[Healeys] (no subject)

[Michael Oritt]

All--

Thanks for the several responses to my earlier post regarding the debris I
found in the sump.

Smarty pants Dave Porter was the first to suggest that it was pieces of the
timing chain tensioner belt and I am quite sure he is correct.  Though the
belt is made of rubber it has obviously hardened into a plastic-like
density since it was installed about 15 years ago. The gear-like shapes
along the edge of some of the pieces were probably made as the belt passed
through the cam gears. I'll confirm when I remove the cover in the next few
days.

Best--Michael Oritt


On Sun, Sep 24, 2017 at 3:36 PM, Roland Wilhelmy <sentenac.rw at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Timing chain tensioner? Crankshaft seal front or rear? Camshaft seal?
> Something the previous rebuilder left in by mistake? It was relatively
> benign considering the mileage.
> -Roland
>
> Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone.
> *From: *Michael Oritt
> *Sent: *Sunday, September 24, 2017 12:13 PM
> *To: *Austin Healey; Michael Clifford JR
> *Subject: *[Healeys] (no subject)
>
> There has been a slow, gradual decline in my engine's oil pressure for a
> while now--60 to 65 psi on start-up from cold dropping at running
> temperatures to 30-35 psi at 3K rpm's and 10 psi or less at fast idle.
> Yesterday I took the car for a long ride and after a while at 65-70 mph the
> oil pressure actually dropped below 30 psi, so it's now officially below
> the "10 psi/1K rpm's" threshold.
>
> The engine has about 60K on it since complete rebuild so this morning I
> decided to bite the bullet and drop the sump with the hope that I will find
> nothing worse than a worn oil pump and/or main or rod bearings, either of
> which I can repair/replace in time for some fall driving.
>
> I first removed the spin-on oil filter and upon cutting it apart noticed a
> bit of black plastic debris--irregularly shaped pieces, almost gravel-like
> perhaps 1/16" to 1/8" in dimension on one end of the cartridge. The filter
> medium itself was fairly clean though I did notice a bit more shiny
> bearing-like material than I would have liked to have seen.
>
> While draining the pan I heard a clunk or two from some solids going
> through the drain hole and landing in a catch pan and on examination I
> found a couple of larger pieces of the same kind of stuff--definitely some
> black plastic material, not particularly hard as it would give when bitten.
>
> The big surprise was what I found when I removed the pan--a lot more of
> the same small stuff and four segments of a black plastic piece. In the
> attached thumbnail you'll see that they form a semi-circle about 5" in
> diameter and notice on the two pieces in the 9 o'clock position that there
> appears to have been some gear-like teeth molded in. The small debris is
> inside the semi-circle.
>
> I'm going to remove the oil pump tomorrow but wonder if anyone has an idea
> as to what this stuff could be?
>
>
>
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