TR6 Thrust washers in sump

[JimmyBb]

I pulled the sump of a tr6 today to find a couple of thrust washers hiding deep in a mountain of sludge that was in the bottom of the pan. The end float will get checked tomorrow now that I know what the washers do. My question is how would the washers come out. They do not look worn, and it looks like they have been in the pan for quite a while.

 

[TR3driver]

Normally they would only come out when badly worn. But possibly someone had them fall out before, got the subsequent damage to the crank & block, then just stuffed new washers in without dealing with the damage. That might let them fall out again.

Having found them, I'd definitely drop the main cap to see what is going on. Another (remote) possibility is that someone was so sloppy they left them in the pan. That seems incredible, and yet I found that someone had changed a broken timing chain on my Stag while leaving a piece of old chain roller in the sump. Scared me when I found it, then made me feel silly when I checked both chains and found they were perfect.

PS, another remote possibility might be if the main cap was machined to accept another thrust washer half, but the work wasn't done properly.

 

[JimmyBb]

With a quick dial setup, not accurate, I get .076 movement on the crank. Yes thats hundreds not thousands. Going to assume your first conclusion that there was crank and block damage prior to the last work done on the engine. So the question now is there any salvage with the block? Can this be repaired?

 

[dklawson]

The saying is that anything can be repaired with enough time and money. Unfortunately, you won't know the extent of the crank and block/cap damage until you get the engine taken apart.

 

[TomMull]

With a quick dial setup, not accurate, I get .076 movement on the crank. Yes thats hundreds not thousands. Going to assume your first conclusion that there was crank and block damage prior to the last work done on the engine. So the question now is there any salvage with the block? Can this be repaired?

Not meant as a wisecrack, but .076 is not surprising with the thrust washers in the sump. Like Randall said, you need to get that rear cap off. Tom