[mike.rock.n.rol]

My engine only had 18k miles so I used the oil pump as is.

 

[mike.rock.n.rol]

Thank you for your input!

 

[kgschlosser]

I hope you get it sorted out. It sounds like a pickup tube issue or possibly a pump issue. Both you should be able to address without having to pull the transmission and oil pan. There should be enough space to see inside the oil pan when you take the timing cover off.

 

[mike.rock.n.rol]

I hope you get it sorted out. It sounds like a pickup tube issue or possibly a pump issue. Both you should be able to address without having to pull the transmission and oil pan. There should be enough space to see inside the oil pan when you take the timing cover off.

This is the picture of my old block.
This is the place where I believe the issue is in the seal.
How do you recommend I seal it without dropping the pan?

I guess if the opening on the pan is smaller i could take a wire and put a generous amount of sealant hoping it will fill the gap, otherwise I'm not sure what else I can do.
Notice how on the left side the hole is enlarging to the left. Sticking any sealant there would be really hard

 

[kgschlosser]

I didn't say you can replace the seal. I said you should be able to check to see what is going on.

I thought the oil pickup tube is round and inserts into the pump which is attached to the front of the engine block..... Let me dig up the shop manual and have a look see at what is going on.

 

[mike.rock.n.rol]

here is a manual if you need for future reference:

Solstice.zip

drive.google.com

I pulled the pump today.
There is a bit of a play. Captured it on a video:

New video by Michael Ignatysh

photos.app.goo.gl

Also here is what it looks like, there is a bit of scuffing, but it is nowhere close to the gaps that this thing has. I'm surprised there are no gaskets of any kind...

 

[mike.rock.n.rol]

So I measured the clearances between the lobes of the outer and inner gears, those are very tight. I could not stick in a .01 filler gauge there. more like 0.05 The outside to the outer gear to the pump body, I was able to stick in 0.1 very tight. Top of the gear relative to the body of the pump with a ruler on a top, very even. 0.05 did not go through.
So I conclude that clearances are within specs.

Next, I took a piece of tape and made a hole in the middle. inserted a 1/8 barb through the tape and sealed it with a piece of tube on the other side.
I covered an opening from the oil pan with this tape and connected the other side of the bar to my fluid hand pump. It wasn't tightly sealed I could hear it leaking.
Nevertheless, 2 pumps later I had a solid stream of oil flowing into my canister. This makes me conclude that my oil pan seal must be good. Thank god!

I have packed my pump with vaseline, will install it back, and test the flow again. It must have been cavitation...

 

[kgschlosser]

Let me get you the GM service manual for the pump. this way you know what the tolerances are supposed to be and also the correct rebuild procedure.

 

[pscartozzi]

I posted this above but did not get a response. The neutral shaft delete kits have a known history of losing oil pressure if the bushings are not installed perfectly. Have you considered this. It describes the problem you are having and it seems like you are going down a rabbit hole here with a pump that seems to have great tolerances.
I don't have the delete kit. I researched it on youtube and watched various vids where the reviews were not glowing, from the perspective of performance and complexity of the install.
I know this isn't a clear definition of how to fix it, but something to consider at least.

 

[kgschlosser]

I believe the OP has the balance shafts in place. His oil pump has a lot of scoring and I suggested replacing it. He used the oil pump from the old motor. I would assume that the old motor detonated and that is the reason for building a new engine. I am not sure tho. If that is the case then chances are the oil pump got trashed when the motor grenaded. I also mentioned the pressure relief valve and it possibly being stuck open or maybe the OP forgot to move it over to the new engine. It does need to be lubed up really good that way it doesn't stic when the engine is initially being primed.

There is a lot of scoring on the pump gear and also the timing chain cover.

 

[pscartozzi]

Yes, I can see the scoring. I would think that if that was an issue he would see diminished oil flow, not none at all. Just spit ballin here.

 

[kgschlosser]

you would think. then you also have to remember the engine is only going to be spinning at 200 RPM. It's not going to be putting out anywhere near the volume and pressure it should be from the git go and the scoring may be enough to kill the pressure to the point where it's not able to move the oil through the galleys.

 

[kgschlosser]

I am thinking if the just moved the timing cover and didn't dismantle the pump and pressure relief there could be something stuck inside the relief and it's holding it open. The oil pickup tube should be visible from the space when the timing cover gets taken off. If the tube fell out you would see it wasn't there. That would be the only other thing that I could think of that would be the issue.

Where he is checking for oil is at the sending unit. The oil goes from the pump into the filter and then to the sending unit. he not getting any oil at a location that should see oil long before it would get to the balance shafts.

There is only other possibility and that's the fitting that is screwed into the block where the sending unit is He put a tee there to attach the oil feed line for the turbo. If that fitting is too long it could be blocking off the oil flow.

 

[Lou O.]

I hope the OP reads this before its too late.....Packing the pump with vaseline is not a good thing to do. It will plug up the suction ports and you may wind up with another badly scored pump.

We used an assembly lube in the engine plants (GM, Ford, and Chrysler) that looked like KY jelly. (Typical viscosity)

It gets out of the way quickly and will melt with oil pushing on it. Vaseline is too thick and the oil will not dissolve it.....Use caution here.

 

[mike.rock.n.rol]

An update, I ended up packing the pump with vaseline and after a short crank got a solid flow. It was a pump cavitation issue at the end of the day. Thank you for your input!

 

[pscartozzi]

Great! Free repairs are the best.
Would like to know more about your turbo LE5

 

[kgschlosser]

It's not an LE5. it's a bored out and stroked LHU

 

[pscartozzi]

It's not an LE5. it's a bored out and stroked LHU

I didn't catch that. I saw the 2.4 and assumed.
Just for my curiosity, how did you ascertain this is a bored and stroked 2.0 and that he did that work. I didn't see that mentioned in the thread. I goggled LHU ecotec and it states a gen 2 designation and he said it was a gen 3.

 

[kgschlosser]

He send me photos of the engine block. It's a sand cast block not a lost foam block. and there is no 2.4 made that will drop into a solstice that is a sand cast block. The LHU is a drop in block and because it actually has cylinder walls and not sleeves it can be bored out and stroked up to a 2.4. The LDU didn't come boosted so the galley plugs on the right side of the engine are not drilled out and neither is the oil return hole. There are places where it can be drilled and he had asked a machinist about drilling it and the guy didn't feel comfortable about doing it because of not knowing how deep to drill and the potential of hitting a water jacket. I don't think the machinist knew that the places are marked where to drill and how deep can be measured in the oil pressure sending unit port on the opposite side.

 

[mike.rock.n.rol]

This is a Frankenstein))

This was a LE5 which I converted to have a k04 turbo.
I quickly realized that I want more top end and more power in general, so I decided to upgrade to EFR6758 which will run on E85, and wanted a proper motor for reliability.

So the build is:
2.4L sand-casted bare block into which I installed forged pistons and rods, and new bearings. The crank, oil pump, and timing components came from the old block. The old block had 18k miles and was perfectly fine, with no issues.
I took the LE5 head ported it and installed new performance LE5 cams from ZZP.

Now I'm trying to put it back together, brake it in, and it will get a new tune after that.
My tuner said it should be runnable as is for brake-in.
I guess as long as I don't put into boost before that I'll be fine.

After gathering info from multiple sources I came up with the following plan:

1) So far I'm planning to start the motor with synthetic blend Valvoline 5w-30 (could not find regular oil). Run for 20 minutes and keep motor between 2k-3kRPM.
2) Drain oil, put in comp cams brake in oil
a) Drive 30 minutes while shifting low 3-3,5k rpm.
b) Now accelerate 2k-5k and let it engine brake. Repeat 6 times.
c) Switch to the regular driving mode for some time
d) Repeat b. Maybe do this cycle a few times as separate drives.
Drive 125 miles like that. Drain oil.
We are done here.
Put in Mobil-1 synthetic and add comp cams brake-in additive. Go to my tuner and hit it hard.

I drive about 1k miles a year in this car so next summer new oil change. I have a second bottle of comp cams brake in additive so each consecutive oil change will get half of it.

Sounds reasonable?