, pulled hard, made 450whp.
Specs: Around 85k miles on it, 236/242 cam, 243 heads, ls7 lifters, patriot dual valve springs, ls2 timing chain, melling oil pump, hardened pushrods.
Went to pull the oil pan today to replace the gasket since it was seeping in the front, that's when I found this:
Oil pickup had an o-ring in it, as well as what looks like a valve seal spring?
Pulled a couple of the main caps off, the bearings look slightly worn but nothing out of the ordinary. Thrust washer looks slightly worn as well (forgot to take a picture).
Pulled a couple of the rod caps off, here's a sample of the wear:
I've got to pull the flywheel off so that I can turn the motor over all the way to pull the rest of the rod caps. The rod bearings are pretty worn, but with all that metal in the pan I feel like there has to be catastrophic damage somewhere. Ideas? Definitely looks like bearing material right? How often do cam bearings fail? The motor was revving to 6900rpm on stock rod bolts, so that definitely didn't help here.
Right now I'm figuring I'll pull the rest of the caps tomorrow and find some bearings that are trashed (hopefully) and just have the crank polished and get new main/rod bearings.
Any insight would be great, thanks.
Specs: Around 85k miles on it, 236/242 cam, 243 heads, ls7 lifters, patriot dual valve springs, ls2 timing chain, melling oil pump, hardened pushrods.
Went to pull the oil pan today to replace the gasket since it was seeping in the front, that's when I found this:
Oil pickup had an o-ring in it, as well as what looks like a valve seal spring?
Pulled a couple of the main caps off, the bearings look slightly worn but nothing out of the ordinary. Thrust washer looks slightly worn as well (forgot to take a picture).
Pulled a couple of the rod caps off, here's a sample of the wear:
I've got to pull the flywheel off so that I can turn the motor over all the way to pull the rest of the rod caps. The rod bearings are pretty worn, but with all that metal in the pan I feel like there has to be catastrophic damage somewhere. Ideas? Definitely looks like bearing material right? How often do cam bearings fail? The motor was revving to 6900rpm on stock rod bolts, so that definitely didn't help here.
Right now I'm figuring I'll pull the rest of the caps tomorrow and find some bearings that are trashed (hopefully) and just have the crank polished and get new main/rod bearings.
Any insight would be great, thanks.
05-19-2013, 08:52 PM
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Definitely bearing material..the gold color is the bronze material.
The spring could be from a crank seal..the back of them have that spring to help seal the rubber around the surface.
Good thing you pulled the pan man!
My guess is a spun bearing or a bearing about to spin.
The spring could be from a crank seal..the back of them have that spring to help seal the rubber around the surface.
Good thing you pulled the pan man!
My guess is a spun bearing or a bearing about to spin.
05-19-2013, 09:20 PM
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Definitely bearing material..the gold color is the bronze material.
The spring could be from a crank seal..the back of them have that spring to help seal the rubber around the surface.
Good thing you pulled the pan man!
My guess is a spun bearing or a bearing about to spin.
The spring could be from a crank seal..the back of them have that spring to help seal the rubber around the surface.
Good thing you pulled the pan man!
My guess is a spun bearing or a bearing about to spin.
05-19-2013, 09:37 PM
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I'm assuming you took the valve covers off to check rockers and valve springs and what-not?
I recently spun a rod bearing and the oil looked much different than that. Pieces were much smaller and oil looked like it had gold/ bronze powder in it!
I recently spun a rod bearing and the oil looked much different than that. Pieces were much smaller and oil looked like it had gold/ bronze powder in it!
05-19-2013, 09:57 PM
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You and me both.
Yeah, I've had the valve covers off a few weeks ago and everything looked fine, but I wasn't really looking for problems at the time. I'm gonna pull them off tomorrow and double check.
Yeah, I've had the valve covers off a few weeks ago and everything looked fine, but I wasn't really looking for problems at the time. I'm gonna pull them off tomorrow and double check.
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05-19-2013, 11:11 PM
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05-20-2013, 12:41 AM
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05-20-2013, 10:38 PM
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A little follow up. I pulled the rest of the rod and main bearings today. Mains look fine, a little worn. Rods on the other hand have taken a serious beating. Stock rod bolts revved out to 6900rpm - guess they didn't like that very much.
Dropping the crank off tomorrow to be polished. When I get it back, the motor is getting new main and rod bearings, and new OEM rod bolts. Gonna clean everything real well and then flush the motor with oil a few times. And lower the rev limiter, heh.
I'd love to do ARP rod bolts or Katechs but it's not in the budget right now to pull the heads and resize the rods and whatnot (and I don't feel comfortable just slapping them in there without resizing.) I figure new OEM bolts should be good enough if I lower the limiter to 6700 or so.
Dropping the crank off tomorrow to be polished. When I get it back, the motor is getting new main and rod bearings, and new OEM rod bolts. Gonna clean everything real well and then flush the motor with oil a few times. And lower the rev limiter, heh.
I'd love to do ARP rod bolts or Katechs but it's not in the budget right now to pull the heads and resize the rods and whatnot (and I don't feel comfortable just slapping them in there without resizing.) I figure new OEM bolts should be good enough if I lower the limiter to 6700 or so.
05-21-2013, 06:31 AM
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You shoulda bought a big handful of PowerBall tickets...other than the SOB in Florida that won the whole thing, you may be the luckiest guy I've seen in some time. I don't think you had many more of those 6900rpm runs in it.
05-21-2013, 01:54 PM
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The motor was tuned by one of the largest and most-reputable shops on the east coast. That being said, I had the same thought, and It really wouldn't surprise me.
05-24-2013, 02:01 AM
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