sumping after rebuilt top end

[jarhead]

Recent top end done. New rings gaskets etc. I had the cam cover off to inspect cam etc. 99.9999% gears are timed correctly. Oil tank is empty and put new oil in. Start her and sumping like crazy.Turn oiler off,still have the same problems. Take the case bolt off and drain whats left in the case. I have the primary cover off and a clear tube off the chain oiler /breather. Sumps again and slowly clears up. I go for 3 mile ride no problems. Let her cool and go for another 3 miler, just pull into the driveway and she is sumping like crazy. Would these symptons indicate the breather gear is off one tooth? Or the oil pump needs to be "burnished" I don"t understand how she was alright one moment and now sumping. Please enlighten me.

[Cotten]

Jarhead!

Burnishing the ballcheck only helps static sumping (when the motor is not running.)

Is oil returning to the tank?

....Cotten

[jarhead]

yes Mr. cotton.....

[Cotten]

It still might be a sheared key in the return side of the pump, catching sometimes and spinning free sometimes.

Wet sumping (as opposed to static sumping) usually results in smoking and fouled plugs.

To pour out the breather intermittently is certainly a chin-scratcher...

....Cotten

[jarhead]

Started her today. Sumped a little then stopped. I will do this for the next couple of days and keep a eye on it. Then go for short trips if all is well. If not, I will get into the oil pump soon enough. Thank you for the reply.

[jarhead]

Well my problems persisted, so I disassembled the oil pump to see If I had a sheared key. All three keys were fine. Her are two pictures of the pump body..

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100_0676.jpg

To my untrained eye the pump body is not scarred and gears look good. Question ,.. Ideally, would the gears protrude somewhat form the body? Is paper gaskets the way to go? And is torqueing the pump to the engine to the right specs. critical to oil pump operation?

[fourthgear]

Yes the torque on the oil pump nuts are critical , you can bind the pump up and shear keys or key ways and I believe its in inch pounds.I use paper gaskets, but some pumps can be temperamental.They show both types for all years , even for S&S pumps.

This sumping started after the upper end job was done ? It could be a coincidence , but if every thing was OK before , I would look there. Some thing could have been dislodged or introduced into the system to cause a intermittent blockage some where .

Have you done a compression check? As Cotten pointed out ,hows your plugs ? They should show some thing one way or the other.

[jarhead]

Yes the sumping started after the top end was done. She doesn't smoke ,and the plugs are fine. In the original service manual, it doesn't say anything about gear protrusion in the pump body. Any thoughts on this?And when putting the pump together, anything placed on the gaskets, such as gasgacinch? I'm thinking at this point my sumping has something to do with my oil lines. Too restrictive. I will be replacing them with rubber hose very shortly. Here is a older picture..

Picture011.jpg

[fourthgear]

I see no spec's on gear protrusion . It does say to wet the gasket before assembly with water, so that tells ya some thing about the type of gasket . It is possible to have a partially or blocked oil feed and that would dump the excess oil from the pressure relief valve into the gear case/breather area,your scavenge may not be able to completely evacuate it from the gear case breather area. Just because you have return oil does not mean you have oil feed to the motor. You may want to check that pressure relief valve assembly to make sure its not binding or has a weak spring . That's the spring plug on the side of the pump.

[jarhead]

O.k sounds good. I will check the pressure relief valve assembly and will describe my results shortly...