Last week friend of mine wanted to drive my car. Stock 98 ls1 m6 128k with 1218 springs, huron speed v2 kit. After a short drive started hearing a tick / knock type noise so I told him to take it easy on the way back home. Drained the oil and found dust like flakes in the oil and filter. He was also spinning the motor like nobody's business. Like he didn't ever want to shift!! ðŸ˜à ƒÂ‚© so what do y'all think? Thinking at least lifters, cam.


http://s112.photobucket.com/user/eiy...31D46.mp4.html

 

That ain't no lifter.

Sorry you're going to have to pull the motor. Looks like a lot of bearing material there.

Been there. 98's have a weak oil pump. Upgrade to a Melling 10295, 10296 or LS6 HO/HV Oil Pump.

 

I agree with smws6ta. You're going to have to find the source of the metal shavings and you'll need to open things up to do that.

 

Ok thanks. Will start the tear down next week or two. Will post what I find. I assume with flakes I found in the oil the turbo maybe damaged also?

 

Maybe....maybe not. Depends on how long it was ran. I would go through everything that oil went thru.

 

rebuild time...

 

Looks like mine after it ate a cam bearing, rebuild time.

 

Still haven't looked into it. Deciding on if I will get a 5.3 or 6.0. So I can get it back running then maybe rebuild.

 

The shitty oil pump on the 98's is what grenade mine. Just make sure you get one of those 3 I recommend above. I would say if you can find a short block for under $500 go for it. However you might be cheaper just pulling the engine and see just how much has been done. Best case you caught it in time and just need new bearings. Worse case


That is a hole by the Number 4 piston....looks like it was from the oil galley



One of 2 pistons destroyed......Not including the 3 mains and 4 rod journals that look like they were corkscrewed.

 

Sincerely hope your friend is helping you pay for this mess

 

Been calling around for used 5.3 and 6.0. At least 700 and up around here in the sf Bay Area . Going to open it up to find what is damage and go from their.

 

Actually he doesn't even know about the damage. When I did hear the noise I mentioned to him and told him just drive it back to the house easy.

 

Wow. That's some damage. How did you know it was the oil pump that caused your problem? Right now kinda hard with time to take it apart but hope it's something I can fix cheap. I just got the turbo build done also hoping to have a lil fun during the summer but not anymore!

 

The oil pumps on 97-98 LS1's are notorious for failing at high rpms, especially when you bounce off the rev limiter a couple of times...(I'm guilty)....

I can't remember why exactly but I do know in 00 GM started putting in LS6 oil pumps and made it standard till LS1/6's were phased out.


I'm telling you from experience...it's best to do it right the first time then hope and pray then get bit in the *** later. Get a better oil pump in now. It's better for you money and time. Hate to see a turbo **** itself because of a bad oil pump.

 

finally got around to pulling the engine and trans. sent t56 to rpm got new clutch and a lq9. found some time to do a little work on transfering parts over and found this on the engine with the knock noise. all 3 cam bolts were loose causing one of them to hit the timing cover and the cam sprocket to hit a bolt behind it, notice the bolts are that coopper color i had in the pan. maybe thats all of the noise and damage?. noticed as i was spinning engine over to start swapping pac 1218 to lq9. chain was loose.

 

Thanks for posting, very useful info. I have a ticking noise, sounds it could be low down like oil pump or could even be these cam bolts. This gives me something else to check.

 

No prob. Yea I'm not sure how long those those have been loose. Maybe since the turbo setup which was less then 1000 miles. Keep in mind that these were never off to begin with also. Only thing that was changed out for the turbo were the valve springs, stock 98 cam, pushrods, etc. will try to get the oil pan off next to see if anything else is damaged..