RagnZ

iTrader: (2)

i have a 347 with a forged bottom end...after i had the motor rebuilt i was idling around 25 psi or so and 45 WOT on a melling pump....i thought that i had put the wrong o-ring in maybe so i pulled it all out and replaced the pump with a new stock ls-6 pump and o-ring....while i was putting the oil pan back up i got a phone call and forgot that there was a red shop rag in the front of my oil pan....long story short i started it back up and had great oil pressure but i noticed a funny sound so i walked around to the front of the car to listen to it and then went back to check my oil pressure gauge and it said 0...i pulled everything back apart and relised there was the rag i forgot wrapped around the front of my cam....most of the rag was still in one piece but there were a lot of little pieces that came out of the oil pan when i drained it....i removed everything that i could and flushed the pan out without pulling it down.....reinstalled the stock pump and tried it again....oil pressure stayed at 0 untill i tapped the gas pedal then it went to about 50 and slowly started coming down from there and with every tap of the gas it would drop more and more.....i pulled everything again thinking that it i installed the o-ring wrong and replaced the pump with a ported ls-6 pump that i had with about 5k miles on it.....i put everything back together again and had the same results.....i've got the intake and valley cover off at the moment and i'm not getting any oil to the top end....next step is to pull the k-member so that i can get the pan down and check the pick up tube....i tried to blow compressed air through the pick up tube to push anything it had sucked up back into the pan so that i could try and flush it out but nothing seems to be working....any ideas?????

dimetweaker

iTrader: (1)

hmm... my guess is you have some rag material in an oil journal... and you have a bit of work ahead of you Im not very familiar with LSx motors at this point, but I would guess that the material was after the sending unit somewhere, tap the gas, pressure builds in the line and slowly bleeds off either back through a hydro locked pump ( or air locked? ) and settles back into the pan. If it was wrapped around the front of the cam there are probably little rag bits destroyed and stuck everywhere.

RagnZ

iTrader: (2)

any ideas on how to flush out the oil journals? i can pull the cam and oil pan if need be....or is there a way to check to make sure they are all open and letting oil get through them?

RagnZ

iTrader: (2)

almost the entire rag was wrapped around the front of the cam but i'm sure from it running with it like that started to shred it and send little pieces everywhere....could it be that there is something blocking the pickup tube? does anyone know where to find a diagram of oil passages for an ls1?

dimetweaker

iTrader: (1)

I would drop the pan and check the pick up as a starting point...

dimetweaker

iTrader: (1)

but now that I think about it, if the pick up were clogged then you shouldnt have any oil pressure, so it must be something in there a ways, ya?

Black01M6SS

iTrader: (3)

I've had the pickup tube out before and I can't remember for sure but most likely there is a screen on the bottom of the pick up tube and that screen is probably covered/clogged with bits of rag. I would think that anything small enough to make it threw that screen and threw the oil pump wouldn't completely block oil flow. Not saying that its good to have fibers in the engine...but I don't think it would completely stop all flow/pressure. Anyway my bet is that you could pull the oil pump off and backflush the pick up tube with some carb cleaner, compressed air, whatever. Poor a few gallons of diesel threw the front of the oil pan and let it come out the drain to clean the particles out of the pan. Then put it all back together, and run it for a bit then change the oil again to get rid of any leftover diesel / rag particles that may be left behind.

RagnZ

iTrader: (2)

i've used an air compressor twice to blow air back through the pickup tube into the pan not saying that it worked but i've tried it without any luck....it always seems to have oil pressure on the first and second cranks but after it goes to 0 i can't seem to get any pressure at all....i know for a fact there is a screen on the pickup tube so i'm hoping that would stop all of the big pieces from clogging the journals....maybe there is a large piece that keeps getting sucked up against the screen and cause it to loose pressure? i've poured atleast a quart of oil down the pickup tube to try and clear it out also....i poured 4 quarts down the front of the pan also to try and push everything out of the drain plug hole....i put the drain plug back in with the pan hanging down as far as it would go and put another 3 to 4 quarts in and tried to shake up the pan to hopefully sling the oil around and drained it but there wasn't hardly any pieces of rag coming out anymore....this will be the 4th time i've filled, ran, and drained the oil after this happened if i do it again....it just seems like there is a large piece somewhere blocking something....

Black01M6SS

iTrader: (3)

I've lost bets before? Might be time to pull the pan and have a look then. I know its annoying taking all that apart and putting it back together for nothing anyway.

RagnZ

iTrader: (2)

i'll try anything at this point lol....i've pulled the k-member before but i pulled it with the motor, trans and everything.....whats the best way to drop the k-member and leave the engine and trans in the car? better yet do i need to drop the k-member complelety or can i just loosen it up and lower it a bit?

WYATT318MOPAR

iTrader: (28)

If the engine was able to suck particles from the rag up into the pump you may just need to remove the front cover of the oil pump and check to see if the internals have any rag in them, could also have the bypass stuck open with rag particles in it, as well as the oil filter being clogged. I would clean the pump definitely checking the bypass, then change filter and oil then try it again. May take several filters to catch it all depending on how bad shredded it really got but I think it would survive.

WYATT318MOPAR

iTrader: (28)

Instead of pulling the pan off, once you have the timing cover off just pour some kerosene or spray starting fluid down through the pickup with the drain plug out that will take care of the debris no need to take the pan off. Lets see a pic of the rag just to give us an idea of how much material your missing.

RagnZ

iTrader: (2)

i've tried 2 different pumps...the one that is in there now i just took apart and cleaned before i installed it....i'll check the oil filter that is on the car now.....i've replaced it 3 times since this happened but who knows how many it will take to get all of the stuff out lol...

RagnZ

iTrader: (2)

the rag got taken out with the recycling about a week and a half ago....by the time i knew it was gone it was to late....

Black01M6SS

iTrader: (3)

I've never tried it before but I think you can get the pan off if you use an engine hoist to hold the engine up and unbolt the K member letting it hang from the struts. I know I saw a pic of someone's engine today on here and they had the pan off and the Kmember was still under the engine...

RagnZ

iTrader: (2)

thanks a lot for everybodies input i'm going to get the engine hoist from a buddy tomorrow and see about dropping the k-member down some to get that pan off....i'd like to just try it without dropping the k-member but after as many times as i've tried it other ways i'm afraid that this is the only true way to know what it going on in there......hopefully there is something obvious in there thats causing the problem....

chris23120

that sucks

01ssreda4

iTrader: (96)

from my experience the k member has to come down 8-10 inches to allow the oil pan to snake out. i welded a pipe/brackets to my roof joist in my garage and hoisted my motor up with a come-a-long. an engine puller would have the same effect.

Kingrarr

He got it running, figured I would post for him. I'm sure he will fill in you guys on the details.

RagnZ

iTrader: (2)

thanks shad! i was able to lower the k-member down without having to take it all the way out to remove the oil pan.....and sure enough there was a ton of red shop rag jammed in the bottom of the pickup tube....i removed all of the rag pieces blocking the screen, removed the windage tray, the small tray in the bottom of the oil pan and cleaned them all really well...reinstalled the pickup tube and everything else....started up great with 60 psi...its still idling at about 30 psi and 45 or so at wot completly warmed up.....i do have a cam and the stock thermostat which isn't helping the motor temps at all so i'm sure there are a few psi left to pick up with just a drop in tempature but i dont see it getting much better than that after trying two differnt pumps.....but the good news is it has oil pressure again but for some reason it seems that the back of my water pump is leaking.....anyone ever had a problem with the seal/plate on the back of the water pump leaking?