Went to put the front cover back on and as I'm pushing and rotating from left/right to line up the crank key, the oil pump drive gear slides forward and pops the metal spring out of my new seal!!

After cussing a little, I lined the gears back up, laid the whole assembly flat and put the crank pulley into place, tossed a block of wood over the top and drove the gear back together (or so I thought). I even managed to work the spring back into the seal.

I started re-assembly this morning and I get to the part where you put the crank pulley back in and....surprise surprise, it doesn't want to seat back in there smoothly.

Pretty sure I know what the problem is...those gears--
Checked RAVE last night and I didn't see ANYTHING about those gears being involved with the oil pump, although I know they are. Does anyone have any insight on this?

I know that damn front cover needs to come back off, I'm getting pretty good at it now...but I don't even know where to go from here. Going to call Atlantic British or British Atlantic, whoever they are and maybe get a sales rep who knows their stuff.

Thanks-

 

Still looking for some insight here. Called parts place and a new gear setup is like $100 but the sales guy said "sounds like you need a whole new front cover." hmmm...not quite sure why that would be, but whatever--

any info anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

 

The oil pump gear should never come close to the oil seal. PM and I'll give you my phone number so we can discuss more.

 

PM sent (1:15 EST 5/27/2011)

Tried calling local dealership service department...no answer...just wondering what I need to do here. =/
Got local dealership service department and instead of having a tech pick up the phone, which would have been sweet...got a receptionist...still nothing as far as what needs to be done.

I've got my own redneck ideas here, which involves lining that gear up and tack welding the damn thing so it doesn't float, but I'm not sure of the implications of doing something like that, I'd have to look at it closer to see if that might be a bad idea. I'm not quite sure why that gear is in three pieces anyways

 

do not tack weld anything in that front cover unless you are planning to buy a new engine. The oil pump is the heart to your engine.... If you did not have a problem with before you took it off ..you are not lining something up is your problem. The cover should be fine. MAybe explain how you got to where you are and we can chime in on helping you get it back on.

Thanks Chris

 

The first time I had this thing apart (1.5 years ago?) the inner oil gear stayed in-tact and caused me no issue when removing or installing the front cover...this time however, it decided that it didn't want to stay put on the middle oil gear and kept sliding forward on me whenever I went to install the front cover...it was not making proper contact with the middle oil gear and this prevented the crank pulley from being installed...kind of a nice failsafe in a way although it will really frustrate the living crap out of you if you ever encounter this.

0304Disco was kind enough to send me an overhaul manual via email...I skimmed the information on the oil pump and I decided that the inner gear was PROBABLY out of spec, I didn't measure it, but it seems like it's simply held in place with INTERFERENCE from the middle gear (i.e. slight press fit).

After really examining everything, I came to the conclusion that the inner-most oil gear that contacts the crank, is prevented from moving backward because it rests against the crank timing gear, it cannot move forward because of the length of the crank pulley...and of course the oil gear is keyed to the crank (3 different possible positions). Short of having busted/sheered/broken teeth in the oil gears, there's no reason that the inner-most gear HAS to be a tight fit against the middle gear...it sure makes re-assembly much easier if this gear will stay put, but FOR NOW I'm saying it isn't necessary. (we'll know if I come back in a few months with an oil pump problem).

As I probably already stated, when I went to install the front cover, this gear popped out and slammed into my new seal and caused me all sorts of unhappiness. I drove it back inward and I thought I was good and attempted to install again and the lack of interference made it a real precision job...the previous time I installed the front cover I simply adjusted the inner-most gear to ABOUT the keymark on the crank slapped the front cover up and gently rotated left and right until it aligned on the key...not this time.

I ended up having to source a new front cover gasket and seal locally. My wife wanted in on the action, since it is her vehicle after all, and with the old seal and no gasket in place she was able to get the front cover up into place without dislodging the inner oil gear on her second try.

Installed new seal, placed gasket on the block and...it took her about 6 tries, she was meticulous as hell but she got it...much more patience than me.

Put everything together and she runs fine. I should have primed the pump since it was bone dry but oh well...I didn't. It clacked for about 4 seconds, oil light was on...and once oil started flowing things sounded great, she drives like a champ, I don't have any leaks..

We'll see how this pans out though. =) hahahahaha. just glad she's together for now.