I was in the shop well past midnight replacing a head gasket on my Jaguar
XJ6. The project had been going well until it came time to install the
timing chain. Many, many years before, my father dropped a timing chain
master link into a '59 Alfa Romeo Spider. It happened at the end of a
complete engine overhaul, and we were memorably disappointed to have to take
off the oil pan to find the link. So, that night on the Jag, I tucked a nice
clean shop rag into the chain cover, arranging it carefully so that if I
dropped the link piece, it would fall no further than the rag. I felt pride
in my clever cautiousness as I confidently assembled the chain without any
problems.
But then there was the first hitch in the project. I found I could not get
the hydraulic chain tensioner to stop leaking. I became frustrated because,
at this late hour, the job was near completion, and I had to keep taking
apart the tensioner and try different sized o-rings to stop the leak. Then
my nephew came by at about 1:30 AM and offered to help. I asked him to put
the valve cover on while I finished installing the tensioner with the best
fitting o-ring. Moments later we were done!
The Jag started immediately and ran a minute or two until there was a sudden
and complete loss of oil pressure! We quickly shut her down. I thought about
it for a few minutes and then I knew. I never removed the rag! We took the
cover off and found about half of the rag still in place. The other half was
in pieces; most of those pieces were clogging the oil pump's inlet screen.
In retrospect, it would have been easier to drop the master link into the
oil pan than to clean up THAT mess!
Brian in Virginia
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