(can see my other post)

Pls tell me YES or NO if removing and replacing an oil pump on a

350 engine automatic TransAm 1989 requires you to jack up engine, remove it from motor mounts to get clearance from a crossmember to get at and remove the oil pan ????

I called Autozone and a DIY friend and both said YEH it is cause of the crossmember in the way.

What is the crossmember ? What's it for ?

ARE there any schematic or diagrams or pictures of any stuff or components of car stuff (even if just general car pics) on this website ??

I guess I'm gonna have to pay $300-400 labor charges to my mechanic guy to remove the oil pan I guess (if I go the whole 9 yards).

I AM CERTAINLY NOT attempting anything like this MYSELF - got no tools and no knowledge or incentive to try this myself. I know I will just make it worse and get stuck in a worse bind.

THANKS

 

It requires AT LEAST that much work. It's not a fun job. Personally, if I were to do that, I'd just pull the motor completely out; it's less work that way than pulling it just partway out, and then laying on the ground underneath it, fighting it every step of the way.

The crossmember is the single largest structural member of the vehicle. The engine and the front suspension attach to it, and the rest of the car kind of sits on it. Details. Other than that, you could do without it.

But the first question one should ask, is why are you replacing the oil pump in the first place. They basically DON'T EVER go bad.

So, what makes you think you need to replace it?

 

I didn't notice... but now I see you're the guy with the loud banging, right???

Oil pumps don't go bad, and they don't bang. What has most likely happened is, you have a bearing asociated with the crankshaft that has failed, for whatever reason. If that has in fact happened, your motor is toast; and you could change the oil pump evey day from now to eternity, and it will never fix it.

The reason you have no oil pressure when the motor gets hot, is because there is SO MUCH CLEARANCE in that one bearing, that the oil leaks out faster than the pump can pump it back in. It doesn't matter how much oil your pump can move, the bearing has still already been destroyed, and will remain so until repaired; the lack of oil pressure is the SYMPTOM, not the PROBLEM.

Something must have happened to this motor to cause this to happen. I'd expect excessive engine RPM was involved somewhere along the line. But it's too late to worry about that now.

I would certainly not be paying somebody to swap an oil pump at this point; it's money totall wasted and down the drain. That WILL NOT fix the problem, it will only increase the cost between now and the time the car runs right again.

I would NOT recommend buying that cheap piece of crap Goodwrench 350, and putting it in your car. It is a downgrade in every way. Basically it's designed as a replacement engine for something like a phone company van. It is absolutely not a performance motor in any manner way shape or form; and it will produce less than 200 HP once installed in your car. In other words, FAR LESS than a 305. Don't go there.

Find another "mechanic", or sell the car, or find some one of your friends that has actual experience with this sort of thing. You're needing a complete motor tear-down and rebuild at this point. Some parts can probably be salvaged and re-used, but you need a crank and bearings at the very least. If no metal shavings have gotten past the oil filter, it might actually be possible to do just exactly that: replace the crank and bearings, without touching anything else. That's what I'd be looking to do if I was in your situation, if I could. Pull the motor, turn it upside down, and crank-kit it.

 

Yea exact same thing happened in my car, one of the main bearings went and I lost oil pressure. And in the process of all the excessive vibration and knocking I lost a head on one the main studs. I pulled the oil pan (yes you have to jack the engine up) and my oil looked like metallic paint. So I pulled the engine and Iam now in the process of a complete rebuild; crank, cam, rebuild heads, new valves, pistons, rods, timing chain, whole valvetrain bearings etc. list goes on. For me this was a good excuse and time to build my engine up to the way I wanted it. So for me Im kinda glad it happened because I get to make alot more hp now. But for someone like you this really sux and I feel for you man, I know how bad it is to have to get this deep into a project you didnt plan. I suggest you get some friends pull the motor and take your time read up and rebuild it. And hopefully you'll get that Bird back on the road soon

 

Umm...actually...oil pumps DO go bad, they have wear like every other part inside an engine, it does spin after all...I had 0 oil pressure at idle one day and a slight knock, and just had 2k on the engine so I decided to pull the pan and look at the bearings, everything loked OK so I put a new pump in...now I get 60psi at idle and no knock, did a new oil pump fix it?, yes. Yes, it sucked very badly, but I'd rather pay $15 for a new oil pump and put it in myself than pay a few hundred to have someone do it for me. Good luck, hope this works for ya.

 

That also reminds me, how long you drive the vehicle will determine what you do. If you drive it for awhile and get alot of knocking chances are you just chewed up your bearings and have a **** crank. But if you catch it as soon as it happens you should be alrite.

 

No, changing the oil won't really help.

Problem is, the block is full of passages that carry oil from the fiter to the bearings. The pump pressurizes the oil into these passages, with the 30 or 60 or whatever psi like your gauge shows. The passages carry the oil to the parts that need it. If metal shavings have got past the filter, then they're all in those passages, and there's only one way for them to go from there: INTO YOUR BEARINGS. And when that happens, the bearings get destroyed.

In other words, if what sounds like it happened really did happen, then most likely, your oil passages are FULL of metal shavings, and even replacing the crank and bearings won't restore it to health, because the left-over debris from the last blow-up, will eat your new parts too.

If on the other hand there are NO metal shavings downstream of the filter, then you're in luck: you can just replace the crank and bearings, and it'll be good. Sometimes it works out that way. It's not too hard to tell, usually; if ALL the bearings except the one that failed are PERFECT, and most specifically, are FREE OF DEBRIS, then you can crank-kit it and expect good results. If on the other hand there are score marks carved into the other bearings, then metal has got past the filter, and the WHOLE THING needs to be torn down and rebuilt. You can't clean out the passages with the motor assembled.

A real shop will not do the "jack it up" thing. Nobody in his right mind will lay on the ground under a car and do that job, in a shop with the equipment to quickly and easily do it the right way. "Jacking it up" is for non-professional people who do it themselves in their driveway. It's NO FUN AT ALL laying under a car and doing that job; the awkwardness of the position makes it take a way long time, and the chance for screwing stuff up like leaving dirt in critical places and oil leaks and such, is much greater.

Nobody's calling you stupid (well, not me, anyway). There's a BIG difference between "stupid" and "inexperienced". But you should understand, you are probably looking at an EXPENSIVE repair. And trying to minimze the expense, rather than trying to do the job right, will surely lead to disappointment. Which is not to say you shouldn't be careful what you spend; only, that you shouldn't make your decisions based strictly on what costs the least.

I wouldn't worry about a high-volume oil pump. You don't need one. If you DO end up getting this fixed, and you replace the pump, then get a Melling M55 pump (normal $10 pump), a new pickup screen (55-S - about $5), a new intermediate shaft with a steel sleeve (IS-55), and the Mr Gasket high-pressure bypass spring (part # 26 - about $4). That spring is the thing Stephen was talking about, in your other post.