Found these plastic pieces in the oil pump filter,where did they come from?

image.jpg

 

They are the nylon teeth from your camshaft timing gear.

 

Yup, thats what they are. If you already put a timing set on it no worries.

 

X2

 

x3.

You can actually see the shape of the teeth.

- Eric

 

Thanks,but could you give me a deeper explanation on this

 

The gears used in original applications had a nylon or plastic coating.

This coating was intended to keep the components quiet as not to induce noise and/or vibration.

Hope this helps.

 

And they won't last forever, so if it hasn't been changed it needs to be.

 

Okay, here's a timing gear with little obvious wear
(if you look closely, you can see cracks in the nylon between almost all the teeth):



Here is a gear with a nylon tooth chipped off:



Here is a gear with all the nylon off of it, but from a different angle:

PICT0022.jpg

I could have sworn I had a good photo of a badly worn gear, but I can't find it, so I had to scrounge.

- Eric

 

Understood.
Have to check tomorrow if this gear have been replaced.

 

I found those nylon things in my oil pump screen on the 330 No holes in the screen though

 

Not one of Oldsmobile better engineering ideas!

 

here is a picture of a worn cam gear from the front, still installed. Note the huge ammount of slop that is present once the nylon coating wears away..

 

It wasn't just Olds - it was ALL G.M!
I ALWAYS replace the timing set when the water pump goes out, usually from 60 to 80 thousand miles!
Heck, you're more than half-way there, and doing it twice is a real PAI!

 

image.jpg

This is how the gear look like.
More to add to my shopping list.

Should I replace the chain and the crankshaft gear too?

 

Yes, change all three pieces.

 

Really? I'm a die hard Olds guy, but I have worked on and driven "brand X" (meaning anything not Olds! ) cars. I don't recall any of the old iron engine having nylon timing gears, I suppose its possible the original parts could have been replaced.

 

Matt actually Pontiac were famous for the plastic gears and yup right around 50_80 k miles,

Jankkyre make sure everything is aligned correctly when putting both gears and chain on ( timing marks aligned etc)

 

Chrysler too. My buddy had an Aspen RT with the 360 HO. I was shocked when told me it had the nylon timing gears. I assumed it would have the steel double roller like the cop cars. I knew my 76 350 was decent motor. The nylon gear was perfect, no cracks and only minor slop in the chain.