So in January of this year I had the front cover off to fix a coolant leak. I replaced the front cover gasket, timing set, water pump gasket, and sump gasket. I had never had any low oil pressure issues with my truck so I disregarded the suggestions of doing the oil pump gears while I was in there.

Fast forward to October 18th of this year and I still had not had any oil pressure issues in the truck but start it up that morning and the oil pump grenades while the truck is warming up. I shut the truck off immediately and was extremely grateful this happened at home instead of on one of the families off road outings.

By the time I got the front cover pulled this is what I discovered was left of the oil pump gear...


The front cover ended up have a crack in it and was pretty beat up


woodruff key had been worn down and needed to be replaced


After Discovering everything I contacted Erik at Lucky8 and got the oil pump rebuild kit, woodruff key, 180 thermostat and new radiator. Had some other repairs to do while I had the truck torn apart. The I contacted Mike at Tarheel Rover to source a used front cover. These guys were crucial in the process, I would still be trying to save up money for repairs if I had gone elsewhere.

So with everything torn down go to get the woodruff key out and it won't budge, so I had to take a big *** hammer and punch to it and finally got it out.


Then start putting everything back together


Finished everything today and got the pump primed cut it on and bleed the cooling system. So glad to have this thing back together. In finishing if you ever have the front cover off do the oil pump gears, I was giving no warnings what so ever pump just exploded one day. Luckily for me it happened in my driveway instead of on the road, I probably would be looking at far worse if that was the case. Plus thanks again to Erik and Mike for all the parts help!

 

Yikes!

I think I posted a while back that a local Rover specialist shop told me earlier this year that they've seen a few cases like this recently. I may go ahead and replace the oil pump gears proactively. One of these days. In my spare time. If only my water pump would fail I'd have a reason to get started.

Did I just jinx myself?

 

you may have the title for the worse pump failure, ive seen them 5 or 6 pieces. But 20 pieces that a new record.

Like you said good thing you were there to catch it

 

Holy ****, that's gnarly.

I had my cover off when I first got the truck, because of a failed front cover gasket dumping coolant everywhere. Replaced the pump gears while I was in there, because why not?

Looks like I made the right call.

 

have you had any subsequent problems after the rebuild? I'm asking because I had my pump explode as well, and i also replaced the oil pump and had the low oil light come on recently. I've not driven it but it sounds starved of oil. did you experience anything like this?

 

You should have replaced the front cover as well. The broken pump gear gouged the cover creating gaps leading to low oil pressure.

 

i did, the old one was cracked from when the pump exploded. I bought a used one which I inspected and looked like it was in good condition. Im going to have to open the cover, and drop the pan again to try and find out what the issue is. hopefully its as simple as a blocked screen.

 

Bummer, could be a walked cam bearing.

 

o-ring on the pickup tube

 

There are a couple things to look for when you do these jobs. Did you replace the oil pickup o-ring? Did you make sure to clean the pan out to remove all the metal from the pump exploding? Did you make sure a piece of the pump didn't actually end up in the oil pickup? Other than the light coming on do you have any other symptoms? Have you checked oil level? Did you check for leaks after you put everything together? While the oil pressure light comes on for low pressure if there is no oil that light is also going to come on. You said you got a used cover, did you replace the sensor? The sensor it's self could be bad. Just get it checked to see if fluid levels are straight, and that you are actually getting low pressure before you tear back into everything again.