VZ SV6 Sump Removal

[HQ2VL]

Removing VZ V6 Sump

This job sucks but if you're going to do it you may as well do the timing cover, engine mounts and control arm bushes all at the same time!!!
Also the oil pickup is bolted to the sump and connected to the oil pump via an o-ring so it just comes out with the sump.
Do at you own risk, I'm not a mechanic this is just how I have done it!!!
Also you will need a torque wrench to put Harmonic balancer back on and a new bolt, apparently it is a single use item. 100NM + 150 Degrees

0. Drain oil from vehicle.
1. Raise vehicle on jack stands at the front, take wheels off and put behind jack stands just incase!!!
2. Undo strut top plates, you will need 24mm spanner and what seems to be a 10.5mm socket to hold the inner most part of the strut!
(I used a single hex 11mm socket also helps to remove Z bars from control arms 24mm 30mm and 4x13mm per Z bar)
3. Loosen off steering knuckle just above steering rack this is a 13mm bolt I think (put seat belt through steering wheel to hold it straight)
4. Undo engine mount to K-frame bolts (18mm) one each side.
5. Remove Harmonic Balancer, you will need a 19mm socket, breaker bar and 3 claw pulley puller (about $70-$80 from Repco)
you will also have to STOP engine from turning over while you are undoing this bolt.
6. Remove the 3 bottom bolts on the Timing cover (13mm)

7. Remove the 2x10mm bolts holding the power steering line to the sump and oil sensor plug.
8. Undo and remove dipstick 1x10mm
9. Place jack under bellhousing of gear box and jack up engine off mounts to highest point, note not to lift vehicle off stands
also place piece of wood between jack and bellhousing to spread the load.

10.Undo the four bottom bellhousing to sump bolts, these are the two outside holes each side in the picture the middle one is not used.
note these are E14 Torx bolts, I bought a set from Super Cheap for $35

11.Remove the rear main oil seal bolts 2x10mm
12.Remove all sump bolts there should be 11x13mm
13.Lower engine back onto mounts to take tension off sump as it gets a bit squashed between timing cover and bellhousing.
14.Pry sump from block at passengers side nearest to the back, and drivers side at the front with a large flat head screwdriver.
15.Lift engine from bellhousing back to full height, again make sure your not lifting the vehicle from jack stands!!!
16.Put another jack under K-frame then undo rear K-frame bolts 2x18mm
17.Loosen front K-frame bolts 2x16mm (I left mine in but just undid them till they were nearly out)
18.Lower K-frame down until you can remove sump, I had to turn the crank by hand to make clearance between the sump and crank.
19.Scrape old gasket goo off with a razor blade and degrease sump and oil pickup.
20.MAKE SURE YOU REPLACE OIL PICK SEAL, IF YOU DONT YOU WILL SUCK AIR INTO THE OIL PUMP AND THROW A CHECK OIL WARNING EVERY TIME YOU GO UPWARD OF 1500RPM
($8 off eBay) the new ring seats in the top of the oil pickup. also note the two holes where the oil pickup bolts in.

21.Lower engine back onto mounts to spread the timing cover to bellhousing gap again.
22.Put new goo on sump and bottom of timing cover, I found it was easier to press the front of the sump into the timing cover and then wedge the back up into the bellhousing.
23.Tighten sump bolts then reverse pretty much everything above and your done.

Sorry for the pictures but I wasn't really planning on doing this thread, Hope they help anyway!!

If I missed anything fell free to add it!

 

[Commowar]

If you get really bored and feel like doing it again.. haha. Some step by step pics of the process would be real handy! One's posted didn't load

 

[Darren]

The links to photobucket were a bit knackered, have uploaded the files to the site so should be a little clearer now

 

[Commowar]

That's much better. Just need to add some pics for the first steps. Makes it look very doable. Cheers

 

[dooboolacky]

Hi, I am a commodore/list newbie.

Sadly I need to remove the sump on an early 2006 VZ V6 LE0 sedan. Purchased a lemon. The initial symptom was water leaking into one of the spark plug wells which was incredibly corroded down at the base. After removing the valve covers they turned out to be filled with oil sludge too. I replaced both cylinder heads, oil pump , water pump and the timing chains and she sprang into life, good as new I thought, but after a 50 odd km drive there was a loss of power a bit of engine knocking and then a km down the road it seemed to seize up. When the engine cooled down it was possible to restart, but I suspect the
problem is lack of oil circulation caused by a blocked oil pickup. Compression is 140psi in each cylinder, so I hope there is no serious damage at this point.

I was looking at these instructions and it all sounded so simple and straightforward, but it seems to have become more complicated than I thought. I was hoping to remove the sump with car up on wheel ramps (thats where it is at the moment), but I am having a bit of trouble undoing the bolt on driver side holding the steering rack to the K-frame. Do you think it will be possible to undo it without snapping something, or does it have the weight of the car on it, or is it under hydraulic pressure from the power steering? The passenger side bolt undoes pretty easy.

And is it possible to remove the the bolts attaching to the steering rack to the wheels from underneath the vehicle or is that only possible through the wheel arches, with wheels removed?

Thanks for any advice.

 

[vc commodore]

The rack is held to the k-frame by a 19MM nut and bolt...They can be tight, but a little muscle will undo it, whether the weight of the car is on it or not.....Hydraulic pressure has zippo to do with it as well.

There is bugger all chance of snapping the nut or bolt undoing it.....My suggestion would be to put a ring spanner on the nut or bolt head from underneath and hit the spanner with a hammer, to loosen it up......From there it should be plain sailing

 

[dooboolacky]

OK! thank you!
I was getting a bit worried, because the bolt in question seemed to be getting tighter and tighter, the more I turned it.

 

[vc commodore]

OK! thank you!
I was getting a bit worried, because the bolt in question seemed to be getting tighter and tighter, the more I turned it.

You must have been turning it the wrong way.

It goes lefty loosey, rightie tightie

 

[dooboolacky]

With the car up on ramps, and the instructions above (thanks peoples!), I was able to get the sump off eventually. I didn't need to loosen the K-frame at all - just the steering rack which needed to be loose enough to drop down behind/below the K-frame. So I also had to remove the screw at the front of the k-frame holding the power steering fluid line and the pinch bolt at the bottom of the steering column, that and I had to jack up the front driver side wheel so the steering rack had a bit of extra play.

After that there was a load of sump sludge waiting for me, the rim of the oil pickup was full of chunky oil residue particles and there was a small pile that had settled out directly under the pickup. My latest worry is the few dozen slivers of shiny metal in amongst all that sludge :-( . So with the metal fragments, the engine knocking I mentioned previously, and presumably restricted oil flow through the pickup, I am guessing the fragments are likely from a cooked bearing?

(The fragments - not necessarily circular, but twisted, bent and less than 0.5mm thick)

I pulled out as many fragments as I could find and arranged them to try and get some idea of size of the part they might have come from. I can't see any visible source back up under the engine. But my google searches for "3.6l LE0 V6 main bearing set" seem to suggest that there are 4main crankshaft bearings, one of which may or may not be flanged. So I was wondering if my metal fragments look like they might have come from a flanged bearing, and if so which of the four is it likely to be? Or is there any other more likely origin?

 

[StevoVZ71]

Removed the sump from my VZ ute today and yep she is a real b*tch of a job.

This post was a real godsend as this and the allhead article were the only half decent instructions I could find but I still did mine a little different and have a few things to mention which may help someone else in the future. First off I didn't undo the strut top plates nor did I have to loosen the k frame as the OP mentioned. Also I had 3 x e-torx bolts to remove as the middle hole was used unlike the OP. One of many gripes about doing this job was having to shell out $40 for 10 x e-torx sockets to only use 1 on 3 bolts but it's not like I had a choice. One of these bolts was also cross threaded and it took me over an hour just to remove that one bolt as I could only get a 1/8th turn at best and had to use all my strength to do it. I was just thankful I didn't snap it but I will have to re-tap the hole in the sump and use a different bolt not that I believe that will matter as it is not a sealing bolt.

The only other thing I feel is worth mentioning is that 4 of the bolts attaching the sump to the block are located between the sump and the k-frame and are not easily accessible. Fortunately I had a tiny bit of room as I have removed most of the external parts of the motor including the exhaust manifolds and wiring harness with these attached I would imagine it would be much harder. Same goes with the top nuts holding the steering rack to the k-frame as there is not much room to get a spanner onto them especially if like me you are doing the job solo and ahve very large hands.

This was a job I was dreading to do and rightfully so plus I still need to clean it up and put it back on which is going to be a mission in itself.
Now the reason I did it was that the motor has just done over 300,000kms and I was getting the dreaded rattle on start up so I decided to replace the timing chains. I must confess I was a bit foolish and up until about a month ago I was unaware of the PCV issue and I was only doing services at 15,000km intervals plus I read somewhere that with motors who had a lot of mileage that it was best to use thicker oils so I switched to 10W-40 and I was only using semi-synthetic as well. Anyway to cut a long story short I am much wiser now and after pulling off the rocker and timing covers I discovered a fair bit of build up but not as bad as some I have seen. My PCV system was well and truly blocked too which is why I decided in for a penny in for a pound so why not pull off the sump and see how the oil pick up was faring. Luckily this wasn't as bad as I expected it to be but it still wasn't good as there are a few metal bits on it and there is a lot of build up all over the inside of the sump. Once I have done everything I will make a post about the whole experience as I have taken a lot of phone pics as I have gone along mainly to remind me how everything goes back together - wish me luck!

Here's some photos of the sump and pick up to show you how bad it is.

Any comments or advice are most welcome and I would also like to thank the OP and all who have commented on this post as it definitely helped.