Question : Oil pump drive quick fix N/A???

[Cidacious]

92 3.4l Auto. Lower mani is off. (did not want to pull crossover, I have ABS) Gentlemen, My OPD only lifts up until it touches the head, leaving only a fingernail's room underneath. Am I missing something, I imagined it lifting up 1/8 allowing to clean inside and room to squeeze black silicone and slipping gasket in. I gooped both sides of felpro dist gasket GM 350, but the felpro is to thick to get between OPD and block. Engine and components are original so its not like it is aftermarket head or OPD. PLEASE HELP GUYS!!

[60dgrzbelow0]

Why is it necessary to "clean inside" or around the interface between the Oil Pump Drive and the block OPD bore... was it leaking oil in that area of the engine block? If not...leave well enough alone and after spraying the narrow gap in between the flange face of the OPD and the block with some de-greasing Brake Cleaner... just mush in some HT Black Silicone Sealer... then gently push the OPD back down to the proper mating depth (flush) and torque it in place with the Hold Down Claw. It is possible that you may have one of the dreaded "Black "O"-Rings" that have the sad history of flattening, hardening... cracking and leaking... but if yours has been modded up to the newer PTFE (Brown) "O" Ring during prior repairs... then it probably will never leak for the rest of the life of the engine. Trying to get creative and wedging any gasket material under that small gap is an invitation to other problems... such as the fact that when you elevate the body of the OPD... you can slightly change the orientation between the OPD's helical gear teeth with the interface against the camshaft helical gear where there is already enough stress from the torque the two fight amongst each other with when the engine winds up and down the RPM scale. The other problem is that you might accidentally dislodge the OPD Drive Shaft and have them mis-align enough not to seat ...or if the shaft sticks inside the OPD hex end and gets pulled up high enough...it could dislodge from the Oil Pump and drop down uselessly inside the engine... and then you will find yourself USCTM.

There are some other experienced members here who have treated leaks on the OPD in very creative ways and a search here using expressions like "OPD Leak" will bring them to the forefront for your reading. If you've never seen any of these parts and pieces first hand and how the actual sealing is done, have a look at my Photobucket... I designed and built a very unique Oil Pump Priming Tool and there are other images of all the "Good, Bad...and Ugly" "O"-Rings and parts there for you to investigate:

http://s557.photobucket.com/albums/ss19/60dgrzbelow0/ANEWV6OILPUMPRIMINGTOOL/

...and for the part numbers, etc for the proper PTFE "O" Ring...this has the data you will need...

http://s557.photobucket.com/albums/ss19/60dgrzbelow0/GM34LNEWENGINEPARTS/?action=view&current=ACDELCOUPDATEDOPDORINGGM34L.jpg

[Cidacious]

Car only has 56k on it this is the first time the manifolds have come off, so it would have the original black. I have read many of the OPD fix posts but the way i understood was a useable gap with no drilling, and some posts with drilling. I don't want to drill either. What you suggest is push in some black rtv and spin it around getting it between OPD face and side of engine block shaft? I did my 3.1l OPD O-ring and the OPD face was flush with the block like you describe but this 3.4l's OPD face was almost all the way out of the shaft before I started... Claw bolt was VERY tight too. I know to pull the back head is the recommended and most permanent option... With the low miles I could have gotten another 120,000 miles out of the heads.

[walterdude]

Myself, I've never had one of those leak... Knock on wood!! However I have read about people cutting a notch in the top of that drive then rotate it to line the notch up with where it hits on the head.. You could gain a bit more room... I've also heard of grinding the head where it hits... Wouldn't advise that without CAREFUL checking,,, if at all.... Sometime, probably within the next week or two I'm going to be doing that exact same job on a friends 92 GTP... Guess I'll find out soon enough!!!
Good luck,,,
Tom...
Was the OPD unit all the way in??? Or was it sticking up a bit?? Don't really understand....
Here's a close-up of the culprit: http://60degreev6.com/forum/attachme...2&d=1192595611

[Cidacious]

Just like in your picture that was as far down as my OPD was with the claw tight. Is this the normal depth for a 3.4l? My 3.1l OPD went all the way down so that the wide flange was flush with the block.

[60dgrzbelow0]

Myself, I've never had one of those leak... Knock on wood!! However I have read about people cutting a notch in the top of that drive then rotate it to line the notch up with where it hits on the head.. You could gain a bit more room... I've also heard of grinding the head where it hits... Wouldn't advise that without CAREFUL checking,,, if at all.... Sometime, probably within the next week or two I'm going to be doing that exact same job on a friends 92 GTP... Guess I'll find out soon enough!!!
Good luck,,,
Tom...
Was the OPD unit all the way in??? Or was it sticking up a bit?? Don't really understand....
Here's a close-up of the culprit: http://60degreev6.com/forum/attachme...2&d=1192595611

Tom...

If you have to dive into this project... is there ant chance you could do a visual "Step By Step" on your repair? This subject raises its ugly head on a regular basis and perhaps a decent "sticky" in the repair section is in order... you are welcome to link to any of my images on my photbucket if that helps...

[60dgrzbelow0]

Car only has 56k on it this is the first time the manifolds have come off, so it would have the original black. I have read many of the OPD fix posts but the way i understood was a useable gap with no drilling, and some posts with drilling. I don't want to drill either. What you suggest is push in some black rtv and spin it around getting it between OPD face and side of engine block shaft? I did my 3.1l OPD O-ring and the OPD face was flush with the block like you describe but this 3.4l's OPD face was almost all the way out of the shaft before I started... Claw bolt was VERY tight too. I know to pull the back head is the recommended and most permanent option... With the low miles I could have gotten another 120,000 miles out of the heads.

"El Cid"... I'm still unclear as to whether or not it is leaking oil...NOW... If not... why not leave well enough alone? Also... It might be a good idea to seek some input from either Geoff Moore (betterthanyou) or John (Forced Firebird) here on the forum about whether it is necessary to do anything to or with the camshaft or not... The "Brim of the Hat" so to speak as you describe that flange really is supposed to be seated all the way down... it does not make any sense for GM to have designed that "Brim" as a resting place and support to prevent the OPD from dropping any further inside the block if it was not meant to meet flush with the engine block prior to being firmly "clawed" down. I'm thinking that in the absence of being able to completely withdraw it freely out of the block...that it might be hanging up on the cam gear and acting the fool about slipping all the way in. In a worst case scenario...with the tranny/gearbox out... you might be able to coax it all the way down if you had easy and open access to the back of the camshaft via the three bolt corked cover plate... or maybe someone here has tried moving the crankshaft (by means of a Rubber Belt Wrench wrapped around the Harmonic balancer) very slightly back and forth just a little via the usual slack in the Timing Chain to make the camshaft gear "relax" enough to get the OPD to seat itself all the way down. (In the old days... we used to say..."Put some Hair around it...and we'll MAKE it fit in there!")

[pocket-rocket]

That flange should be all the way down to the block. I wonder if the OPD is keeping it up. If it is, you could always stick a ratchet on the crank to turn the engine (and intermediate shaft) until the hex head design of the OPD falls into place. If it's torn down far enough to replace it now, I don't see any reason not to do it because eventually it WILL leak. That's me though. Any time I do anything on any 60v6 that has it down far enough where that little pain in the backside is accessible, I pull that puppy right out, goop it with some silicone and throw a Chevy 350 distributor gasket in there and call it good. I have yet to have one leak that way. Again, like I said, that's me.

[60dgrzbelow0]

That flange should be all the way down to the block. I wonder if the OPD is keeping it up. If it is, you could always stick a ratchet on the crank to turn the engine (and intermediate shaft) until the hex head design of the OPD falls into place. If it's torn down far enough to replace it now, I don't see any reason not to do it because eventually it WILL leak. That's me though. Any time I do anything on any 60v6 that has it down far enough where that little pain in the backside is accessible, I pull that puppy right out, goop it with some silicone and throw a Chevy 350 distributor gasket in there and call it good. I have yet to have one leak that way. Again, like I said, that's me.

P-R ... You beat me too it... The attached image shows a "Buzzard's View" of the raised portion of the engine block (like a turret on a Castle Wall) ...and yes... Tom's OPD is "Royally Flush"...

[Cidacious]

Walterdude's link showing the picture of the OPD is exactly how mine looked before I started. The Brim of the hat was definitely not flush with the block. only maybe 1/8 of the thing was actually recessed. And I know it is coming from there. I stored the car over the winter and when I went to start it up and drive, after about 15 minutes warming up in the driveway there was a steady stream dripping down along the side of the engine where dipstick is and pooling on the driveway. I pulled the aircleaner off and could see that it was definitely comming from trough. After pulling manifolds off, the back of the trough is dry it is just around the OPD that is all wet. I did in fact try the chevy 350 gasket method, cleaned OPD and block, but the opd lifts and makes contact with the head flange only leaving room for a fingernail to go in between OPD and block. Too thin to slip cut felpro gasket into, I tried. I don't want to cut metal to pull it up farther, so I will probably research pulling both heads. I don't want to stuff black silicone only along flange, while spinning and then push in with claw, and get the car all back together and risk having to pull it back down. It sounds like you guys think there is another problem with the OPD not going all the way down. Maybe I should try to rotate engine some and see if I can get it to retract all the way (brim flush) just as a test. As a side note last fall no oil leaks, no valvetrain noise, and great oil pressure. Claw bracket wasn't bent either, and bolt was tight before I started

[pocket-rocket]

If I have trouble getting one to seat, I usually will pull it back up, give it a slight turn and try again until it seats. At least our OPD isn't like a Chevy 350 (think big slot head screwdriver- only able to mesh in 2 positions vs ours having 6 being a hex design). The easiest way since it's probably just you working on it and you don't have the heads removed is to rotate the engine until it falls. I for sure wouldn't start that beast with it sticking up. Even with my 1/2 Dewalt driving an oil pump to prime an engine I got some decent amount of oil flow out of that hole, lol.

EDIT: The more I think about it, the more I believe with the way the gear on the intermediate shaft and the dist. plug are cut, if you turn the engine the way it naturally spins (clockwise when looking at the pulleys) it will want to suck the plug down when it hits the right spot on the OPD shaft.