[Z OH 6]

Originally Posted by race24x

I did call Jannety this morning and I think I am going to pull the engine and take it to them. I have a lift and I was a GM tech years ago. The money I save pulling it myself would pay for the cam I want I could replace the oil pump but would rather have someone who has seen a million of these engines look at it and give me some assurance that I didnt hurt anything else. Just a bummer I am very sad. I left the car show with my brothers, one has a Mustang the other a Dodge Charger. Dont think I will ever hear the end of this.....

They have their own issues so I wouldn't worry about it.

[Z OH 6]

Originally Posted by ctrlz

These pumps all seem to fail at the exact same point, 6:00 position in your photo where the metal is thinned at that semicircle for the pivot.
Despite subsequent "revisions" in the part number, I doubt they altered the metallurgy that goes into the piece that fails. That housing is breaking at its weakest point, probably due to cavitation.
A stronger casting by an aftermarket supplier is what I would go with.

My personal approach is to stick with 10w-30 for the long haul. As I have posted before, this pump we all have was originally designed to eek a few extra MPG out of the Chevy cruze, and GM subsequently plastered it across many engine platforms.

In a failed pump, it would be interesting to compare the leading and trailing surfaces of the vanes. That would be to see if there is pitting on the trailing side like you get with a boat propeller, a sure sign of cavitation.

Regardless of what you think, the 2019+ pumps don't fail like this. I don't know what changed but they're a LOT more reliable.

[george]

Originally Posted by Z OH 6

Regardless of what you think, the 2019+ pumps don't fail like this. I don't know what changed but they're a LOT more reliable.

There should be an examination of the metal composition of the two oil pumps to verify that an inferior product was used in the 2017-18 pumps and a recall issued.

[Z OH 6]

Originally Posted by george

There should be an examination of the metal composition of the two oil pumps to verify that an inferior product was used in the 2017-18 pumps and a recall issued.

It was addressed in a GM tech bulletin. There will be no recall because it doesn't affect safety.

A recall is issued when a manufacturer or NHTSA determines that a vehicle, equipment, car seat, or tire creates an unreasonable safety risk or fails to meet minimum safety standards.

[FH212]

Originally Posted by george

There should be an examination of the metal composition of the two oil pumps to verify that an inferior product was used in the 2017-18 pumps and a recall issued.

Should that happen? YES. Will that happen? NOPE.

[race24x]

OK sorry guys need to bring this back to the top as I am going to tackle the job myself. Just wondering if besides waterpump gaskets, RTV gasket sealant, new harmonic balancer bolt if there is anything else I can or should get ahead of time to make sure job goes smoothly? Looks like 3 weeks until my foot is healed enough to be out there walking on it and working on the concrete. I have a lift and I have one of those engine stands that sits on the top of the fender seams and holds the engine up. I am hoping that will allow me to drop the cradle far enough to get to the oil pump without having to drop entire motor.

[ZLRob]

Originally Posted by race24x

OK sorry guys need to bring this back to the top as I am going to tackle the job myself. Just wondering if besides waterpump gaskets, RTV gasket sealant, new harmonic balancer bolt if there is anything else I can or should get ahead of time to make sure job goes smoothly? Looks like 3 weeks until my foot is healed enough to be out there walking on it and working on the concrete. I have a lift and I have one of those engine stands that sits on the top of the fender seams and holds the engine up. I am hoping that will allow me to drop the cradle far enough to get to the oil pump without having to drop entire motor.

Just like Janetty previously stated, it's a not advisable to do this in vehicle especially if you're going through on a DOD delete setup as well as a cam. There's too many moving parts and too much to try and do with the vehicle body interfering amongst it all. At the end of all this you're going to need to reseal the oil pan gasket and the timing chain cover as well and it's SUPER difficult trying to work with all that as there is oil dripping down. Additionally there is an integrated sensor into the front cover which is difficult to work with because of the slack that it allows or lack thereof should I really say.

All main gaskets, is what I would recommend, cam bolt, DOD delete kit, lifters of your choosing, cam of your choosing (I stuck with an LT1 cam stock profile with an oversized fuel lobe), a Katech oil pump, and an LME billet solid tensioner. As the stock tensioners are a contributor to oil pump failure.

As for RTV, I either recommend you use GM's super tacky RTV or Hondabond, which is super tacky as well and works amazing in forming a very durable, solid RTV barrier when applied correctly on surfaces.

Don't forget to bring patience to the job! I did this at home myself with the hand of some of old co workers to do the heavy lifting for me, and from start to finish it took about a month due to waiting on items to arrive (BMR engine mounts) and waiting for them to get some time off to come help with it. Make sure once you are in the reinstall process that you apply some anti seize to all of the studs and nuts that hold down the exhaust that way you aren't fighting that stuff in the future.

After you have installed critical item parts like the cam or are reinstalling the HPFP and running a larger lobe than OEM always give that engine a few turn overs by hand to ensure nothing is binding or seizing. I know you said you were a GM tech in the 90's so some of this stuff you will know already, but the amount of tech they put into these vs. the 90's engines can be a little intimidating on the surface if you aren't familiar with DI or VVT on these pushrod engines. I have owned this car since 2022 and did the engine build a year later without not being super well informed about DI, and it was intimidating at first because I wasn't familiar with all of it but as it came apart I found it was not as bad as I made it out to be in my head. Hope this helps!

[race24x]

I should have been more specific sorry. I am only doing the Oil Pump. Replacing with a new Katech and putting the car back together. I am pretty sure that you can replace just the oil pump by using a engine hoist that mounts on the strut towers to hold your motor up and pull the rack and crossmember out. There is a video from a guy in Sweden I think that was pretty good about showing the big stuff.

[ZLRob]

Originally Posted by race24x

I should have been more specific sorry. I am only doing the Oil Pump. Replacing with a new Katech and putting the car back together. I am pretty sure that you can replace just the oil pump by using a engine hoist that mounts on the strut towers to hold your motor up and pull the rack and crossmember out. There is a video from a guy in Sweden I think that was pretty good about showing the big stuff.

Yeah it's doable, but I still think you would spend more time dealing with issues that physical constraints produce (the entire vehicle frame and body) rather than just pulling the thing out and sealing it up properly from there.

Not that it's my own vehicle so I have nothing to lose in all this, but if you're going in there for that you might as well do the rest because you are still leaving other potential failure points in place that can fail in very short order. Those OEM DOD lifters are just hot garbage and can wipe out the cam in the process when/ if they fail.

[pauly1119]

I have a 18 ZLE and did the katech pump last year. I had zero issues but only had 7k miles. I use to make fun of the people that swapped them out with no issues but the stories kept piling up and became hard to ignore. I also did the timing chain and tensioner. I would make the change to a katech pump no matter what year I had. I still see plenty of failures on different forums on 19+ cars. I believe it’s just a bad design that aftermarket engineering was able to improve.

[george]

Originally Posted by pauly1119

I have a 18 ZLE and did the katech pump last year. I had zero issues but only had 7k miles. I use to make fun of the people that swapped them out with no issues but the stories kept piling up and became hard to ignore. I also did the timing chain and tensioner. I would make the change to a katech pump no matter what year I had. I still see plenty of failures on different forums on 19+ cars. I believe it’s just a bad design that aftermarket engineering was able to improve.

Agree! No doubt that there is an issue. Technically it is also a safety issue should the car failure occur at highway speeds in busy traffic.

[Z OH 6]

Originally Posted by george

Agree! No doubt that there is an issue. Technically it is also a safety issue should the car failure occur at highway speeds in busy traffic.

It's not a safety issue or there would have been a recall. Typically you get a warning light letting you know your oil pressure has dropped. You have time to get out of traffic. Some people still drive them short periods even after the light although they shouldn't.

[nighttowl]

Originally Posted by Z OH 6

It's not a safety issue or there would have been a recall. Typically you get a warning light letting you know your oil pressure has dropped. You have time to get out of traffic. Some people still drive them short periods even after the light although they shouldn't.

Yet the chevy trucks are being recalled for bad oil pumps?

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by nighttowl

Yet the chevy trucks are being recalled for bad oil pumps?

Which recall is that? All I'm aware of is the crankshaft issue that they recommend to patch up by using 0W-40 oil, and the A10 recall due to bad valve bodies.