I found a picture of the thermal
pelet as installed in the crank.
In this picture it appears that the
pelet is shown
in the hot position, which closes
off the end of the main oil gallery through the crank, and
this would be the same situation you would produce with
the solid piece racers use. I think Tracy sold these at
one time. There is no suggestion of how this works with
this picture.
I am guessing that when cold, the
plunger and sleeve move forward and open the gallery to
the holes in the crank nose, dumping much of the oil into
the oil pan, thus lowering the oil pressure to a point
that leaves the spring powered balls below the spray
nozzles seated
so that no cooling oil enters the
rotors.
This then allows the rotors to heat
up quickly
and that shortens the time for
warming, and that reduces the time you need for rich,
operation of a cold engine.
So, the pelet can fail in the open
position, and produce very low oil pressure, even though
the engine and oil is hot.
If this is still in place and has
failed, it could be
the culprit in chronic low oil
pressure. But just a guess.
Remember Murphy: If it can fail, It
will fail.
Lynn E. Hanover