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Stragest things you have seen

He who turns wrenches

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 3, 2011
Messages
50
Location
So Cal
veh type aircraft a/c truck, keeps airplanes and refer units without apu's cold while at the gate.

The ac unit power unit was a ddec 8v71 it was mounted on theback of a ford f700 and it had no oil pressure. after checking the oil level and finding none I added to the correct level. Now it had very low oil pressure. I deided to pull the pan and to chek the pump and pick up and screen.

That was easier said than done, after removing all the bolts I could not remove the pan, I rechecked to see if I had missed any bolts and tried to remove it again. After many failed attempts at trying to seperate the pan from the block I decided to try a biger pry bar. by the way the engine pan sat at a height of about 5 feet off the ground, acces fron the side of the unit.

Still no go, what the heck is holding this dang pan on. I got one of the other machanic's to assist me and we still could not remove the pan. After awhile I stated to think that someone had j b welded the pan to the block.

I finally got one mechanic on the inside and 2 of us on the outside of the truck with long pry bars and and we pried like heck. It slowly started to give way, it took anonther mech to help sepeate the pan.

When the pan released it fell hard and fast and we could not believe what we saw. the bottom of the engine around the crank was solid sludge, And I mean solid. It didnt even gravity drop.

The pan weighed a ton and was full to the top with more sludge except where the pattern of the pick up was. We sent the substance out for analysis.

Instead of adding oil or bringing the unit in for proper service some of the mechanics were just adding STP, analysis told us that was what it was. we found the night mechs that were supposed to pick up the units and bring them in were doing this because they were mad at the company.

I ended up removing the valve covers and cleaning as much as possible then I used heated solvent to clean out the rest.

Amazingly after inspecting the rod and mains they had very little damage, I polished the crank journals and replaced the rod and main bearings and gave it a tune up. I hooked up a remote oil supply and pump and flushed the system as best I could.

I was there a few years after that and it was still running pretty good after I left, no problem with the oil pressure.


:beer::beer:
 
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rwhite692

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 4, 2008
Messages
1,850
Location
Central Valley, CA
Wow, That is a weird one. You'd think someone would have questioned why they were purchasing STP...and it must have been a lot of it. Had the unit not been located in Southern California, it probably would never have been able to start in a cold weather situation...the "oil" in there would be like molasses, LOL.
 
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seagravedriver

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 4, 2010
Messages
314
Location
Puyallup
Had a fire engine go in for brakes. They ran out of time and only did half. The right SIDE only! Stopped kinda weird. We don't use that shop anymore.
 

econoaddict

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 30, 2007
Messages
422
Location
Oregon
I had a caddy come into the shop with the same as the original post.
Pulled oil pan and found it full except where the pickup was, block was full everywhere except where the crank/rods/pistons compacted the gunk out of the way. Pulled valve covers and it looked like they were still on even after removing them. Lifter valley was full up to the intake bottom as well.
Not sure how it lasted as long as it did, owner just had us install a new engine.
 

ishiboo

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 27, 2010
Messages
9,481
Location
Oshkosh, WI
Those old Detroit's are will probably go down as the greatest engine series in history in my book :) IMO one of the staples of the American roadway, after the GM cars/trucks with the 350, are the 71 and 92-series Detroit's, especially in the MCI's of the 70s still strong competitors to this day.
 
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