<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="color:#3333ff">All--</div><div class="gmail_default" style="color:#3333ff"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="color:#3333ff">Thanks for the several responses to my earlier post regarding the debris I found in the sump.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="color:#3333ff"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="color:#3333ff">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.</div><div class="gmail_default" style="color:#3333ff"><br></div><div class="gmail_default" style="color:#3333ff">Best--Michael Oritt</div><div class="gmail_default" style="color:#3333ff"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Sep 24, 2017 at 3:36 PM, Roland Wilhelmy <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:sentenac.rw@gmail.com" target="_blank">sentenac.rw@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div lang="en-US" style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);line-height:initial"> <div style="width:100%;font-size:initial;font-family:Calibri,'Slate Pro',sans-serif,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125);text-align:initial;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">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. </div><div style="width:100%;font-size:initial;font-family:Calibri,'Slate Pro',sans-serif,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125);text-align:initial;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">-Roland</div> <div style="width:100%;font-size:initial;font-family:Calibri,'Slate Pro',sans-serif,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125);text-align:initial;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br style="display:initial"></div> <div style="font-size:initial;font-family:Calibri,'Slate Pro',sans-serif,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125);text-align:initial;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Sent from my BlackBerry 10 sma<wbr>rtphone.</div> <table width="100%" style="background-color:white;border-spacing:0px"> <tbody><tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size:initial;text-align:initial;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"> <div style="border-style:solid none none;border-top-color:rgb(181,196,223);border-top-width:1pt;padding:3pt 0in 0in;font-family:Tahoma,'BB Alpha Sans','Slate Pro';font-size:10pt"> <div><b>From: </b>Michael Oritt</div><div><b>Sent: </b>Sunday, September 24, 2017 12:13 PM</div><div><b>To: </b>Austin Healey; Michael Clifford JR</div><div><b>Subject: </b>[Healeys] (no subject)</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div style="border-style:solid none none;border-top-color:rgb(186,188,209);border-top-width:1pt;font-size:initial;text-align:initial;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"></div><br><div id="m_-2302874490924232381m_-992350376162116303_originalContent"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="color:rgb(51,51,255)"><div id="m_-2302874490924232381m_-992350376162116303m_-5828027016813668652gmail-post_message_1063767" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(250,250,250)"><blockquote class="m_-2302874490924232381m_-992350376162116303m_-5828027016813668652gmail-postcontent m_-2302874490924232381m_-992350376162116303m_-5828027016813668652gmail-restore" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;overflow:hidden;word-wrap:break-word">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. <br><br>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. <br><br>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.<br><br>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. <br><br>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.<br><br>I'm going to remove the oil pump tomorrow but wonder if anyone has an idea as to what this stuff could be?</blockquote></div><div class="m_-2302874490924232381m_-992350376162116303m_-5828027016813668652gmail-attachments" style="margin:20px 30px;padding:5px 10px;border:1px solid rgb(206,206,206);background:none rgb(236,236,236);border-radius:5px;font-size:12px;color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:Verdana,Arial,Tahoma,Calibri,Geneva,sans-serif"><fieldset class="m_-2302874490924232381m_-992350376162116303m_-5828027016813668652gmail-postcontent" style="margin:5px 0px;padding:0px;border-width:0px;border-style:initial;border-color:initial;word-wrap:break-word"></fieldset></div></div></div>
<br></div></div>
</blockquote></div><br></div></div>