Replaced the clutch, blew up the engine? - NO oil pressure

[DanHoug]

i know, i'm tilting at windmills. thing is, it takes just minutes to eliminate as a possible cause. i'm not saying it is a stuck piston, but it is so frickin' easy to check the seating depth that why wouldn't one do it if it is even a remote possibility. my last career was troubleshooting and fixing things in a radio station. it is far more time efficient to assume nothing, check every possibility, and go sequentially than to randomly try different things. two hours of sequential testing of the good advice offered here and this issue would be done. i'm frustrated but hanging in because i'm so curious as to what the final offending problem is.

as Frank Zappa said, "Who Knows?"
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-dan
60% of what you find on the internet is wrong, including this post.

'87 Westy & '89 Westy both 2.1 4spd

Past projects can be found at--
www.thefixitworkshop.com

[MarkWard]

You could connect vacuum to the oil pressure port and that should prime the pump and fill the oil filter. Of course engine off. We have a vacuum pot for bleeding brakes and sucking up fluids. It uses shop air to create a vacuum. Handy tool.
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☮️

[damagd]

[Sodo]

[E1]

Wiser heads than mine are on your case, but I still can’t help but wonder if the clutch blowup somehow caused more problems…
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‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[RolandD]

Thinking crazy here, was it in gear when you towed it? Like maybe even reverse?

Roland

[damagd]

[Sodo]

^^crazy notion, but logical wild guess^^
I bet an engine can survive a long time spinning in reverse but not firing, no full throttle power strokes.
This has gone on long enough some wild guesses might actually help.

Had you professed marriage to one brand of oil, then strayed to another?
They say oil can be vindictive.

Did you take the pump out and look at it?
I suppose you would have posted pics,

I wonder if Marco Mansi would have some tips.
He sells that oil pump with the O-rings to reduce suction losses etc and may have another angle on this.
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'90 Westy EJ25, 2Peloquins, 3knobs, pressure-oiled GT mainshaft, filtered, cooled gearbox
'87 Tintop w 47k 53k, '12 SmallCar EJ25, cooled filtered gearbox
....KTMs, GasGas, SPOT mtb

[damagd]

Been busy and took a while to get back on this. But just connected my shop vac to the oil pressure port and only got a little trickle of oil. Barely anything. Tried it with the oil filter on and tried it with it loosened. Oil pump cover plate was on the whole time. I did switch oils over the summer from what the previous owner had been using. Switched to Castrol GTX 20w50 from the Mobil 1 full synthetic 15w50 that the po had been using. But ran a couple of thousand miles with no problems until I replaced the clutch.

[E1]

Was the engine baking hot when totaling the clutch?

Did the old oil look normal? Does the new oil look normal? Was it overfilled?

You might consider draining the oil and doing the auto tranny oil trick — I’ve never done but others have and it works — or other method to cleanse all the galleys.
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[damagd]

[E1]

Sorry, I edited, you might read my post again…
_________________
‘84 Westy, 2.1L with Digijet, 5.43 R+P, GT Gears
"Adding power makes you faster on the straights.
Subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
— Colin Chapman

[DanHoug]

[damagd]

[damagd]

Back on this after a long break......Cranked with the key and a vacuum attached to the oil sensor. Nothing happened. I do get a small stream of oil dripping from the pump when I crank by hand with the cover removed. Took the gears out of the oil pump and blew a hose into the side port of the oil pump. Could definitely hear it gurgling. Reinstalled the gears and packed it full of vasoline and cranked with the key. A sliver of vasoline came out of the filter hole, but no oil. I think I'm pretty much at the end of the line and am resolved to pulling the engine and splitting the case. Pretty sure that the pickup must have become dislodged or clogged up. Unless there are any other suggestions? I did make an appointment with a local VW mechanic in a couple of weeks, but not sure that there's even much point in taking it there.

[DanHoug]

[damagd]

[DanHoug]

[damagd]

Finally warm enough out to really start working on this. Would like to get it going by mid-May. Tried sucking through the oil pump port hole and couldn't really get anything going. Since the gears of the oil pump spin freely and seem to be working fine I have to assume it's something internal and will have to pull the engine to split the case. One thought I had before I do that though, what about an inspection camera to stick up the oil drain hole or port hole? Would I be able to see what is going on from those vantage points?

[Sodo]