WTH! Two Oil Pump Drive Gears Toast!
09-30-2012, 07:46 PM
#1
WTH! Two Oil Pump Drive Gears Toast! 
Thats what my Lunati Everwear gear looks like after only 1 year of operation! This exact same thing happened to me with the original 175k mile oil pump drive gear.
That was the original That i pulled out after I lost all oil pressure. When i pulled it out the first time and replaced it, the cam looked fine. I hadnt removed the cam from the block, only inspected it from the hole where the drive gear sits. I have yet to inspect the cam this time, but im probably just going to end up replacing the cam. Let me give you guys some specs.
The cam is LE's old 223/230 cam. I had it in the engine for about 2 years before the old gear got worn out. The oil pump is a Mellings Standard volume with a GM white spring to bump the oil psi up atad. I run a 10-40 conventional oil and at the time was running alittle lucas stabilizer. Oil pressure has always been great. around 50-60 on cold start. would stay right at 35 on hot idle. It would get to 50-60 max at WOT.
There wasnt any issues after the gear change. Engine ran real smooth with no issues or odd noises. The only thing i noticed afew weeks ago was when id rev the engine out, at around 3500 rpm the oil pressure would dip down about 5psi or so on the stock guage. I thought nothing of it.
My whole reason for this thread is to find out Why this happened to me again! IIRC afew years ago there was a problem with the pitch of the threads on some cams that would cause premature failure of the cam gear. Could it be possible that i just so happened to luck out and get one of Those cams. Or was the heavier weight oil mixed with my aggressive driving habbits just putting to much stress on it. Any input on the matter would be greatly appreciated. Id much rather not change out the cam and spend even more money on the engine, but im confident im going to have to. If Im missing any information Please let me know. I want to tackle this before the bad weather hits. Thanks
09-30-2012, 08:49 PM
#4
The lucas is **** at best, all it does is thicken your oil and dilute your additive package because as already said it is just thick oil without additives, the lack of additives is why it foams. That said 10w-40 is NOT the issue and I doubt the lucas thickened it enough to cause the problem.
I am going to say the gear on the cam is wrong. You can pretend the cut on the gear is wrong or whatever you have to make excuses, but IMO this will keep happening unless you replace the offending part.
Tally up your oil drives and gaskets and just how much cheaper was that cam?
I am going to say the gear on the cam is wrong. You can pretend the cut on the gear is wrong or whatever you have to make excuses, but IMO this will keep happening unless you replace the offending part.
Tally up your oil drives and gaskets and just how much cheaper was that cam?
09-30-2012, 09:02 PM
#5
I would say you need to use a new oil pump drive with a new camshaft so they can wear in together properly. Per item 7) of this link http://www.sallee-chevrolet.com/Camshafts/index.cfm all new GM distributors or drives come with Melonized gears.
The hotcam I use is a billet core and some people report that it wears out oil pump drives. When I installed mine I also used a new GM oil pump drive. Something I did to monitor the amount of ferrous metal the engine makes is I installed a magnetic drain plug in the oil pan. This plug from ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magnetic-Oil...ff24a5&vxp=mtr has a very strong magnet and its way more powerful than the mag plugs at the auto parts store. About every 1000 mi I remove the mag plug and swap in a normal plug so I can inspect what the mag plug has collected. If you swap the two plugs fast you only loose about 1 oz of oil. I haven't found any abnormal particles on the mag plug in 2k miles so far, so I believe my new oil pump drive has worn in good with the billet hotcam. Every jet engine made has magnetic chip detectors in the oil system and at the bottom of the accessory drive gearbox. They get inspected at specified intervals, finding chips with part numbers on them is always interesting.
Crane Cams recommends filing a .030 deep notch in the lower land of a sbc distributor that is directly above the gear to spray lubricating oil from the gallery directly on the distributor and cam gears to prevent wear. I think this will help also with the LT1 oil pump drive.http://www.cranecams.com/bulletins_listview.php?s_id=27
The hotcam I use is a billet core and some people report that it wears out oil pump drives. When I installed mine I also used a new GM oil pump drive. Something I did to monitor the amount of ferrous metal the engine makes is I installed a magnetic drain plug in the oil pan. This plug from ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Magnetic-Oil...ff24a5&vxp=mtr has a very strong magnet and its way more powerful than the mag plugs at the auto parts store. About every 1000 mi I remove the mag plug and swap in a normal plug so I can inspect what the mag plug has collected. If you swap the two plugs fast you only loose about 1 oz of oil. I haven't found any abnormal particles on the mag plug in 2k miles so far, so I believe my new oil pump drive has worn in good with the billet hotcam. Every jet engine made has magnetic chip detectors in the oil system and at the bottom of the accessory drive gearbox. They get inspected at specified intervals, finding chips with part numbers on them is always interesting.
Crane Cams recommends filing a .030 deep notch in the lower land of a sbc distributor that is directly above the gear to spray lubricating oil from the gallery directly on the distributor and cam gears to prevent wear. I think this will help also with the LT1 oil pump drive.http://www.cranecams.com/bulletins_listview.php?s_id=27
Last edited by guppymech; 10-01-2012 at 09:40 AM.
09-30-2012, 10:04 PM
#6
Thanks for the responses. I am going to be replacing the cam. Thanks for the link guppymech ill be purchasing one of those stock GM gears to go along with the cam. I already have neodymium magnets on my oil pan that i pull off when i change my oil. I was only trying to help diagnose the problem.
09-30-2012, 10:16 PM
#7
If you buy a new GM oil pump drive it comes with a melonized gear already installed, at least the one I bought looked like all the GM melonized gears I've seen pictures of on the net. The body of the gear had a bumpy appearance. When I ran a stamped steel differential cover I tried running magnets on the outside of it, They wouldn't pick up anything I even tested them after I had the cover off with some metal filings, no go. You may want to try the mag drain plug to monitor metal content in the oil.
Last edited by guppymech; 09-30-2012 at 10:22 PM.
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09-30-2012, 10:42 PM
#8
If you buy a new GM oil pump drive it comes with a melonized gear already installed, at least the one I bought looked like all the GM melonized gears I've seen pictures of on the net. The body of the gear had a bumpy appearance. When I ran a stamped steel differential cover I tried running magnets on the outside of it, They wouldn't pick up anything I even tested them after I had the cover off with some metal filings, no go. You may want to try the mag drain plug to monitor metal content in the oil.
10-01-2012, 01:18 AM
#9
One more thing about magnetic drain plugs or chip detectors is if you feel the material it collected is more than the normal very fine grey pasty material you can carefully flush the oil away from the magnet with a quick drying solvent which will leave only the metal deposits. You can then inspect these with a magnifying glass easier without all that oil in the way.
10-01-2012, 03:10 AM
#11
The Lunati everwear gear is pure **** and will not work with any cam IMO. They claim it can work well and last with a billet cam gears. BS.
I had one and checked it at around 1000 miles and it was nearly worn through on only about 3 teeth and ready to let go. I would have been better off keeping the slightly worn OEM gear and just leaving it alone. I ultimately replaced my billet cam with a cast cam and used a OEM gear and have been fine since but even then, I would never use that POS Lunati gear. Their tech support was useless too, they blamed a bad install.
What old LE cam do you have? Is it the billet bullet ground cam? Sure looks like the billet cam gear is giving you the grief.
BTW, this is not an isolated incident.
http://ltxtech.com/forums/showthread...ithin-300miles!
I had one and checked it at around 1000 miles and it was nearly worn through on only about 3 teeth and ready to let go. I would have been better off keeping the slightly worn OEM gear and just leaving it alone. I ultimately replaced my billet cam with a cast cam and used a OEM gear and have been fine since but even then, I would never use that POS Lunati gear. Their tech support was useless too, they blamed a bad install.
What old LE cam do you have? Is it the billet bullet ground cam? Sure looks like the billet cam gear is giving you the grief.
BTW, this is not an isolated incident.
http://ltxtech.com/forums/showthread...ithin-300miles!
Last edited by wrd1972; 10-01-2012 at 03:16 AM.
10-03-2012, 10:38 PM
#13
What old LE cam do you have? Is it the billet bullet ground cam? Sure looks like the billet cam gear is giving you the grief.
BTW, this is not an isolated incident.
http://ltxtech.com/forums/showthread...ithin-300miles!
BTW, this is not an isolated incident.
http://ltxtech.com/forums/showthread...ithin-300miles!
Yes its LE's 223-230 cam which was made by bullet and is full billet. I read through the link you posted and its the Exact same problem im having! The gear i pulled out had one side with a good bit of tooth left and then on the other side it was completely wiped out!
As mentioned aswell my oil pump drive gear has about 1/8" play up and down. Im going to end up replacing the entire assembly. Just have to find the right part number. Now im worried about what cam to get. I dont want to chance the cam that i still have in the car ruining yet Another gear!
10-03-2012, 11:26 PM
#14
Oil pump drive p/n GM 1103868. I bought mine from gmpartseast.com but there's lots of other places that sell them too. I think they all have that small amount of up and down play, my old one does it and I remember that the new one also has some play.
10-03-2012, 11:43 PM
#17
The new drive I bought looked like all the Melonized gears I saw pictures of on the internet, but it had no identifying marks on it, just the part number on the bag it came in. The round part of the gear where the roll pin goes through had a bumpy texture and thats what I saw when I searched google for melonized distributor drive gears from GM. The link in post 5 for Sallee Chevrolet says that all distributor drives and gears currently sold by Chevy are Melonized to be compatible with all camshafts. The original one I took out had a smooth body.
I'm running the stock oil pump with a hotcam which I understand is billet and made by Crane for GM, so far I can detect no abnormal wear with my magnetic drain plug after 3k miles.
I'm running the stock oil pump with a hotcam which I understand is billet and made by Crane for GM, so far I can detect no abnormal wear with my magnetic drain plug after 3k miles.
Last edited by guppymech; 10-04-2012 at 12:17 AM.
10-04-2012, 09:26 AM
#18
I don't get it, I know of a cammed Caprice with over 60K miles on the cammed setup, the cam was put in at 160k miles and the oilpump drive reused, we put a white spring in the stock pump.
Then again the cam was not chosen on price alone and it has a Everwear gear.
I wonder if the HOT cam issues are stumbles from the collapse of Crane a few years back and maybe they just got the wrong gears along with other cams people buy on price..
Then again the cam was not chosen on price alone and it has a Everwear gear.
I wonder if the HOT cam issues are stumbles from the collapse of Crane a few years back and maybe they just got the wrong gears along with other cams people buy on price..
10-04-2012, 03:03 PM
#19
I don't get it, I know of a cammed Caprice with over 60K miles on the cammed setup, the cam was put in at 160k miles and the oilpump drive reused, we put a white spring in the stock pump.
Then again the cam was not chosen on price alone and it has a Everwear gear.
I wonder if the HOT cam issues are stumbles from the collapse of Crane a few years back and maybe they just got the wrong gears along with other cams people buy on price..
Then again the cam was not chosen on price alone and it has a Everwear gear.
I wonder if the HOT cam issues are stumbles from the collapse of Crane a few years back and maybe they just got the wrong gears along with other cams people buy on price..