Yep i've been through this 4 times with my own cars, that oring is so wrong in for that application. I'm susprised the aftermarket never came up with a good solution. That oring IS the reason you see so many damaged engines. GM knows it and LOVES IT!


EVERY LS1 car i've bought had a bad oring, everyone would start tapping then stop then then stop.....effin sickening.

Another INSANE thing that goes along with this is MOST ALL DEALERS will try and tell you its PISTON SLAP!
I **** YOU NOT!

My 99TA had loud lifters when it was hot, the peckerheads at 3 dealers claimed NOWAY its piston slap. I told them all BS thats lifter noise, sure enough the EFFIN oring was bad!

Think about this how long is ANY oring going to last in that type of enviroment? There is NONE, thats why for the past 100 years its always been a metal to metal type connection.

GM engineers realized this oring could generate HUGE profits in repairs down the road................... SCUM BAGS.

Car I just bought with 38k on it has a bad oring and i'll have to replace it soon, I've been nursing it along with high mileage oil. It swells the oring a bit and seals the connection.

That connection should be solid steel against steel, there is NO logical reason for that oring other than FAILURE. That tube should fit into the oil pump tight without any seal of any kind.

I,m susprised so many people let this oring ruin their projects! If I was building a high dollar engine NOWAY would I let a POS 10 cent oring in the oiling system!

Time to start buying better built cars.Gm and its dealers are not worthy of your money!

BEFORE I'd put that POS GM oring back in there I'd get the proper size AIR CONDTIONING oring. It will be green, at least that was made to be in acidic nasty azz environments UNLIKE the stock GM oring< DON"T PUT THAT POS BACK IN!

 

a Green oring comes with the melling pumps but black is the one for the cars and the thicker green one is the one for the truck pick up tube.

I have to ask what would be your solution to the O ring problem? short of putting in a thicker O-ring.
p.s. i agree with you i do not like the O ring design. never had any issues with the SBC pumps

 

Update. Car is together. I replaced the oil pump with a tick ported and blueprinted pump snd the blue oring. Also changed the stock ls1 chain to ls2 chain. I changed the cam retainer plate to make sure that seal was good. Car has not been this quiet since I owner it. So far so good.

 

The green oring supplied in the melling oil pumps is not what i'm reffering to. I'm reffering to GREEN AC 134A service orings, you must get the proper size.

You can take the black oring to advance auto etc and match it up to a oring made for AC service. The green AC 134A service orings are much tougher than the crap black oring GM is selling.

It will last a very long time before it starts to fail.

 

Glad it worked out, I know I went crazy till I figured this out for myself the 1st time. Most shops and the dealers didn't have a clue. What finally solved it for me is I noticed it was always the frt lifters making noise and always after running a little harder hot. Then tick and knock and tap.

At low rpms not much air gets sucked in so it quiet, but run the rpms up hot and the air flow into the oil stream increases. Also the air tends to get forced to the end of the oil gallery...so the frt lifters get noisy.

I gotta add this bit of wisdom, EVERY EFFIN SHOP AND DEALER I've ever dealt with concerning this lifter noise always says " ALL LS1's ARE NOISY "

How come they aint noisy after replacing the oring properly? PECKERHEADS!

 

This is exactly how the car was acting. Near perfect discription.

I'm not sure what made the oil pressure go up. But the car was running about 36-38 psi hot. Idle at 900rpm. After the swap to the new oring and tick performance ported ls6 pump its now got about 52-55 psi hot.

 

Everyone I seen had 40+ at a idle, the air doesn't effect the pressure much unless the oring is completely gone.

But what it will effect is high rpm bearing life and lifter life. Start slamming lifters up and down with air in them and they become nasty little bullets inside the engine quickly. The bearings simply overheat from lack of cooling, air in the oil causing hot spots and they fail.

Then everyone scatches their head and says HOW DID MY NEW ENGINE FAIL IN 2K with 75 oil psi at WOT???????

Someone out there needs to develope a solid fix for this oring, something that will not be effected by heat or the CONSTANT vibration and movement the pickup is doing. Maybe a crushable copper or aluminum washer.

ABSOLUTLEY both attachment points should be used, by gm only using one bolt to attach the pickup vibration and movement is increased.

 

That retainer plate will only effect oil pressure, no air will get in the oil stream there because it is on the pressure side of the pump. Of coruse its good change it anyway to be sure you have good oil pressure.