Found these in the oilpan

[Seth_O]

...Also, before you go and buy bearings, look at the rod that that main feeds to see if the rod bearing has failed and taken the crank with it.

Can you explain this one for me a little better? Not sure I follow, and if I need to do it before I order parts it's next on my list.

 

[WillWagner]

The rod is the last place to get oiled. If the main feeding the rod is damaged, there is a good chance that the rod bearing is damaged worse than the main. If it were mine, I'd do a bearing inspection first....drop them down one at a time and have a look see. Remember, mains wear the bottom shell and rods wear the upper shell

 

[plym49]

Can you explain this one for me a little better? Not sure I follow, and if I need to do it before I order parts it's next on my list.

What he meant is that the crank is cross-drilled. Of the oil that goes to a main bearing, some drips back to the pan but a lot goes through the cross-drilled hole to feed a connecting rod bearing. If junk got into that main bearing, then some junk could have gotten to the associated rod bearing.

I am not aware of any requirement to replace the rod bolts, once opened. AFAIK they can be reused.

The pieces you found are a little reminiscent of wadded-up edges from a thrust bearing. See if you can 'see' the thrust surfaces of whichever main bearing has the thrust bearing incorporated into it. It might be the rear, and probably is, but some engines have it elsewhere and someone will chime in with that information.

A question is 'where did this material get into the oil circuit?'. If the pieces are bigger than the screen on the oil pickup tube, and the screen itself is in good shape, then either something failed that is part of the oil circuit, or detritus was in an oil passage as a result of previous sloppy work.

If it is the former, then perhaps a piece of main or rod bearing; maybe the thrust bearing. If you check the oil flow from the TM you can see what likely areas could introduce chips like you found that are after the oil screen. It is also possibly chips left behind that were lodged inside an oil passage somewhere, maybe even in the oil passage within the crank, that finally worked their way out.

Could the pieces be from the lower edge of a piston skirt that got 'wedged up' as they were hit by the passing crankshaft throws? Eyeball the bottoms of your pistons. (Absent any other problem there should be no reason why an edge of piston skirt would break off unless it had been disrespected upon assembly.)

This is where the detective work kicks in - the fun part of it - good analysis and discovery can, depending on what is found, make you feel good about not having to tear the whole thing apart.

 

[plym49]

One point of clarification on my previous post: it looks like the pieces you found in the oil pan are themselves too large to have been circulating through the oil passages. Probably, it was smaller pieces of whatever they were that got caught up in that main bearing. A whacked-off edge of a thrust bearing could explain the material, their shape and appearance, and how smaller bits went through the oiling system.

 

[WillWagner]

You have a single or double cylinder air compressor?

 

[Seth_O]

Double.

 

[Srjeeper]

Old School....

Seth....while it may seem like a very old school thing to do, cutting your oil & fuel filters open is like reading a newspaper about what's happeneing in your trucks engine.

I've been doing it for 45 years and it's how I know what's going on before it leaves me sit.

Let the fuel or oil drain for a day or two, lay the filters on their side and cut the tops off with a hacksaw. Pull the element out and open it up on a piece of cardboard....check in the groves to see whats there. Now the hacksaw will not leave cuttings in the groves so don't fret over that, but what you find in the groves is whats starting to wear in the motor. Always check both sides of the element. When you turn it over be sure it lays on an unused part of the card board. Sometimes small pieces fall out from between the folds and this way you'll be able to see what type material it is. Be sure to check the bottoms of the filter can too for stuff.

There will always be some particles in a filter...but if you do this regularly you'll see when a certain metal particle starts to increase from one change to the next. If I see something that I'm not real sure about, I put it in an envelope and see if and how much shows up the next change. Different metals have different looks so that will help to point you to a possible trouble spot inside.

I find sittin in the shop reading whats caught in a filter is way better than sittin on the side the road waiting on a tow truck..

 

[03silverado]

I would inspect replace your bearings then put Lucas oil stabilizer in when you change your oil and let it ride you said it ran good when you shut it off run it till it gives you problems could run 20 minutes and throw a rod could run 10 years without a problem these old engines aren't as picky as newer vehicles

 

[WillWagner]

Double.

One of the cylinders could have taken a crap. Usually what is in the pan consists of piston parts...some times, sometimes just the rod breaks, the piston and top half of the rod stays in the cylinder...rod pieces parts, maybe bushing parts. But the drain on a multi is small. It might be worth it to pull the comp and see whats in the crank area. Just a thought.

 

[Billy Bobbed]

Dont over look the turbo its aluminum and is oil feed from the engine,just a thought.

 

[WillWagner]

None of the parts in the center housing are aluminum in the turbo. The bushings are bronze.

 

[Seth_O]

Dont over look the turbo its aluminum and is oil feed from the engine,just a thought.

I actually have the turbo off as I am doing HG on the truck right now too - fortunately it is in great shape - tight, good spin with no play in any direction. The silver lining in all this

 

[Seth_O]

Ok, I need some counsel from folks smarter than me. I pulled my bearing caps and all my mains (except one) look brand new. The one exception has some wear on it, but nothing catastrophic, in fact it doesn't even look like it has to be replaced.

Is it possible the rod bearings could be bad even though all the main bearings are in such good shape? That seems unlikely to me. I don't have whatever funky sockets I need to get the rod bolts off, so I haven't checked them yet.

What other engine components are made of aluminum? I am going to check my compressor still and I need to pull the head for a new gasket

 

[73m819]

Yes, still be a rod bearing

 

[plym49]

Don't the rod bolts just take a 12 point socket?

 

[Seth_O]

yeah, I thought at first that they were torx bolts, but they're 12pt sockets.

So I pulled all my main and rod bearings, nothing bad enough to need a change. The worst one was the one I uploaded the picture and the rest looked good or really good.

Guess I'll pull the compressor next week when I am back in town.

 

[plym49]

Good news! Congrats.

The 'bad' bearing shell you found - could you swap the inserts top to bottom? There is more stress on the lower main bearing inserts.

 

[Seth_O]

Further developments: I got the bottom end all buttoned back up and finally got everything stripped off the heads today. I pulled the pushrods, and found the below on rods between pistons 5 and 6. Looks like debris inside got bounced around maybe? Anyone ever seen anything like this? I haven't pulled the heads yet (only had time to build the CH bolt tool and loosen the bolts.) I also found that when I pulled one of the rods up, it pulled out the round sleeve in the block between the top and bottom half that the rod goes through. I should be able to get some pic's when I get the CH's off (tomorrow?)

I admit I was surprised when the CH tool I fabricated worked. I just have a cheap-o HF welder, but it penetrated well and the thing worked like a champ, not bad for $8 and 20mins of fab time....

 

[SCSG-G4]

Seth,

If you want to replace all the poppet valve push rods, send me a PM.

 

[ken]

Another possablilty? Mabye when the engine was overhauled they cocked/stuck a cylinder liner. Then hammered it in the rest of the way with a lead hammer. I too have found lead in the oil pan when swapping a LDT enines oil pan around to install it into a 5TON. It was a overhauled engine in the can.