Need help!! Still no oil pressure!!

[Marty394]

My L3010 HST lost oil pressure suddenly a while ago. I replaced the oil pick-up tube first then the oil pump. There is still absolutely no pressure. After installing the pump I pulled the engine stop lever and cranked the engine to prime the pump. After a while I let the engine start oil light is still on and the oil filter is empty. I need to find out if there is another place that the oil could be going.

Bob

 

[DaTow'd]

I worked on a 3 cyl. engine with no oil pressure
a plug in the cam shaft blew out and was sitting in the cover
good luck
Hank

 

[Marty394]

From what I've read my engine is different from those that had a cam plug. Also I've read that those that had the cam plug fall out, they still had about 7 P.S.I of oil pressure. My engine has absolutely no oil pressure. I can take the oil pressure switch out or the oil filter off and crank the engine with no oil leaking from either.

Bob

 

[85Hokie]

From what I've read my engine is different from those that had a cam plug. Also I've read that those that had the cam plug fall out, they still had about 7 P.S.I of oil pressure. My engine has absolutely no oil pressure. I can take the oil pressure switch out or the oil filter off and crank the engine with no oil leaking from either.

Bob

i have no idea how your oil pump is driven, but how do you know it is spinning? you sure the pickup is on securely ? Even a badly worn pump should move some oil.

 

[pmhowe]

I have an L4240. Its oil pressure light came on at a little over 100 hours. Plenty of oil, and the tractor was not abused. It didn't seem reasonable that there was a serious mechanical problem. I went to my dealer and got a new oil pressure sending unit, installed it, and it fixed the problem.

 

[kubotasam]

I am with Hokie on this one. It sounds like the pump is not turning. If you changed the oil pump you must have disassembled the front cover with all the gears that drive the camshaft and injector pump. I would think it would be obvious if something was wrong with the gear train that turns the oil pump. But some how it seems like the oil pump is not turning. Is it possible to remove the front gear cover and watch while cranking the engine?? ( don't know if this is possible or not)

 

[Marty394]

This engine will start and run. therefore I assume that the crankshaft gear is turning. The oil pump is directly below the crank gear. i installed a new key in the oil pump shaft when I installed the oil pump. the crank key was good also. I'm starting to wonder if there could be a crack in the block between the oil pickup and the pump. It could be sucking air rather than oil. Or maybe an oil galley plug missing, and returning the oil back into the oil pan.

Bob

 

[ipz2222]

If you have compressed air, remove the oil sending unit, make a fitting that screws in there and hooks up to your air hose. Don't use over 50 psi. May have to remove the oil pan to see and hear, but this should put you close. You could also fill the air hose up with automatic trans fluid and push it in. That would really show you where it's comeing from and won't damage the eng when you get it running

 

[Diydave]

does your pickup tube have any o-rings missing or cracked?

 

[Tooljunkie]

Dont know if this applies, but it was commonplace to pack oil pump with petroleum jelly to insure it would draw oil up from the sump upon first startup. The air in the oil pressure sender fitting sounds like the best option for tracking down the problem. I would start with low pressur and increase as necessary.

 

[Marty394]

Finally found the problem. I dropped the front axle and oil pan again to look at the oil galley. What I found was a spot behind the mounting area for the oil pump that looks like it was scraped by the crankshaft. In that scrape there appears to be a crack that runs vertically. When I pry the crankshaft front to rear there does not appear to be enough movement to allow the counter weight on the crankshaft to make contact with that area. Long story short, I'm looking for an engine for an L3010 D1503 if anyone knows of one available.

Bob

 

[Apogee]

Bob,

Is there any way you could clean the area really well and use marine epoxy over the crack? Might be worth a try before buying a new engine.

Also, there should be very little movement front to rear of the crank. If it's out of spec, you might check the thrust bearing to make sure it's not shot. If it's just worn, epoxy the crack, replace the thrust bearing and run it. I'm guessing it will work...

The other option would be to have the crack welded or brazed up. That would fix it for sure.

Just a couple of ideas. Pics would be helpful.

Good luck,

Steve

 

[Tooljunkie]

I agree with apogee, seems strange crank could contact block. Guess a couple whacks from the counterweight would cause damage, i cant imagine the noise it would make.

To get it welded, crank would have to come out and engine inverted.
As a last resort, it could be done.
As i have more time than money, that would be the route i would take.

I hope you can find your way through this,going in to check thrust bearing on a used engine may be time well spent.

 

[Apogee]

Bob,

The biggest issue to figure out is the "why" behind this failure. Was it a defect in the block from day one or did something else happen to cause it. Won't do a bit of good to repair it if we don't understand what caused the problem in the first place.

It almost sounds to me like there could have been a bolt that came loose and found its way down to the sump area. Or perhaps somehow a rock found its way into the oil fill hole (are there little hands running around or visiting?) Perhaps on the way down it got caught between the running crank counterweight and the block and that caused the crack???? Just and idea...

I'd be looking very carefully in the bottom of the oil pan to see if there is anything there that shouldn't be.

Regardless, need to solve the "why" so it doesn't happen again. Hate to be doing this repair twice.

Hope you're able to determine what happened.

Steve