>
>not
> all of the oil stays in the sump. It's only when it all drains back into
>the sump that the
> dipstick will register FULL. When the engine is running, the oil is
>dispersed
> throughout the engine, so if you are running less than at least the ADD
>mark
> the oil pickup tube may well not be below the level of the pick-up tube.
> Even if it is, going around a corner can slosh all of the remaining oil to
>one side.
> Suddenly you're running dry. In my TD, I've noticed that the rocker box
>will start
> to fill with oil pretty quickly.
>
>Anything short of running on FULL can cause you to pretty quickly be sucking
>air.
>
This thread is beginning to scare me. I can't believe this theory. First,
aren't
there baffles etc. to keep the oil from splashing and going to one side in the
pan when going around curves? How much oil is being pumped and not in the sump
at any given moment regardless of revs. I have no idea as to the exact figures,
but I would assume that only a quart or less is in the engine at any one time.
I
was always taught that only microns are necessary on the moving parts, bearings
etc. A quart is a lot of oil . If a quart is in the engine, and a quart is in
the filter, the pick up must need very little to still work. I have seen
engines
down over two and a half quarts still running with plenty of pressure. If the
pump starts to suck air, I can't conceive that the system doesn't break down in
seconds.
In early T types the pumps aren't self priming. Yet I have never seen an
engine low in oil lose prime. Maybe I'm wrong. I have been on a 7500 mile trip
with 50 T types (NEMGT REG Ocean to Ocean run in 1986) and we had every kind of
problem imaginable, but not this. One car was loosing oil so fast on this trip
that the owner had strapped two 5 quart containers onto the running boards.
As to rod bearing replacement, I have, along with every person I have
converted to MGB ownership ( MGs are a religion) insisted on having the oil
pump and rod bearings changed before they do anything else regardless of how
the
engine ran . None of my converts have ever had a loss of pressure or engine
failure. The bearings are changed with the head on I think because the cost is
fairly reasonable. I'm anxious to resolve this question of low oil as it does
concern me.
Mike (where is the dip stick) Leckstein.
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