Input or advice from others on cam swap for 6.2L 2011 Yukon Denali

[JPS0284]

Oh my goodness! No offense taken in the slightest. Just trying to be clear about what I did for you and future readers.

If I were in your shoes, I would be very cautious about starting it without pressure, and find the root cause, which is exactly what you're doing. You could try James' trick of adding 2 extra quarts which should be enough to submerge the o-ring - especially if you can get the back end up on jack stands. If you do, crank it over by hand with a wrench a few times before you crank it.

But since you have the front diff out, I think I would drop the pan if I were in your shoes, and get a look around. Check that o-ring and make sure it's seated right and undamaged. Use clean motor oil on it when you put it back together. Also check the pickup tube and screen for any obstructions. If that doesn't solve it then I would suspect a defective pump.

Okay thanks for the advice, I’ll try the 2 quart method after dropping the oil pan. I took the front cover off the pump when I was disassembling the timing cover components before noticing the pickup tube was what was restricting it from coming off the crankshaft. Could that be symptomatic to the situation? I’m a bit of a anxious person at this point I’m ready to put in a new pickup tube and pump in before risking starting it without pressure anymore. Is there any specific orientation for the impeller to be in before putting it on or is it “as long as it fits on smoothly it doesn’t matter “?

 

[Geotrash]

Okay thanks for the advice, I’ll try the 2 quart method after dropping the oil pan. I took the front cover off the pump when I was disassembling the timing cover components before noticing the pickup tube was what was restricting it from coming off the crankshaft. Could that be symptomatic to the situation? I’m a bit of a anxious person at this point I’m ready to put in a new pickup tube and pump in before risking starting it without pressure anymore. Is there any specific orientation for the impeller to be in before putting it on or is it “as long as it fits on smoothly it doesn’t matter “?

It depends on whether you think you may have tweaked anything in trying to get it all apart. I see no harm in putting in a new pickup tube and pump as cheap insurance. If you decide to smear a little grease in the pump impeller, I didn't do anything special in putting it back together. I just made sure I got the cover back on it in the exact same spot it came from and followed the torque specs to the letter. When installing the pump on the crankshaft, there is a procedure for measuring the clearance around the crankshaft with feeler gauges before you tighten the mounting bolts, but most people don't bother with it and have no problems. All the same, it might be worth doing in this case.

 

[JPS0284]

It depends on whether you think you may have tweaked anything in trying to get it all apart. I see no harm in putting in a new pickup tube and pump as cheap insurance. If you decide to smear a little grease in the pump impeller, I didn't do anything special in putting it back together. I just made sure I got the cover back on it in the exact same spot it came from and followed the torque specs to the letter. When installing the pump on the crankshaft, there is a procedure for measuring the clearance around the crankshaft with feeler gauges before you tighten the mounting bolts, but most people don't bother with it and have no problems. All the same, it might be worth doing in this case.

I just ordered a melling pump, crank bolt and a new pickup from my local dealership… another 200 bucks is cheaper than another motor. I’m like crawling out of my skin thinking about the possibility of any damaged I might of caused… I did liberally slather everything in Royal purple assembly lube and the amount of time it ran with no pressure was twice for less than 20 sec, and once for less than 10 sec after I had decent oil pressure for a
Minute or two. My wife’s about ready to take a sledgehammer to the truck because it’s taking me so long…

 

[j91z28d1]

I feel for you. it would be driving me nuts too, but I blew a oil line off at a track day, probably a good 30 sec of wot and a big high rpm down shift before I spun in the oil and shut it down. definitely ran without oil pressure, got it home and inspected everything and didn't find anything wrong. bearings looked good, couldn't see the cam bearings, but rest looked good, oil pressure is good and I'm back to beating it's brains out. slightly different ls3 car with over 100k on it. but I say that to say I'm 99.9%. sure you haven't hurt anything yet.

I'm with you on not continuing to do it thou, and from what I saw and did, you prime these ls engines with pressure. I put about 3qt thru mine under pressure before starting it up after taking the bottom end apart to inspect it.

most people don't and never have an issue. just saying what I saw. there's a youtube video of how to make one from a 10$ home depot pump sprayer.

 

[j91z28d1]

Just to be clear, I didn't "pack" it with grease. I only slathered a light coat on the side of the rotor to help promote better suction at startup. It was a method recommended by someone on the LS1 Tech forum. Worked great for me.

ahh, I was picturing you packing it with axle grease lol. I remember the old carbed Buick 3.8L guys I knew had to do that to get it suck up oil.

 

[JPS0284]

I feel for you. it would be driving me nuts too, but I blew a oil line off at a track day, probably a good 30 sec of wot and a big high rpm down shift before I spun in the oil and shut it down. definitely ran without oil pressure, got it home and inspected everything and didn't find anything wrong. bearings looked good, couldn't see the cam bearings, but rest looked good, oil pressure is good and I'm back to beating it's brains out. slightly different ls3 car with over 100k on it. but I say that to say I'm 99.9%. sure you haven't hurt anything yet.

I'm with you on not continuing to do it thou, and from what I saw and did, you prime these ls engines with pressure. I put about 3qt thru mine under pressure before starting it up after taking the bottom end apart to inspect it.

most people don't and never have an issue. just saying what I saw. there's a youtube video of how to make one from a 10$ home depot pump sprayer.

Thanks so much for chiming in, I wouldn’t be freaking out as much if
it was a weekend ride but this has definitely put me on tilt. I got a melling performance oil pump on the way and a new pick up tube. I seen that pump sprayer idea last night while looking up pump priming videos. I feel like that’s the way I’m going to go about it. I replaced the pressure relief in the oil pan with a GM replacement should it be blocked off instead?

 

[j91z28d1]

Thanks so much for chiming in, I wouldn’t be freaking out as much if
it was a weekend ride but this has definitely put me on tilt. I got a melling performance oil pump on the way and a new pick up tube. I seen that pump sprayer idea last night while looking up pump priming videos. I feel like that’s the way I’m going to go about it. I replaced the pressure relief in the oil pan with a GM replacement should it be blocked off instead?

I don't know much about the details of stuff like the pressure relief in the pan. I've not had my truck apart. been lucky so far. the other guys that have been thru it will know. I've just built other ls stuff

if it's the afm bypass and you deleted the afm, probably? but I wouldn't take my word for that.

 

[Geotrash]

Thanks so much for chiming in, I wouldn’t be freaking out as much if
it was a weekend ride but this has definitely put me on tilt. I got a melling performance oil pump on the way and a new pick up tube. I seen that pump sprayer idea last night while looking up pump priming videos. I feel like that’s the way I’m going to go about it. I replaced the pressure relief in the oil pan with a GM replacement should it be blocked off instead?

You can safely plug it if you wish since AFM had been mechanically deleted, but there is no danger in leaving it in there either. Especially because you replaced it with new.

 

[JPS0284]

You can safely plug it if you wish since AFM had been mechanically deleted, but there is no danger in leaving it in there either. Especially because you replaced it with new.

Thanks guys for all the help I really appreciate it. So I just pulled the pan and there’s some metal shavings in the bottom of the pan that I know weren’t there before…along with what looks to be a chunk of silicone gasket material that I’ve never seen before… so on a scale from 1-10 how bad is this starting to look?

 

[j91z28d1]

huh.. does the metal stick to a magnet? or is it aluminum.

did you find anything wrong with the o ring?