# Oil pump pickup



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

I started ours yesterday - good bit more work even than I had anticipated. Wasn't able to get the spindle broken free from the ball joint in order to get the axle out, and that's where I stopped yesterday. Will be back at it here in a few.


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

Mines going good so far. 
Oil pan off in about 1 hr 15 minutes. 
Spent too long trying to find a socket for the turbo drain(?). Ended up using 6" vise grips, wasn't tight luckily.


----------



## Detrious (Jul 5, 2017)

How hard was the old pump pickup seal?


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Diesel Dan said:


> Mines going good so far.
> Oil pan off in about 1 hr 15 minutes.
> Spent too long trying to find a socket for the turbo drain(?). Ended up using 6" vise grips, wasn't tight luckily.
> View attachment 297925


How did you get the axle out? I've been fighting with the **** ball joint for hours. Absolutely will _not_ break free. And I can't seem to get enough room to push the axle out of the splines in the wheel hub without that.

The drain bolt you're speaking of is probably the PCV breather - has a stupid tamper proof bolt on it?


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

Detrious said:


> How hard was the old pump pickup seal?


Definitely not as soft as new.


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

MP81 said:


> How did you get the axle out? I've been fighting with the **** ball joint for hours. Absolutely will _not_ break free. And I can't seem to get enough room to push the axle out of the splines in the wheel hub without that.
> 
> The drain bolt you're speaking of is probably the PCV breather - has a stupid tamper proof bolt on it?


Yes, pcv...couldn't remember if that or turbo drain.
Ball joint, just removed pinch bolt and pulled down.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

You definitely got lucky - but being in TN you might not have to deal with as much road salt as us up here which really furthers that galvanic corrosion.

I just finally got mine broken free - took a nice combination of the new deadblow I bought, long ass pry bar, pickle forks (just inboard of the boot) and my good old still-heavy metal hammer. The shock of the metal hammer against the pickle fork really is what broke it free. But it still wasted plenty of time. Ugh. But at least the axle is out now.


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

It's first 2 yrs were NE ohio, then moved here.
People outside the rust belt have no idea the fun they are missing 😅


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

It's all back together, working on checking transmission fluid level now.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Diesel Dan said:


> It's first 2 yrs were NE ohio, then moved here.
> People outside the rust belt have no idea the fun they are missing 😅


Oh, I know full well - my '81 Z28 spent its entire life up until 2016 in the Los Angeles area - taking that vehicle apart is a comparative dream than all of our other cars (the oldest of which is my '07 Cobalt - though it hasn't seen winter usage since probably 2013).

Yeah, now I am at the point of trying to get the intermediate shaft out - it should split right at the bracket but it seems to have no interest in that. Trans fluid is already drained, need to get this out then I can at least get the oil drained (and get my sample - should have done it yesterday when the oil still had some heat in it, but I didn't want to even start with any of this until I knew the exhaust would come off), and hopefully get PCV breather off.


----------



## AdrianCTD (10 mo ago)

Awesome work, I wanted to tackle this task my self as well. But I’ll be going out of town for a week so I’ll have my mechanic do this while he does the timing belt. I opted for adapter with viton orings vs the original seal


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Took a little persuasion but I got it split at the bracket and now all that nonsense is out. _Now_ I can drain the oil.


----------



## BDCCruze (Jul 12, 2017)

TY for sharing guys. I suspect I'll be doing this sometime soon since I have a few other seeping issues I want to address.

What are the part numbers for the exhaust gaskets?


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

AdrianCTD said:


> Awesome work, I wanted to tackle this task my self as well. But I’ll be going out of town for a week so I’ll have my mechanic do this while he does the timing belt. I opted for adapter with viton orings vs the original seal


Have the timing belt and tools in a box too. Will be ready in about 20k miles so I ordered while IDparts had a sale. When I ordered the pickup parts I didn't know if I was going to have time to wait for the euro version.
If the car is around in another 100-150k I'll consider that upgrade, not that hard to change.


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

BDCCruze said:


> TY for sharing guys. I suspect I'll be doing this sometime soon since I have a few other seeping issues I want to address.
> 
> What are the part numbers for the exhaust gaskets?


I'll have to check PN of the gaskets.
Only need the 3 bolt one. Don't need to split at the other point. I just ordered it in case, was cheap and will go in the spare gasket drawer of tool box, lol.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

I ended up splitting mine at the back and just removing the whole thing so it was out of my way. Those bolts weren't much longer for this world, so I'll get a pair of stainless ones and a new gasket for reinstallation. Need new front nuts too, since only one was still the 13mm it was intended to be. Those I may go OE with, assuming I can find the PN for those.


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

If you have a local fastenal ask for some M8-1.25 flange nuts.
Mild steel, stainless, serrated, conical locking...lots of options.
Fastenal Industrial Supplies, OEM Fasteners, Safety Products & More


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Looks like there is one nearby - that's a good resource to have. I can't really tell if the stock nuts have any kind of nyloc in there or something, but some kind of M8-1.25 flange nuts should do the trick for the DPF, correct? Out back, I assume it should just be an M8 bolt (with a washer) and flange nut.

Do we know the part number for the ball joint bolt and nut? It's TTY so we technically shouldn't reuse it, and I obliterated the end of mine anyway (I could file it down as it isn't into the threads). I am seeing 11518632 from another thread - should be the same bolt as the gassers since they use the same control arm.

Are you replacing any of the intermediate shaft sealing rings? I couldn't actually find them in the shaft where they seemed to be pointed out in the service manual.


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

MP81 said:


> Looks like there is one nearby - that's a good resource to have. I can't really tell if the stock nuts have any kind of nyloc in there or something, but some kind of M8-1.25 flange nuts should do the trick for the DPF, correct? Out back, I assume it should just be an M8 bolt (with a washer) and flange nut.
> 
> Do we know the part number for the ball joint bolt and nut? It's TTY so we technically shouldn't reuse it, and I obliterated the end of mine anyway (I could file it down as it isn't into the threads). I am seeing 11518632 from another thread - should be the same bolt as the gassers since they use the same control arm.
> 
> Are you replacing any of the intermediate shaft sealing rings? I couldn't actually find them in the shaft where they seemed to be pointed out in the service manual.


Don't use nyloc on exhaust. Gets too hot. Look for "flange lock nuts" or "serrated flange nuts".

I just reused the OE pinch bolt/nut.

Didn't replace any of the axles seals either. Cleaned the axles and applied some petroleum jelly to the seals. Little bit of oil on the CV splines and threads too.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

I ended up just getting regular (stainless) flange nuts, but I suspect those should be okay, given the stockers weren't serrated either. Ordered all from Fastenal, should be ready for pickup in a day or two.

Yeah, unless the dealer has the in stock, I'll probably re-use the two axle seals and the washer, as they all looked to be in good shape.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Dealer did not have the seals in stock, but did have the washer so I grabbed one of those because it was only a few bucks. Same with the trans drain washer and the check plug O-ring. I didn't replace either the last time I drained fluid or any of the times I checked it so sure why not.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Something I did forget to order were those two plugs that cover the bellhousing bolt access...those totally disintegrated. One of them actually just forced its way up in there and rotated to where I can't get it out the plugged hole - hoping I can get in there with the pan off and retrieve it...but definitely would like to plug those holes after...


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

BDCCruze said:


> What are the part numbers for the exhaust gaskets?


The Elring is the only gasket I needed. If I was to replace the 2 bolt I'd try to find a steel one like the Mahle.
I also installed a new drain plug and gasket while there. Did wish I had new o-rings for the PCV pipe and oil level sensor "while I was there".


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Diesel Dan said:


> The Elring is the only gasket I needed. If I was to replace the 2 bolt I'd try to find a steel one like the Mahle.
> I also installed a new drain plug and gasket while there. Did wish I had new o-rings for the PCV pipe and oil level sensor "while I was there".
> View attachment 297944


As far as I can tell, the Mahle is the OE gasket for the rear, and I would bet the Elring is the OE for the front.

How did you get the oil pan off? I'm heavily thinking of getting a oil pan separator to get this thing split because it has no intention of coming apart, even with about 10 minutes of solid whacking on the pan itself to try to break it loose.


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

MP81 said:


> How did you get the oil pan off? I'm heavily thinking of getting a oil pan separator to get this thing split because it has no intention of coming apart, even with about 10 minutes of solid whacking on the pan itself to try to break it loose.


Couple of hooked pry bars. Looked around and was eventually able to find a couple of spots that I could pry down on. I didn't have to hammer on the pan at all. Still take a little effort to break the RTV seal.

The rear of the pan hooked the spacer plate between the engine/trans and bent the corners of the spacer some. I just trimmed it with some tin snipes to remove the bent edges.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

I do have a similar small pry bar...that might work. Seems par for the course at this point for everything not to come apart.  

I'll order the seal cutter and see where I get tomorrow. Hopefully that is "got it off" and then I can cancel the order.


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

These are the bars I used to break the pan seal.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

I've got one that is similar to the top one - how bad did it chew up the pan or block surface?


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

MP81 said:


> I've got one that is similar to the top one - how bad did it chew up the pan or block surface?


Had one mark the size of a center punch dimple on pan rail. Probably didn't have to but couple passes with flat file, all good.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Okay, I'll give that a shot today using that, or a small prybar I have.

And I'm glad you mention the corners of the plate between the trans and the block/oil pan - I'll cut those corners off as well to assist in reinstallation. They're not really doing much anyway.

Do we have an idea what the part numbers might be on those plugs for the rear-most bolts in the bellhousing? I cannot for the life of me find them, if they even exist as a saleable item in the first place. I might be able to find some other form of rubber plug that I can jam in there if need be.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Sweet, just got it off without much prying. It sitting overnight with all but four bolts removed (and those four probably with a 1/4" gap to the pan) definitely seemed to loosen things up. Didn't take too much more wrestling with it to get it to start breaking loose. That shield in the back definitely is going to make reinstallation suck, so yeah I might just trim the corners and test fit a few times before putting the RTV on and doing it for the final time. Ideally you don't want a ton of dust in there, but it's a dry area so it should be okay if some ends up in there.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

It would appear the part number for these plugs is 55562294 - so of course it's basically nonexistent.


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

Before and after pics of how I trimmed the spacer plate.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Do you happen to have a pic of how it looks with the oil pan mounted back in? I assume this made it **** easier to load the oil pan in vertically as intended. Just reinstalling the pan last night temporarily was a pain in the ass and absolutely will just wipe the RTV right off.


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

Not sure if I have a pic of it installed.
It did go in easily with it trimmed. Had no issues.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Good to hear. I don't really see much of a better option...aside from if they had made this a two-piece. You already have two mounting holes - easy enough to split below the end of the engine block and bolt it on either side, but alas. I'd prefer not to have to cut this open, just to keep more dust and road spray out, but it's honestly far up there, and even before this it's not like it's 100% sealed anyway.


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

Yeah, I prefer the 99% of other gm engines that don't use that pita spacer plate.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

It's gotta be some weirdness due to it being a VM engine with an Aisin trans.

I'd really rather not cut it, but I'd also like to have the RTV seal well, so...


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

Can always weld the pieces on later if so desired but I pitched mine


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

That I can! That area did seem pretty clean in all honesty so it's very likely it doesn't actually get all that much spray.


----------



## Diesel Dan (May 18, 2013)

It's been 2 weeks now since the repair.

Daughter calls me complaining about a thumping she can feel in her feet wondering if it was something I done. Weird since I was working on the RH side of the car.
Told her to stop by and I'll look at it. 

Was given a message not to worry, which when worded that way IS worrisome!  

.....was a can of ravioli under her seat.


----------



## MP81 (Jul 20, 2015)

Whew! Crisis averted!


----------

