I guess I really screwed up this time. I was changing out my failed knock sensors so I had the intake and all that crap off. Seeing more than an acceptable amount of oil in the intake for me, I cleaned out the thing with carb/choke cleaner, and decided to convert to the LS6 PCV system with accompanying catch can. Of course this change requires grinding a piece of aluminum in the engine valley and therein lies the problem.

I didn't have a dremel, like the write-up on ls1howto.com calls for. Instead I had a large grinder, which more than got the job done, but I didn't get to protect the valley like I wanted to, becuase the grinder would have got caught on the towels, so I just stuffed paper towels in the two holes in the bottom of the valley where you can see the cam (the heads were protected with tape over each opening). I failed to cover the hole in the front of the engine that goes to the timing chain (or that's what I assume it is) because I didn't know the hole existed. I didn't inspect the valley before I started grinding and I was almost sure metal shavings got in there.

I cleaned the valley out VERY well with carb/choke cleaner, put everything back together and figured I'd try to do some damage control for any shavings that got in the oil. I put half a can of seafoam in the oil that was in there, and let it idle. I then dumped that oil and filter and put in some generic 10w40 (thick on purpose) with a whole can of seafoam and let it idle for 30 minutes and then 1 lap around the block keeping my RPM's low. I then dumped that out (VERY BLACK **** after only 40 or so minutes of use) and put in my regular mobil 0w40 with truck filter.

I then drove to work the next day and back with no problems whatsoever. It sat for a couple days since it was cold, and then the next time I started it it idled fine for awhile then I started noticing some extra valvetrain noise while it was idling. I looked down and the gauge said 0. I immediately shut the engine off.

This is where I'm at now. I know I could have broken the oil pump sending unit doing the stuff with the intake, but the sharp ticking noise coming from the valvetrain tells me that probably wasn't the case. I imagine my oil pump has went out, but what other damage might I have done? Are there other things I should change since metal may be present in other parts of the engine? I know I really fucked up, and should have been more cautious, but what should I do to get my engine back up and running? A list of potential things that could be damaged or places to clean would be most helpful.

Thanks to any and all replies.

 

Hmm.. did you remove the paper towels? I know that's a stupid question but I recently read a thread on here where a guy simply forgot to remove the towels which circulated through his oil pan until they clogged the pickup screen sufficiently to drop the oil pressure. Maybe something like that happened? If you did take everything out then I'd wait for a further more informed reply before deducing anything!

Best of luck man. It sucks when things break! I know!

 

I'm actually in the process of reading that thread right now. The towels did get removed...I just bunched them up and shoved them down there, and they all seemed to come out in one piece, so I don't imagine any of them fell into the motor. Now those damn metal shavings, a different story.

 

Good news...you probably didnt hurt the engine from lack of oil if you didnt put the engine under load while it had no oil pressure. IE. driving around.... Now the seafoam idea was not a wise choice in my opinion, but I have heard of old timers using diesel to clean an engine but NEVER loading the engine IE. DRIVING AROUND with said severly thinned oil....I have also never heard of anyone using "seafoam".

That being said get in there and change the oil pump with a new unit, and change the oil AGAIN at least once, to get rid of any residual "sea foam", in the engine. Then crank it up and hope for the best....remember to be VERY CAREFUL not to pinch the oil pickup 0-ring, it is suprisingly easy to do. ALWAYS install the o-ring on the pickup tube BEFORE inserting the tube into the pump.

 

OK, well at least there's some good news in there...are there any other places that might get clogged? The pickup? Or some kind of screen that's down there? I'm still trying to familiarize myself with how the oiling system works to figure out places it may bottleneck... Right now the plan is to buy just a ported ls6 oil pump, but while I got all the stuff off, I might as well replace everything that has the potential to go wrong. (I really want to get a cam in there too while I'm at it, but I don't need to waste money If I can't get this running for whatever reason...)

Seriously, you've never heard of seafoam? It's like GM top end cleaner... I have always sworn by the **** (of course I'm also the dumbass with metal shavings in my engine)

 

Well just by washing out the engine so well you have to remember everything thats busted loose goes through the oil pump. Thats probably what stuck the relief valve.

 

so replacing the oil pump would more than likely take care of my problem? (God I hope so)...

so would this be a good time to change my cam? damn, I don't want to have all the crap off for nothing when I know that damn cam is right there and I can change it while I'm in there...

thinking about going with a 224R 116LSA or 228R 114LSA from TSP, as I seem to have the mods to support it and a cam is my "next thing"....

but damn, I don't want to install it if the car keeps ******* up

opinions? sanity check?

 

Here are some stock and mostly stock numbers:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/dynamometer-results-comparisons/455776-i-d-like-see-stock-dyno-numbers-98-00-a.html

 

I think a new oil pump would solve everything for ya. And your right, you should upgrade the cam and timing chain set while you are there.

 

When in doubt with anything foreign in the engine, just fill it up with 5-30 Valvoline regular oil @2.00 per qt =$10. Run it for a few minutes, then drain it and put in the oil that you usually use. It's worth $10 for the peace of mind. In your case, I would do that 2X. It would be worth $20 to not have these problems.

 

yeah but something tells me that even if I change the oil, I'm still going to get 0 pressure...I don't imagine there's much coming back from 0 unless there's something that actually gets jarred loose when I change the oil.

oh well, I'm thinking a new oil pump, cam, springs, retainers, timing chain, and whatever else I left out in my half-drunken stupor are soon-to-be-coming....

 

Personally,i would have cleaned up as much as i could, then drained the oil all out, put CLEAN oil in, then start it up.

It sounds like you started it up with the old oil and metal shavings in there.

Good luck with the cam swap -Jeff

 

You've really never heard of Seafoam?? Its an excellent product, and its fine to use in the gas tank or engine oil for any period of time. It doesn't thin the oil by any significant amount, it mostly just helps clean out the inside of the crankcase and prevent buildup of moisture.

Heres the website on it:
Seafoam Motor Treatment

Good point. Because the Seafoam cleans the inside of the crankcase when added to the oil, there's a good chance that it knocked loose some deposits than may have been sucked into the oil pump/screen, causing it to lose oil pressure.