Melling oil pump issue

[Don W.]

Don't know if this helps or not but I contacted a friend who builds racing engines for a living, almost 100% supercharged and asked him about Melling's "issues." Here is his response:

Hi Don, I haven't had any problems, or even heard of any problems with Melling pumps. They are all I use in wet sump engines.

If you buy a Moroso, Milodon, Sealed Power, TRW, Perfect Circle, NAPA, or mostly any other brand of pump, you will get a Melling. Even Moroso and Milodon will tell you they use Melling pumps and they just put their name on them after checking them a little. ALL of the pumps carry the M55, M55HV numbers cast right into them, no mater which brand you buy... it is still a Melling. It's like lifters. only 2 companies on the planet make lifters. Crane, Comp, Crower, Sealed Power, Summit, Jeg's, Isky, Blue Racer, Ultradyne or ANY of them all BUY their lifters from one of two places and put their names on them. Word had it a while back that Crane was talking about making their own lifters, but I highly doubt that'll ever happen. Johnson, formerly Camshaft Machine, and Eaton are the ONLY companies that make them. Oil pumps are pretty much the same way.

 

[Loeryder]

Re: Melling oil pump issue

Just gotta make sure you get a higher end pump with a 6 digit part#.

NOT an M55* anything.

Ed posted the part# of the Melling pump he is now using over on godragracing.com
Not saying I support them but like you said they are really the only game in town.

 

[TYHOGG]

Re: Melling oil pump issue

I noticed on the moroso site they advertise a "new heavy duty casting" I wondering if they demanded a change in the melling castings cause of the problems. its a new part number too. I'm trying to get on the phone with them and find out what was changed.

http://www.moroso.com/catalog/categorydisplay.asp?catcode=14444

 

[Syclone #1721]

Re: Melling oil pump issue

Don't know if this helps or not but I contacted a friend who builds racing engines for a living, almost 100% supercharged and asked him about Melling's "issues." Here is his response:

Hi Don, I haven't had any problems, or even heard of any problems with Melling pumps. They are all I use in wet sump engines.

If you buy a Moroso, Milodon, Sealed Power, TRW, Perfect Circle, NAPA, or mostly any other brand of pump, you will get a Melling. Even Moroso and Milodon will tell you they use Melling pumps and they just put their name on them after checking them a little. ALL of the pumps carry the M55, M55HV numbers cast right into them, no mater which brand you buy... it is still a Melling. It's like lifters. only 2 companies on the planet make lifters. Crane, Comp, Crower, Sealed Power, Summit, Jeg's, Isky, Blue Racer, Ultradyne or ANY of them all BUY their lifters from one of two places and put their names on them. Word had it a while back that Crane was talking about making their own lifters, but I highly doubt that'll ever happen. Johnson, formerly Camshaft Machine, and Eaton are the ONLY companies that make them. Oil pumps are pretty much the same way.

x2 on this....I used to build race engines for a living. Hes right on about Melling pumps being used by all manufacturers...and if you think youre gonna go GM, well guess again...umm, MELLING...anyway, the Melling pumps changed their design a little to save on materials....a major part of the problem here (and Im sure Im gonna get flamed on this...like I care), is that people install the screen incorrectly. They hammer and hammer it usually with the wrong tool which in turn cracks the housing which eventually snaps once in service. I have used hundreds, literally hundreds and hundreds of Melling pumps with only a handful of problems and none that had to do with them snapping. I always have and will continue to use Melling pumps in all my applications. And Im glad somone else confirms the lifter theory too. I tried to tell some people that before and they all acted like I didnt know what I was talkin about....trust me, having been in the industry, theres alot of things that go on that regular car guys just dont see.

:2cents:

 

[James Thomas]

Re: Melling oil pump issue

This has been knocked around back and forth for a while now so I'll toss my :2cents: in based on my years of experience and witnessed failures. I have seen more than a few of these "new thin model castings" fail. When this cracking / snapping of occurs it appears to be in the same are most all the time and stock or modded makes no difference, V-6 or V-8 either.

I doubt that the install of the pickup has a lot if anything to do with it unless you have to hammer the oil pan on and put it in a bind (not likely but who knows?). If you hammer a pickup hard enough to damage the casting the pickup will be severely damaged also, if not to the point of being unusable. However, a hammer is NOT the correct tool or procedure so don't (even if it doesn't have anything to do with this).

As I see it, Melling admits the change, didn't make the change real known or identifiable (at first anyway), recommends this thin cast pump for stock use only and not for performance or solid engine mount use etc. etc. which tells me that they KNOW these pumps are not as strong structurally and there are failures that they know of and are refusing to handle in the proper manor with all things concerned (IMO).

Melling does make good products but as with most big business these days, they now have the CHEAP ASS LINE to compete in the market / for O.E.M. MAY THE BUYER BE WARE (which pump is your new car / truck / wanna be hotrod?)! Just make sure you or your builder use the correct heavy duty pump and not the paper weight version. Melling is big and supplies a good deal of the private label / re-branded pumps..... if your pissed due to a failure or the way they are taking care of business (maybe NOT taking care of business is a better way of putting it?), then there are other pumps available on the market. May be more expensive but is you build worth the chance and or confusion? My personal builds will never see another Melling pump and I don't / can't recommend them to my customers anymore either. As usual it's CYA and it's your engine, don't plan on Melling or your builder to "step up" and do the right thing if there is a problem because they are all pointing fingers and weaseling out on any excuse it appears. If the man tells me that's what he wants, then he can order it himself and I can't say I didn't warn them :roll:


_______
James