JonSE-R
04-14-2002, 05:37 PM
I recently developed an interesting problem with my classic (a 93 with 103k mostly highway miles) and I was hoping the experts could shed some light on the situation. I fixed it no-problem, but was mostly curious if this has happened to anyone else. Here goes:
Not long ago I started getting a quick blink of the oil light in hard/fast right-hand turns. The oil level and mileage was fine, nothing was leaking, the pressure seemed fine, etc. My first thought was that the screen in the oil pickup was clogged, or the sensor/light was somehow faulty.
So when I went to change the oil last week, I removed the oil pan (primarily to re-seal it since it was starting to weep a tiny bit, but also to see if it would tell me anything about this small problem). Lo and behold, when it came down, the first thing I noticed was that the oil pickup was broken! The tube was snapped off right where it met the can/screen portion, and the pickup was essentially swinging by the support arm (held with one screw, on the opposite side from the tube held in with two bolts) and moving about 1/3" in either direction by hand. Hence the oil light - the damn pickup was moving around in the pan during hard cornering!
Luckily, I immediately went and pulled an old but intact pickup off a junk motor at Rosen Autosport (thanks again Eric!), cleaned it out, put it in, and sealed everything up. Then, predictably, there was no more oil light under hard right hand cornering.
The old unit is sitting here in two pieces, with a *very* clear
"tear" all the way around the tube, right where it goes into the can/screen part. (I can post pics later in the week...)
I think I caught it early enough to avoid a major issue. (As soon as the light started coming on, I stopped driving the car hard.) If I took some miles off this motor due to very brief oil starvation, so be it... the thing already shows 103k... but it doesn't look or feel or seem like any harm was done.
However, I am incredibly curious- has this ever happened to anyone else? Is this a part that fails on SR20DE's, that I've never heard of? Could this be something that has contributed to the oiling-related deaths of SR20's under hard use, that people might not ordinarily think of / look for?
BTW- Before someone asks, the pan was not dented or scraped in any way, as if I ran over something and broke the pickup in the process. In fact, the pan showed evidence of its original installation (specifically: precision torqued bolts and machine-applied gray gasket sealant, and it was starting to weep a bit as if it had never been re-sealed).
PS- Also before someone asks, the car has had 3k-mile oil changes since new and has never been raced or otherwise "enjoyed", except for some touring laps on road courses. It has even lived on Mobil 1 synthetic 10w30 for the last 50k+ miles between myself and the previous owner, and name brand dino oil before that.
Oh, one more thing, the bottom of the motor looked clean as hell, the screen in the broken pickup was totally clear, and there was *no* crap in the oil pan whatsoever. I could see nothing to indicate anything but a simple metal failure due to a defective factory part.
Thoughts or ideas, anyone? Thanks in advance!
Jon
Not long ago I started getting a quick blink of the oil light in hard/fast right-hand turns. The oil level and mileage was fine, nothing was leaking, the pressure seemed fine, etc. My first thought was that the screen in the oil pickup was clogged, or the sensor/light was somehow faulty.
So when I went to change the oil last week, I removed the oil pan (primarily to re-seal it since it was starting to weep a tiny bit, but also to see if it would tell me anything about this small problem). Lo and behold, when it came down, the first thing I noticed was that the oil pickup was broken! The tube was snapped off right where it met the can/screen portion, and the pickup was essentially swinging by the support arm (held with one screw, on the opposite side from the tube held in with two bolts) and moving about 1/3" in either direction by hand. Hence the oil light - the damn pickup was moving around in the pan during hard cornering!
Luckily, I immediately went and pulled an old but intact pickup off a junk motor at Rosen Autosport (thanks again Eric!), cleaned it out, put it in, and sealed everything up. Then, predictably, there was no more oil light under hard right hand cornering.
The old unit is sitting here in two pieces, with a *very* clear
"tear" all the way around the tube, right where it goes into the can/screen part. (I can post pics later in the week...)
I think I caught it early enough to avoid a major issue. (As soon as the light started coming on, I stopped driving the car hard.) If I took some miles off this motor due to very brief oil starvation, so be it... the thing already shows 103k... but it doesn't look or feel or seem like any harm was done.
However, I am incredibly curious- has this ever happened to anyone else? Is this a part that fails on SR20DE's, that I've never heard of? Could this be something that has contributed to the oiling-related deaths of SR20's under hard use, that people might not ordinarily think of / look for?
BTW- Before someone asks, the pan was not dented or scraped in any way, as if I ran over something and broke the pickup in the process. In fact, the pan showed evidence of its original installation (specifically: precision torqued bolts and machine-applied gray gasket sealant, and it was starting to weep a bit as if it had never been re-sealed).
PS- Also before someone asks, the car has had 3k-mile oil changes since new and has never been raced or otherwise "enjoyed", except for some touring laps on road courses. It has even lived on Mobil 1 synthetic 10w30 for the last 50k+ miles between myself and the previous owner, and name brand dino oil before that.
Oh, one more thing, the bottom of the motor looked clean as hell, the screen in the broken pickup was totally clear, and there was *no* crap in the oil pan whatsoever. I could see nothing to indicate anything but a simple metal failure due to a defective factory part.
Thoughts or ideas, anyone? Thanks in advance!
Jon