Oil filter contents 40 miles after IMS failure repair

[JFP in PA]

Originally Posted by Jamesp

You never know, things may not need to be sent out for cleaning for it to be done properly. Where's the fun in that? The fun lies in finding each and every void in the casting, figuring out what is does and how it fits in, and then figuring out how to clean it out. I've found 2 small chips out of the thousands that were in the engine. I'm not done searching yet, but I think the cleaning part went well enough. Who knows what I'd find if I sent it out and had some high school kid dump it in a tank?

The "fun" is in knowning it is properly cleaned out, and that I won't be finding stuff in the oil filter after 50 miles...........

[Jamesp]

Originally Posted by JFP in PA

The "fun" is in knowning it is properly cleaned out, and that I won't be finding stuff in the oil filter after 50 miles...........

And if you ship a head out for rework and it gets broken in shipping, as mine did, wheres the fun in that? Months of haggling with the shipper over insurance. Or you send a case half out and it comes back damaged? Which I didn't. I prefer to keep things in my control. All things considered I'll live with FOD in the oil filter that can fit under a fingernail and the knowledge gained doing it myself.

[Walter White]

Our company had an old VW beater for years as a go-fer car. We put over 350K miles on that motor and hardly ever changed the oil. It was self changing, we only had to add oil. We called it "The Exon Valdez".
But the point is, those VWs had no oil filter, only a screen at the bottom of the sump.
We sold the car, still running strong, passing smog no problem. God only knows how many miles it has on that motor now.
Sometimes I wonder how important oil filters are. Sometimes it seems the only reason I have to change them in my cars is to keep the oil pressure from getting too low.

[Jake Raby]

This is why ultrasonic cleaning of all components is required during the repair process of any engine.

There's no other method that will remove the debris as well as it lodges inside the passageways of the case and becomes caught in the rough casting areas of the case.

During operation, hot oil will wash this debris into the oil where it becomes suspended and then delivered to other components, or the replacement IMS Bearing, and the whole ugly process starts all over again.

Cleanliness is the #1 factor that determines the success of any repair made to these engines.

You guys must have never heard of a filtermag before :-)

Equip that engine with an LN Spin On Filter Adaptor and equip that filter with a filter mag.

This is all outlined here and was written from our direct experience.
Bearing already failing?

I would have changed the oil after 3 minutes of run time, then again after 10 minutes of run time and again after 30 minutes and again after 30 miles. Yes, you will change oil a lot, or you will waste an engine. Don't use synthetic oil for this, use some cheap conventional crap that you don't mind throwing away. It will generally gather more debris than synthetic oil will, anyway.

What hates material laden oil more than anything is the variable valve timing components and lifters. The ferromagnetic dust is the worst thing to have in the oil, because it goes everywhere as it is suspended completely in the oil. I'd rather have a handful of metal chunks in the oil as a pinch of ferromagnetic dust.

I learned all of this the hard way, by trying to resurrect engines in the old days when we first started IMSB development. All it took was one instance where my patch up didn't work to learn the proper corrective action, and exactly what should not be done. Knowing what not to do is more important than knowing what to do in these scenarios.

Judgment comes from experience, experience often comes from bad judgment.

Pull the sump plate and you'll find more material, clean it a dozen times and dropping a cow magnet into the sump isn't a bad idea, either.

Remember, for ANY MATERIAL TO MAKE IT INTO THE FILTER IT MUST PASS THROUGH THE OIL PUMP FIRST!

So all that debris thats in the filter, yep, it has taken oil pump clearance with it. Don't be surprised if come July and hot ambient temps the oil pressure light doesn't flicker at idle, because just enough pump material has been compromised to open clearance and create a low oil pressure issue. We see this all the time.