Its not the oil seal!!!! (lump in sump)

[utey]

Removed the harmonic balancer only to find no trace of the copious amount of oil that was covering the under side of the engine and cross member.
Spotted a large lump in the sump.
Car started and drove ok no strange noises.
Guess something has come adrift and put a hole in the sump, lump about the size of half a tennis ball.
Any ideas.

Nick

[Brad]

Hello utey.
               Looks like you have something loose in the motor and you will have to pull the sump off  to investigate . You can remove the sump without pulling out the motor by draining the oil then unbolting the front engine mount and either loosening off  the side engine mounts or unbolting them as well. Jack up the front of the motor just enough to get the sump out,not to much though.
Not sure about the side mounts as I used to do it about 30 years ago on my mates FC as it regularly dropped the number 5 big end bearing due to crank flex.
Once the sump is out , have a look in the sump and you should find what the big end or crank tried to push through it.
   I would advise you not to even start it again until you have looked at this as it seems that something half the size of a tennis ball is trying to escape from inside the motor through the sump you may end up with a big hole in the side of your block.
  You say that it has been running with this problem and still is so hopefully you will be able to fix the problem without any more damage occurring.
       Good luck, hope this helps
                       Brad.

[utey]

Not only a lump!







Looks like a $5 repair has got a bit more expensive

Nick

[Brad]

Nick
I wouldn't even try turning the motor over by hand after seeing your photos .
You need to get the sump off and find out what's lying in the bottom of it.
Its just a guess but I think you will find a bearing cap in there . If as you said it drove home with no noise than it may not be to expensive to fix . The old greys were built to last ,and they do.
 Looking at the pic's it hard to believe that it didn't sound like a hammer mill when it was running .
 Good luck with it.


                Brad.

[utey]

Thanks Brad
I'll crawl under tomorrow and see if i can take the sump off. I think I will have to remove the steering linkage as well (HR cross member and steering)

Nick