paper gaskets

[Testarossa]

I'm about to install the new oil pump and pickup tube. Each has a paper gasket. Normally I'd just grease the gaskets and bolt it up but since these joints get the max oil pressure and I expect them to hold for 100,000 miles I wonder if a light shmear of silicone gasket goo would be advisable.

[bmc5733946]

I would follow your first instinct. I seriously dislike using sealant of any kind in places that cannot be readily accessed. Hope Roper will be along to set us straight.

Brian

[Antietam Classic Cycle]

I'm about to install the new oil pump and pickup tube. Each has a paper gasket. Normally I'd just grease the gaskets and bolt it up but since these joints get the max oil pressure and I expect them to hold for 100,000 miles I wonder if a light shmear of silicone gasket goo would be advisable.

There's no gasket for the oil pump - it fits directly onto the case. The oil pipe w/oil pressure relief valve has one on each end and the pickup has one. I don't use anything - grease or sealant - on any of those.

[Testarossa]

Thanks, Charlie!

[bmc5733946]

Or Charlie!

Brian

[bigbikerrick]

I would not use silicone gasket goo anywhere in the lubrication system. Little "balls" of excess silicone can be problematic, and cause all sorts of problems with the smaller oil passages like in the rocker pins, etc. Actually, I cant think of anywhere on a guzzi engine where  RTV silicone is indicated
Rick.

[dxhall]

A thought on oil pump installation —

I put a Joe Caruso oil pump in the Centauro last year.  There’s no way to prime the pump on that motor, and when I started the motor, it had no oil pressure.  I even tried pressurizing the crankcase - no go.

I finally took the timing chest apart again and filled the oil pump with white assembly grease.  That did it.  I now think it’s easier to do that than it is to prime the pump on older motors by putting oil down the rocker lines. 

[Testarossa]

I finally took the timing chest apart again and filled the oil pump with white assembly grease.  That did it.  I now think it’s easier to do that than it is to prime the pump on older motors by putting oil down the rocker lines.

I'd been thinking about this issue. Thanks for confirming my suspicions, and for the neat solution.

[Don G]

I use a small hand pump chemical spray jug, put 3L of your favorite lube in it and connect it to the case where the oil pressure sender lives, pump it up and let the pressurized oil do its thing. I occasionally rotate the crank just cuz, it takes a while to bleed into the engine, if it goes in fairly fast you can expect that there is a oil clearance problem etc.  DonG

[dxhall]

The pump-oil-into-the-sensor-hole technique may or may not work, depending upon the way oil is routed through the filter assembly.  I spent quite a bit of time on the Centauro blowing air into the lines to trace the oil path, and concluded that it wouldn’t work on that motor.  The assembly grease technique is faster than pumping and is foolproof.

[Don G]

The pressurized oil through the sensor hole leads directly to the front main bearing as well as the cam bearing, then from the front main to the crank and oil pump, basically the filter is the last component to see the lube, way better than pumping your crank full of white grease!  DonG

[dxhall]

Interesting.  The Centauro doesn’t have a camshaft in the usual place - it has a plain shaft where the cam would be which holds the drive pulley for the two cams.  Next time I have a standard Guzzi motor apart I’ll do the same air tests and trace the oil flow.

As to the assembly grease being in the oil -  I always put cheap mineral oil in a motor after a rebuild, run the motor for a couple minutes, and then drain the cheap stuff and replace with good oil. 

[Don G]

Don't forget to change the filter as well, assembly lubes can and will plug your filter, the only place that I use assembly lube is on the cam lobes, if your engine has been pressure lubed no other initial lubrication is necessary, I have been in the engine rebuilding business for almost 40 years and never had a lubrication fault yet on fire up.  DonG

[Testarossa]

basically the filter is the last component to see the lube

Of course my T has no filter, so that shouldn't be a problem.  Would you change the lubrication-priming procedure for a non-filtered engine?

[Don G]

No, what you are trying to achieve here is to fill the lubricating circuit full of lube so when you fire her up she is already prelubed and ready to rock. Really for the $10 bug sprayer and the 30 minutes it takes to fill the system it beats all other methods hands down, like I said earlier, you can even tell if you have an oil bleed off inside the engine by the rate of delivery from the jug. Cant tell that with a pump packed full of grease, until its too late of course! DonG