What kind of oil filter were you using? Really not seeing a smoking gun here. Pump looks good enough to make pressure, everything else looks "normal enough" to have oil pressure (maybe low, but)...so...my mind starts to wonder about a blockage of some sort.

Brian.

 

I dont remember what brand name the oil filter was but it was a OEM specified oil filter.

 

I have been gone a long time and only read back so far, here. but I am interested in the issue. So I am partly spitballing here.

The only time I have opened an engine and seen that heavy, flaking carbon (which appears to be gradually worse toward the back of the engine--therefore farther from the source of oil) was from a donor with a head gasket gap that allowed exhaust to escape to the valley. Of course, that was audible. But the point is that the lack of compression resulted in the same type of presentation. I may even have pictures of that flaking somewhere, but I recall it looked just like that. After all of the plug/wire/coil swaps, it seems a lack of compression is a likely cause, and oil starvation would result in poorly sealed piston rings. And failing oil circulation would be worse at the back. How does the rear cylinder wall look? And the pistons faces on the other side? Poor compression with venting to the crank case would result in a misfire.

I did not keep my rods in order--maybe not even oriented top to bottom--and suffered no harm, Julian. I had them all lined up and then bumped the pile and they got jumbled. That engine is still running fine on my truck, years after my last major engine surgery.

Also, as chronicled in my many, many errors years ago, causes of oil starvation were a broken oil pump (not present in your pictures) and RTV clogging of the pickup tube (not likely given your relative attention to detail).

Yet starved it was.

I have always used the oversized Mann filters since my oil problems as a precaution.

Our oil system is so simple, there has to be an obstruction in a passage somewhere if the pump key is in place and the pump isn't broken.

 

To be honest I assume the injection system was dumping fuel in that bank washed past the rings thinned the oil and it died

 

Oh, that is very good, Army! ... And you just reactivated some of my brain because I remember on the land rover engine I boogered, changing the oil and it came out watery... But it was gas thinning the oil. I recall pulling the dipstick first and it smelling like gas, and the oil level looking like it was INCHES too high. So I suppose the crank lobes were splashing gas inside of the engine on poorly lubricated metal. That sounds like something within my typical OSHA safety rating.

That was a bad injector just spraying a stream of gas. Yet another way I did violence to land rover engineering and my wallet. Hahaha! I can laugh now but it wasn't funny back then. I vividly recall that engine, having been painted red and silver, flying through the air like a Japanese Zero on its last voyage. I took it to a salvage yard and watched while they flung it to a pile using a claw trackhoe. That was satisfying and sad at the same time.

That would do it over time. If that was happening I would think the exhaust would have smelled like straight gas for awhile and an oil change would have revealed very watery/gas filled oil.

Julian, was the oil super thin and smelled like gas when you took that engine out? Any strange smells from the exhaust that suggested a failing cat? Or maybe an orange/glowing cat and caked grease at the front driveshaft? I had something similar on my Nissan Titan when a spark plug stopped working. But that truck and engine just soldiered on and still is, years later, sans catalytic converters which were clogged and then burned by gas, so I never saw the top of the cylinders. In fact, that thing runs like a scalded ape with 220000 miles plus.

 

There never was any petrol fumes apparent while the truck was running and the oil looked typical when drained. Dark and thick. However the cats must have been on there way out because everytime the truck started misfiring then the check engine light would start flashing and the cats would start glowing red. This is why I replaced the plugs and wires 3 times. Each time it seemed to resolve the misfire problem, only for the misfires to return weeks later. It was a ongoing battle trying to figure out why the engine was misfiring. Some folks suggested the maf might be bad. Despite getting no relevant codes to indicate a bad maf sensor I went ahead and swapped in a second hand maf and unfortunately made no difference whatsoever.

Even as I've been slowly stripping down the block I've found no evidence of fuel leakage. Only when I pulled out the fuel rail and injectors did I see any trace amounts of fuel. There was still some in the rail. As I mentioned before I replaced all the fuel injectors with remanufactured Bosch injectors a few months before the engine failed. Doing so did not stop the occasional episode of misfiring however. So to be clear. The truck never misfired before i had the Turner block installed. All the same wiring and auxiliaries originally fitted to the old engine were simply swapped over and installed on the new block. I had the mechanic install new plugs and wires during the engine replacement but kept the original fuel injectors and coils.

 

I remember when that Turner block was on the way and was excited for you, and also because I was really into Alaska at the time and everyone was hating on that place in Oklahoma that sells engines. Can't recall the latter's name.

The glowing cats means unburnt fuel making it into your exhaust, in my book. Which was the problem I had with my Titan from a bad spark plug. That would mean poor compression and a misfire, of course, which would be from any of the aforementioned problems.

I suppose another issue could be valves not closing properly. You can put water in the heads, off the engine, and see if it comes out of any of the valves, for a very unscientific test.

Hold on. Did you see fuel OUTSIDE of the fuel rail? That would indicate to me a missing, torn, or rolled injector o ring. Now that's interesting. I had a torn o ring when I put new injectors in and had immediate misfires and fuel at the top of the engine. Had to take it all apart again and replace the o ring. That would affect compression, the fuel spray, cause misfires, result in unburnt fuel in the exhaust, possibly wash the cylinder... That's a real possibility.

But if it was just inside the fuel rail then that's no issue.

 

Cats glowing red are a sign of fuel burning in the exhaust. I'm with army, this sounds like major fueling issue. Flashing CEL is one thing and ONE thing only. Catalyst damaging misfire, AKA completely dead cylinder and RAW FUEL entering exhaust.

 

There was no fuel leak on the block as I stated previously. When I pulled the fuel rail up and away from the block some traces of fuel spilt out of the rail. Otherwise dry as a whistle. Iam also aware of the damage caused by unburned fuel in the exhaust. The multiple cylinder misfires were the cause of the glowing cats and flashing cel. Everytime the misfires started the cats would begin glowing red. This is precisely why I replaced the plugs and wires on 3 separate occasions and eventually replaced the coils and fuel injectors. I never found any trace amounts of fuel while working in the top end. I was desperate and determined to stop the misfires. I brought the truck to the shop before the engine failure and the mechanic could not determine the cause of the misfires. I reached out to the mechanic who installed the block and he suggested replacing the injectors. I reached out to Turner and they originally suggested that improper installation of the flywheel and any possible damage to the flex plate could cause the misfires. But I've inspected the flywheel and flex plat and besides afew worn teeth on the flywheel no apparent damage or cracks. I reached out on here over a year ago as well. I did everything suggested nothing resolved the issues with the misfires. They would come and go.

 

Wonder if your misfire issue was a bad ECM all along? Heard of them getting wet, from leaky windshield. Anyhow, a misfire issue would not cause total loss of oil pressure (even if a couple cylinders were washed out). You'd just have low compression, carbon build up and poor running condition in those cylinders.

If that was my engine, and going by the pictures supplied here, after visually/physically checking each component...I'd check crank (if good), replace all bearings (plastigauge them), hone cylinders and re-ring pistons, replace all gaskets and any other item I found out of spec...and give it another go.

Brian.