Failed oil pump, failed cam
Failed oil pump, failed cam As some of you know through FB Help Desk, I lost my oil pump last week. Got the engine tore down this weekend. Lifters looked great so I almost didnt bother pulling the cam. Figured it was only 4 more bolts, why not. Had my wife out there holding the condenser out of my way and as I was sliding the cam out, I already saw the damage. 10 of the lobes were severely scarred. Since so much of the cam came apart, I dont feel comfortable just throwing another cam in there and calling it good. I think Im going to pull it and build a 416 or 427ci. Not sure which way to go yet. The cam was a Night Fury on stock lifters. I always used VR1 until I couldnt find it in stores anymore. Switched to Valvoline Synpower for 2000 miles, then put some Amsoil in, which is whats in there now. Its not the Z-Rod, its the normal Amsoil. Bought the wrong stuff. Just sucks. Just bought another house so the savings is drained. This will take over a year to build. Oh well.......
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Teching In
Joined: Mar 2013
Posts: 24
Likes: 0
From: New Zealand
Wow!, that top photo is showing wear on back of lobe & not on peak, makes me think more likely poor case hardening, hope I don't end up with same issue with 0.650" lift I have on smooth idle blower cam installed, seeing these horror stories all over forums.
Launching!
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 289
Likes: 0
I was thinking the same thing! I am not a camshaft (or engine) expert, but I deal with metals and heat treating in my daily job. At first, I thought that the spalling on the edges of the wear pattern must have been from the rollers grinding down and the body of the lifter contacting the lobe. Then I reread and saw that the lifters were fine. I would also suspect there was an issue with the heat treating of that camshaft.
I'm sure the lifters are screwed too which will chew around the whole cam.
You can just switch the cam,lifters and oil pump. Done it a few times. Just run 3-4 oil changes through it.
You can just switch the cam,lifters and oil pump. Done it a few times. Just run 3-4 oil changes through it.
Horror stories with oil pumps failing on LS3s?
I talked to Comp today and they gave me an RA number for them to inspect the cam. It wasnt my intention to send them the cam, but they didnt want my pics, they wanted the actual cam. So Ill see what they say. Like I said, surprisingly all the lifters look great. I almost didnt pull the cam since they looked so good. I have been having a noisy lifter for awhile, which when I pulled it, it wasnt pumped up, so I did have one bad lifter. Ive thought about just getting another cam and putting it back together, but my car for some reason has been severely under powered. I kinda wanna do the build up to get it where Im supposed to be.
Staging Lane
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 54
Likes: 0
From: SoCal
Holy crap! I lost two different factory oil pumps and said no more and went with a Melling. Oil pressure is perfect and I have zero worry about it failing. I got lucky as hell I guess.
Hopefully Comp will give you some good news. Did you install the cam yourself or did a shop do the work?
Good luck!
Hopefully Comp will give you some good news. Did you install the cam yourself or did a shop do the work?
Good luck!
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I did the install. I still need to send the cam off to Comp. Just keep forgetting to do it. I drained the oil and filtered it and there was a lot of metal in it. Ive got the engine out and sitting on a stand right now. The cam bearings are shot. Hoping to get the crank out today and check those bearings. Im sure they are trash too...
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Which valve spring kit did you used?
Some rumors on some sites were saying that some Night Fury cam pkg did include some pretty stiff springs that might be overkill.Might not be your issue,but would be a good idea to check.
Sorry about your bad luck.
Some rumors on some sites were saying that some Night Fury cam pkg did include some pretty stiff springs that might be overkill.Might not be your issue,but would be a good idea to check.
Sorry about your bad luck.
