TurboBerserker

iTrader: (1)

You guys can probably agree that I ran my STS kit for longer than most on this board (in fact, I was one of the guys that helped them tweak what pressure the oil buzzer should come on at...). I can say that I went through several pumps -- mostly because of changing turbos, etc., -- only one failed pump, and I knew about that because of the horrendous rattle it made (the buzzer never went off although the pump sounded like loose bolts in a can as it was still pumping and I changed it out before it came to total failure). I can also say that what took out my motor was not a failed pump and it was not my fault.

One 15 amp fuse, one failed pizo electric buzzer (the original one I got with my prototype kit) and 10 minutes at idle killed my cam bearings. No, it wasn't 6+ quarts of oil pumped out either. In fact, none of the stock GM oil warning stuff was on in my truck, and yet my cam bearings were still toast.

I realize many of you have an investment in this oil system being perfect. I'm okay with that -- but to say that oil system will never take out an engine is just plain naive...

My advice is to test your buzzers, pumps, etc. regularly. Make sure your hobbes switch controlling the buzzer is in working condition at the same time.

Brian is mostly right -- the oil system is the weak link -- but it's the warning stuff that's crap. Well, that and the fact that once the warning buzzer goes off, you have like 1 minute to safely get off the road and get the motor off... You know what? Gravity doesn't need a buzzer -- you know when it fails right away, and you have bigger problems than worrying about your engine if it does

Z06Ted, if you low oil pressure light was going off, you need to check your oil plug for metal.

ZO6Ted

Thanks Erik, the buzzer worked but not the dash light. The buzzer went off under full throttle only after the guy turned up the boost to 15. I took it home later after some tuning because torrential rain moved in. The next morning I noticed milky oil coming from my oil breather (the stick looked normal) so I made the drive back to his shop about 25 miles away. When I got close, I pulled over and made a few boosted launches in 4hi through 2nd gear. I figured if I was going to have a problem, I wanted it to be there so I hammered the **** out of it. As I pulled in to his drive after another WOT I saw my oil pressure go to 0-10 lbs. I shut it down immediately. After thouroughly cooling off we found it had full oil pressure when cold and only 10 or so at idle when warm. He kept my truck for 2 months and couldn't figure it out so I picked it up. The motor is out of the truck and so is the sts kit. Think my motor is hurt?

TurboBerserker

iTrader: (1)

Unfortunately I do.

Since it's out of the truck anyway, pull the pan and look for metal shavings. It sounds like you've crunched a bearing to me.

Wilde Racing

iTrader: (26)

Erik, who build your first engine? the one the cam bearings failed in? Again, I would have to agree, the oil system is the part I worry most about...

ZO6Ted

Ok, I'll get that done in the next few days and repost. Thanks again for your help Erik. My motor was built by Eric at HKE. I have confidence that it was not the fault of the builder. With all the bs I've been through after the purchase of the vehicle, I would not spend 26k on mods to do it again. I was told the original builder destroyed the motor by dropping the cam before they shoved it through the bearings anyway. It ran great for awhile until again, same shop tuned it too aggressively and destroyed 6 pistons including a hole in one of them from severe detonation. Next I did, forged short block, Patriot stg 2 heads, eaton posi, built tranny, cam, lifters, ported oil pump, intake, tb and more with this result. Now I know how Spoolin' feels.

ZO6Ted

I said I would repost when I knew more. There is bearing material in the pan. The oil was still clean but there are fingernail sized shavings in the pan. Erik at HKE said they don't warranty any power adder engines at all but they would help me out the most they could. He also said many power adder autos eat the thrust bearing depending on the converter used? It was supposed to be built for a power adder. Is this normal for all builders? Not trashing, just asking.

ZO6Ted

Any comments guys?

vanillagorilla

iTrader: (1)

I think it's horseshit. Manual trannys are known for being harder on thrust bearings. Especially ones with stiff clutches and pp's. Unless your converter was seriously balooning, which you would know, then they're tyring to point the blame somewhere else.

What converter are you running? Do you sit on for long amounts of time while trying to build boost? How much power are you making?

ZO6Ted

When I had the engine built I had the tranny completely rebuilt and converter tightened to about 2500. It is a PI triple. Didn't stand on it for more than 3-4 seconds but we turned up to about 15lbs. Didn't dyno but it would spin most of the way through 1st in 4hi.

KySilverado

iTrader: (7)

Hmmm... I have about 60K miles on stock engines with power adders ~10 psi and automatic and haven't lost a thrust bearing.