Oil pressure and thrust

[Crazi]

My oil pressure drops when my convertor locks. Is this a sign of bad thrust? I posted this on another thread but didn't get an answer. Any Ideas? I am pulling the pan tonight to check it out but want to know what to look for.

 

[motorhead]

You see you aren't being very descriptive of the symptoms here.

1) TCC engages clutch.
2) RPMs drop.
3) Oil pressure level lowers.

See the relationship here?

Also the locking up the convertor should have NO adverse effects on the thrust bearing of the engine. UNLESS your convertor is ballooning... the "lock-up" is strictly internal to the convertor... it does not engage the engine/flex plate in any way.

Save yourself some grey hairs and leave the pan on.

However, if your oil pressure is dropping off 20-30psi then you might have something to worry about... but if this is the case you may as well leave pulling the pan off until the engine is out, on a stand, waiting for a rebuild.

HTH,

 

[Crazi]

Pulled the pan and notice that all the rod bearings were fine. went ahead and changed them anyway. Figured something else must be going on and pulled the main bearings. The 2 and 3 were showing copper and the number one had a streak. I haven't pulled the rear yet.

I thought rods would be beat from detonation not mains. I also did a search and found that if it was oil starvation, the mains would go first. My oil pressure looked great all the way until I pulled the pan but what go me wondering was the oil pressure dropped from 25 or so down to 18-20 at idle.

The thrust looked normal to me I guess. I have never seen one but it was showing copper all the way around. The bottom and top of both sides between what I guess are oiling reliefs looked more worn then the rest of the surface.

A buddy of mine who races chevy's said to look at the back of the bearing and look for discoloration. There was some discoloration but it seemed to wipe off with my finger if I rubbed hard enough.

Any opinions or ideas?

 

[Crazi]

TTT