No Oil... possible damage.

[kwaliph]

What's up Fellow Dsm'ers, I messed up bad and made a very costly mistake. I replaced the oil pump shaft seal and put the nut on the oilpump sprocket only fingertight because there was no belt on it yet and I wasn't about to grip the sprocket with pliers so I waited to put the timing belt back on. Naturally having done this same seal change 3 days in a row (Kept getting the wrong seal ) I flewby the fingertight nut thinkin I already tightened it. So it is running fine (its leaked oil since i got it running just not that bad) and all of a sudden the knocking comes. I look and low oil pressure and the motor keeps dying unless i give i a little gas to make it idle then its fine. I park it and tow it to my shop next morning to find out the crank has seized. The oil pump shaft made the whole it protrudes from oblong. I know I f***ed up pretty good. Now, I'm pulling the motor and need to know what to look for. The cam shafts move like normal and the the timing marks where right on. Am I just looking at rod and main bearings? Is it possible to replace these without removing the head off the engine? Is it safer/cheaper to just buy a used motor?

Thanks for your time.

 

[GVR4592]

You probably need to tear the engine down and bring it to a machinist for inspection.

 

[kwaliph]

Well I would do that but you see my other BIG problem is it is my only car and am looking for the cheapest/safest way to go about this with the LEAST amount of down time. I just dont have the time or money to take it to a machine shop. I was hopeing to luck out and use the crank from my 91 gst (took a nose dive into a telephonepole at 25mph ) with some new bearings and be good to go. I do ofcourse realize my chances of that are next to nada. I'm just tryin to go cheap as possible. If i need a new motor then that will settle it but i would like to expand my options before any decisions are made. Is it at all possible to replace the bearings (if that would be all that is wrong) throught the oil pan after the motor is pulled??

 

[GVR4592]

If you try to be cheap it's not going to work. Do it right or don't do it at all.

 

[kwaliph]

So replace everything (crank, rods, pistons, cams, followers, etc) or get a new motor? Is there no sense in attempting to rebuild with a different used crankshaft and new bearings? You see I'm not TRYING to be cheap. It just so happens I'm probably more broke than the next guy and simply do not have the income to fund a full teardown of the motor at this point in time. I imagine it would be cheaper to try to find a used motor running or even blown headgasket, broken timingbelt, etc. right?

 

[GVR4592]

I'm saying take it to a machine shop, let them inspect it and tell you what needs replaced. It might just need a new crank, resized rods, and new bearings. Just guessing what it needs and throwing parts at it isn't the right way to do it.

If money is that tight you should probably think about investing in a cheap daily driver so you don't have to rely on the dsm all the time, it makes things less stressful. There are a lot of vehicle auctions in my area and it's pretty common to pick up a clean daily driver for under $500, you might be able to find a similar auction in your area.

 

[kwaliph]

I see. So do you think it would still be cost effective to attemp to save what I have or go spend 200-300 on an used motor? I'll call around today to see what prices are to be had with the local machinists.

Thanks for you input.