possibly blew a new engine...help?

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gmchevroletruck

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Put in a remanufactured motor from a reputable engine builder, one that I have purchased and used an engine from before. 350 Chevrolet truck motor, TBI. Took our time, thought everything was being done correctly, but something is wrong. Upon startup, ran great, sounded good, but noticed no oil was going to the top of the motor (no flow visible in the filler cap hole). Removed valve cover enough to get a better view and this was confirmed. We had used the drill-driven oil pump primer before hand, and it was showing oil pressure on the dash gauge, and primed the motor by turning it over till it showed pressure on the gauge (cranked it without fuel pump fuse in place), then started it up. Symptoms are this: even after running for about 2 minutes, no oil is on the valve springs or rocker arms etc, indicating lack of oil to the heads. I had been told by a more knowledgeable mechanic friend that possibly the thick assembly lube was plugging up the inside of the pushrods, and that if it was ran shortly, it may warm up that assembly lube and dissolve it, enabling the oil to flow through. We ran it shortly, about 2 minutes or so, and it sounded great, until...still no oil flow to the top of the head was visible, we were about to shut it off and regroup, and... a noise appeared. It was hard to pinpoint the source of the sound, appeared to be coming from under the truck. After a frantic brief search for the source of the noise, we shut the motor off. It sounded like someone was banging on a heat shield, it was pretty loud. All exhaust bolts are tight, and the noise was not there till after running it for about 2 minutes or so. The pressure gauge on the dash showed 55 psi oil pressure at idle, although peculiar to me was that when the motor was revved, it did not move up or down, but that may be a minor detail.

I am very worried that whatever just took place costed me a brand new motor, to the tune of $1300, which is hardly a good thing obviously. Any ideas or helpful advice would be greatly appreciated. This has never happened to me before.
 
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I ran into something like this long ago on a 300 I-6 Ford. The engine builder installed the cam bearings wrong. There's a hole in most push-rod auto engines that needs to be at least somewhat aligned to the oil galleries.
 
Call the vendor and explain the condition. I might leave out the 2 minute thing without seeing oil. A SBC should be immediately looking like Niagara Falls up top. Not so with some other engines.

Say: Good pressure. No flow up top.

..and see what he/she says.
 
yes. it's a reman, "fleet motor" from an engine builder in Nashville. I'm going to double and triple check everything on my end before I go that route, to be sure it's nothing we missed. I know the oil pump drive-shaft (that 2 piece shaft, with nylon "coupling") is installed and driving the oil pump off the distributor, the oil pump pickup was installed at the proper angle, oil pump was primed prior to use, etc. Still scratching my head. Had great luck with them in the past, not sure what this could be.
 
Sounds like you were very thorough. I would put the onus on the engine rebuilder. The problem is the people that put the engine together might not be half as meticulous as you are....

You have oil pressure and coolant flowing through the engine. What more do you need?
 
That is weird. When I rebuilt my 392 IHC a few months back the cam bearings were not installed perfect so I drilled em out to get the oil holes lined up correctly. But they probly would have worked as they were.

I guess it's possible that someone didn't install your cam bearings correctly but hard to believe since every machins shop in the world could rebuild a 350 in their sleep.
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
That is weird. When I rebuilt my 392 IHC a few months back the cam bearings were not installed perfect so I drilled em out to get the oil holes lined up correctly. But they probly would have worked as they were.

I guess it's possible that someone didn't install your cam bearings correctly but hard to believe since every machins shop in the world could rebuild a 350 in their sleep.


Could have been a freak thing.
 
Ya, that makes sense. It's only the most common engine ever. May not be the "best", or the "worst", but they've surely done a few of them
 
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My bet would be that they made a mistake. You can do something a thousand times, and you will make a mistake at least once. It can't be perfect every time.
 
that would all make sense...it ran fine for about 1-2 minutes, sounded great, timing was dead on, couldn't be happier. Then, it started the noise. It was probably being lubricated by the assembly lube until it warmed up enough to thin out and run off, then WHAM lol. I just hope it was not error on my part. We'll find out soon enough
 
Either way, I would suspect it will cost $300 at least to have that re-done by a machine shop...hopefully the engine builder will make good on their warranty, if it is indeed their doing. That may prove challenging. Most folks are not real fond of giving away parts for free, if they can get out of it.
 
Sounds like the cam bearings. Everyone makes mistakes, maybe they were training a new guy who knows. I would call the builder tell him you primed everything and quickly noticed no oil was making it the head upon starting it, yet you had pressure. Tell him you immediately shut the engine off.

If you paid for the engine on a credit card you can always call the CC company and dispute the charges if you are not happy with the engine builders handling of this.

I found over the years the way to tell if someone is reliable is how they handle problems if they ever arise. No one is perfect, its how things are handled in these situations!
 
Because there are holes in the block that must line up with the holes in the cam bearings to allow oil to flow to the top of the engine.
 
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