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Triumph TR6 - Gunk in Oil Pan

Happy Holidays to all. Hope that everyone had great joy with family, friends and lots of food and drink. New Year's just a few days away and the end of college football for another season, so enjoy the bowl games. For those patient souls who may still be following my restoration adventure now into it's (too many) year, I've finally gotten to the engine. When I removed the oil pan there was about a 1/8 to maybe 3/16 deposit of a VERY thick gunky GRAY mess in the bottom of the pan. There was gunky oil atop this stuff, but the gray, almost cast aluminum color puzzled me. Why gray? What does this portend for my engine?? Any surprises awaiting further tear-down?

I washed the pan at the parts washer but had to use a putty knife to remove all this gray gunky stuff. The parts washer washed away the residue, but it took a lot of wire brushing to dislodge it and it did not dissolve very well at all.
db
Doug Baker

Doug

I had the same gunk in my sump when I cleaned it out last winter. At the time I assumed it was some sort of emulsion as a result of dumping the coolant into the pan by mistake, but thinking about it, I don't see how it could have formed such a thick mess and stuck like that to the pan. Maybe it is just the result of the bearings, timing chains and sprockets etc. wearing down? That's what I am going to hope, since those are items I replaced!

Cheers
Alistair
A Hewitt

I realized that I should add to my post above...the engine (TR6) has not operated in about 22 years!! The car is now 37 1/2 years old. Original mileage is 74K. I'm the 3rd owner. The 2nd owner began a half-hearted restoration, but abandoned it when his job moved him to another state and the car sat in his Dad's gargage for 18 years before I bought it about 4 years ago. The radiator, rear brakes and gas tank were all disconnected so I did not attempt to start the car when I got it, but began my restoration adventure assuming that whatever needed fixing would get fixed in the process. It's an attempt at a complete, frame off, down to nuts and bolts restoration, so I'm not too terribly concerned about what may have gone on in the engine unless, of course, I have to replace the block or other drastic measure. Thanks in advance for your thoughts and comments.
db
Doug Baker

Doug-Grey sludge=lead=bearing wear.
Berry
BTP Price

Berry, if you're right, given the amount of sludge, likely a new crank when I get the caps off and see the journals!@! Or at least a turning to something like 0.0020 or more!! Machine shop will take care of that. Looking at that behemoth of a crank, gotta be something lighter that'll still push those pistons up and down!! I read somewhere that when the engine was incresased to 2 1/2 liters the stroke was lengthened and the crank weight increased to compensate. Don't understand all that, but accept it.

Thanks for weighing in.
db
Doug Baker

GT 6 the same motor and head as ours. The only difference is the crank.
In fact my head is a GT6 head
DON KELLY

This thread was discussed on 29/12/2008

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