joedobner wrote:
I just got the rebuilt motor for my Reliant back from the shop, and I tore the old one down to figure out what that nasty clunking that had developed in Sanford was. The #3 main's bearings had been chewed up but the oil hole was still halfway aligned, and the #1 rod's bearings was spun hard. I couldn't seem to find any reason the motor would have gotten oil starved. The pump was fine and the galleys were clear, and nothing was obviously obstructing the oil pickup.
Key word: obviously. I cut the pickup open and found a fistfull of RTV chunks that had gotten sucked up and wedged in against the screen. All it would have taken is for one chunk of RTV to have come loose from somewhere and gotten sucked against the remaining open area (the only part that was visible from outside the pickup), and bye-bye bearings. Whoever had serviced the engine before I bought it had a real fondness for RTV, and put it places where it wasn't supposed to go--like the oil pan gasket and water pump housing. I discovered a bunch of RTV in the pan when I'd dropped it to remove the balanace shafts and check the clearances when I'd transplanted it into the Reliant, but I hadn't thought to check inside the pickup. Costly, aggravating mistake.
I havent tore my motor down that I blew at VIR. But I bet that is PROBABLY what happened to me as well. I used RTV in someplaces that I probably shouldnt have.
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