Hi Everyone, So the fun just doesn't stop! The hoe was working pretty well finally so I started to do basic maintenance stuff instead of big repairs. Pulled off the oil pan to fix this stripped oil plug issue (now fixed) and found some shards of non ferric metal (aluminum?, Magnesium?) in the bottom of the pan. Not a lot but definitely a few, no idea how long they'd been there. Not filings consistency, more like triangular smashings or crumblings consistency. A mechanic buddy here told me pistons in this engine and parts of some roller bearings are made of aluminum. The pieces look like they could have been part of a bearing casing or something, or perhaps a bushing or a ring or something i dunno even exists. Don't have much personal experience working inside engines, usually need a mechanic whenever stuff gets to that point. Mechanic buddy is busy until next week and said I should leave it alone with the oil pan off until he can come and look at the crankshaft and rods and associated bearings and so on, just to be safe. Said if something there goes wrong it can ruin the engine. The engine's been working fine until now, it's one of the only things that's been consistently right with this machine. Anyone have any insight regarding little smashed crumbly alumium shards in an engine crankcase? To repeat, the thing's been working fine but the shards were definitely there. Thanks as always for any advice. Sebastian
Photos of the shards..?
No, they're gone... mostly broke up in my fingers while I was looking at them and were covered in oil anyway. Kinda triangular fragments of something that was originally circular, someone suggested pieces of piston skirt which seems like a real possibility after looking up what that means. Anything else that could fit that description? Thanks!
Without pics, its pointless.. has the engine been ethered to "help" start?? I'd say piston skirt too.
I found what I would describe as small strips of aluminum in an engine pan and it ended up being the bottom edge of a piston skirt causing by piston slap. You might run that engine a long time if that's the case.
Do you have a spare engine oil filter, or can you easily get hold of one..? If so, change the filter and cut a section out of the old one. Go looking in the bottom of the pleats for material. Here's a "how to" video from Youtube in case you've never done it before.
Hmmm, thanks Nige, that's a great idea. I'll do that. Pump Guy and JL, yeah it looked like it could've been pieces of a piston skirt, hope it's like JL says, that I won't have to mess with it right away. Pump guy, I have used the magic gasoline rag plenty of times to help start it, but not all the time
Been reading and for some engines they say the main bearings or rod bearings have non ferrous metal in them, anyone ever heard of that?
The overlay (bearing surface) of crankshaft bearings is usually a lead-tin blend over copper, all on a steel backing.
Hmmm.... could be something there too. Thanks Nige
Check for end play in your crankshaft, could be thrust bearing parts . Bob
Look on the oil pump pick up tube, you may have some residuals there worthy of pics. Look at inlet screen also.
I’m really interested in your problem and diagnosis as I also have a 310D. Are your the guy with over 20,000 hours on your machine? And I wish to say you seem to have connected with several very knowledgeable guys and I wish you the best of luck with this issue.
Hola Deon, Yeah, the thing is 21 years old and has 24,000 hours on it. I have it for personal farm and sporadic gig use cuz it's old and tired now. But dirt machinery here generally belongs to dedicated excavation contractors that view 1000 hours per year as a minimum or else it's not worth having the thing. Funny... old used machines here are cheaper than what i've seen in the up north market, even though they're way more expensive new. But they do have a heck of a lot more hours on them. You're absolutely right, I've been getting a whole lot of great advice from very knowledgeable people. I'll be trying all the suggestions out when i get a chance to crawl back under the thing. Post updates when I get some answers. Thanks again everyone!
So just an update... Sorry for the slow reply, life goes crazy even when the machinery is down. Mechanic dude came and pulled the thing apart and found the thrust bearing? and main bearings pretty worn. also some crankarm bearings? (I hardly know what this stuff is called in english, learning most of the tech stuff in spanish). Almost guaranteed the mystery metal shards are pieces of them. No piston damage visible from below, luckily, and the oil pump appears to be fine. We ordered a bearing kit for all the bearings that are easily accessible from below just to replace them preventive maintenace style. Gotta wait ten days for two weeks for them to come down from the states on a empty bananna boat. Not expensive parts, what's expensive is the two jobs ive already had to turn down cuz the thing's all disassmebled. Those customers aren't going to call me next time, they'll call the dude they found to do it this time. It's not even broken and i'm turning jobs down! Oh well, better to have found the problem before it became a catastrophe. There's a dude around here that has an old Ford backhoe and his crankshaft siezed up a few months ago and it was unpleasantly expensive. Thanks again everyone for all the advice! I'll post up when the thing's running again.
You may think the oil pump "appears to be fine" but if you're throwing all new crankshaft and rod bearings in it then IMO not replacing the oil pump is false economy. Where do you think the smaller of the "shards" you found got sucked to from out of the oil pan..? That's correct, they went right through the oil pump - fingers crossed the oil filter would have prevented them from going any further into the engine.
Hola Nige, I hear what you're saying but still hoping the pump isn't damaged. Mechanic dude said it looks okay. I didn't find this problem because anything was wrong with the engine's functioning, just dropped the pan to fix a stripped plug and found the metal shards. The oil pressure gauge always shows good pressure so that part i'm just putting back together and hoping it works. If oil pressure ever drops i'll turn the thing off right away. Also, backhoe parts are expensive here. And I mean like seals and bearings and clips. Anything with gears and housings and stuff is reaaallllly expensive. So i'll wait until it makes itself a blatant problem before replacing it. The bearing kit is in the country, waiting for it to go through customs. Turned down four jobs now so far... realized I should be telling people i'm "too busy" to do it for the next two weeks, not that it's broke down again! Thanks again for all the advice!
Well, you are "too busy" trying to get it running. So just leave off the last part!
An update: Replaced the crankshaft bearings and everything's been going great for a while on that front. Thanks everyone for all the help and advice!