> ..........Immediately after turning off the engine
> after getting the 40lbs reading, I took off the oil filter. When I did
> that there was a release of pressure, like opening a shaken soda can.
> Is it likely that my oil pressure gauge is faulty and that my pressure
> is actually now too high? Didn't Steve Sage experience a similar
> incident? Perhaps the valve is not opening at all now. Am I risking
> serious damage to my engine?
>
> Christopher
Christopher:
I did have that experience. I've been told, however, that the oil system
will stay pressurised at the filter for a few seconds after shut down, and
this is not in itself a problem. There's a lot of oil activity going on at
that filter base. When I started the engine up once and had not completely
screwed down the filter, it took about two seconds to spray most of the oil
all over the engine compartment and the ground! A good imitation of the
Exon Valdez.
I don't remember if I've reported this to the list, but the cause of my
recent engine stopage appears to have been a failed cam retaining plate. It
had completely sheared and fragmented, allowing the cam to move forward,
throwing the alignment of the oil pump/cam/distributor gears off and
causing them to strip. Has anyone had a similar experience? I wonder if
instead a problem could have developed at the oil pump end of the cam,
causing it to somehow launch forward and damage the retaining plate, rather
than the other way around. Could this have happened?
Steve Sage
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Tue Sep 05 2000 - 10:48:50 CDT