WTF murrays

foxbodydave

foxbodydave

Club Member
ok so the oil pump went out in the mustang...no big deal. i went to murrays and bought a brand new melling standard volume unit with a lifetime warranty. i went home and put it on and that was no problem. i was on i-94 the next day. i had driven the car a total of around 20 miles. i watched my mechanical oil pressure gauge go from 60lbs down to 0 instantly....im thinking holy shit something very bad just happend. so i get off at the next possible exit just to barely make it into a parking lot...the motor was toast...when i pulled the motor apart i noticed that every single one of my bearings were toast...ill put pics up later....my oil pump driveshaft has twisted like a barber pole and snapped off. that seemed really weird to me. i pulled my oil pump apart and the pump was machined WRONG from the factory and had seized up and caused my engine to go. i had primed the pump and everything before i put it in and everything was fine. by now im quite pissed and i go back to murrays and tell then i want a new crank and a new set of bearings...the crank couldnt have gotten turned it was that bad.....they had me get a quote and all that good stuff and then said there not responsible that i would have to go through melling. well...2 weeks later i called melling to check up on my claim and they hadnt even recieved any paperwork or anything!!!!!! WTF!!!!! on top of that they said when they DO get my paperwork that its going to take 12-16 WEEKS before i hear anything....so now that puts me into almost febuary before i get the parts for my motor.....i havew another motor i can put in but thats not the point....has any body else ever had to deal with this?? what should i do? god damn that makes me mad...oh and i called murrays to find out why my shit hadnt gotten sent out for 2 weeks and their answer was its cause of a shift change!!!!!!!!!!!!!! this really makes me leery of going back to murrays
 
I wish you luck on your claim, however most manufacturers WILL NOT cover damaged caused by a faulty product, and legally they dont have to, if they do, be happy, i deal with melling quite regularly and havent heard of a problem such as this before, but that really sucks
 
Cut murrays out of the picture deal with melling direct and please tell me you have the pump? if you dont you are probably SOL
 
do you have an aftermarket distributer??? I have seen where and aftermarket distributer with a stock pump shaft had done that. the after market distributer doesnt allow the pump drive to go into the dist shaft like stock so when the distributer is cranked down it will basically force the rotors (oil pump rotors) to ride on the bottom plate insted of float like they were meant to causing extreme wear and seizure of the pump breaking the oil pump drive shaft. If that is the case melling will not do anything but say sorry for "your" mishap.

Good luck
 
i do still have the pump. i wasnt gonna let murrays keep it. and the motor was bone stock...even the distributor. i really hope they help me out here
 
Couple of questions : Are you using the stock oil pump drive ? I believe all of mellings pumps come with a warning about using the stock oil pump driveshaft. Second question: when the oil pressure went to zero why not click it off and coast ? why keep driving it ?
 
As a safety measure you should ALWAYS disassemble a new pump (or a used one if you are rebuilding the engine) and inspect it for flaws, wear, particles from machining, etc. Never just take one and put it in, because you could end up in the situation you are currently. Assuming something is clean, especially the component that is essentially the heart of the engine, leaves the fate of your engine in the hands of someone else. I'm not siding with the pump company here, just wanted to give some insight for your next engine. Also if you have not done so, use an aftermarket pump drive shaft.
 
Not to be the ass of the bunch but Mellings isn't going to do anything besides replace the pump. Only chance you might have would be if the pump was installed by a certified shop. Parts fail, when you seen it had no oil pressure you should have pulled over and prevented a lot of damage.

I broke a pump when I was making a test nitrous pass on the street years ago when I still had a 302. After the pass I noticed the oil pressure was gone so I killed it. I got it home, replaced the pump and ran the motor for 2 more seasons before I pulled it and sold it. Broke another one with my 351 in the burnout box at lapeer, same thing shut it down when I noticed the problem. Replaced the pump and was good for another couple seasons.

I've never heard of a pump failing due to a machining error, everyone one I broke was due to a problem when the pump sucked up something it shouldn't have. A piece of a wire brush on the 351 and a piece from a broken lifter on the 302 which were both caused by me.

I'm not a fan of aftermarket oil pump drive shafts, this is the weak link but will not typically break unless the pump locks up. I want the oil pump drive shaft to break if there is a problem so it doesn't turn all the crap that broke the pump through my motor.
 
yea i do agree that i shouldve took apart the pump and inspected it. i can tell you that this has been quite the learning experience for me and whatever happens in the end i have learned a couple of valueable lessons. its just ashamed that it happend to the dd and not the weekend car, where im not driving it all the time. when i did take it apart i did so very carefully and the rotor for the pump was locked into the housing itself......
 
What was wrong with the pump? ive never heard of or seen one being machined wrong.

All it take it small piece of derbris to lock up a pump and break the shaft.

Sound like there may have been a problem from the get go if the 1st oill pump went bad.
 
A guy I work with has a brother selling a built 351W:dontknow:

Good luck though. I say the above just because I don't think much will come of it unforunatly.
 
well the block is still usable so i think im gonna build it up over the winter and build a 347 stroker motor and just put o 5.0 in it for the winter
 
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