Oil Pressure Relief Valve
Bad scenario - my recently acquired partner in my Rans S7 decided to do an oil change on our rotax 912uls. Instead of removing the Mag plug, he removed the oil pressure regulator bolt. He reassembled the bolt and spring, BUT didn't replace the ball bearing. He then ran the plane for a good 5 minutes with low oil pressure reading on the gauge. Now, my understanding is the pressure regulator allows oil to return to the oil pump thus "bypassing" oil pressure to the main engine components. What I don't know is how much is bypassed. My particular concern is damage to the engine. Does anyone know if all of the oil is bypassing engine components with the ball bearing missing?
I attached a picture for reference.
**Update from OP - Tappet test successful. Compression test successful. Oil analysis preformed - normal, no metal detected. 30 hours on the motor since this post, no issues whatsoever. It seems as though oil was reaching the engine components with the ball bearing removed, however, I have not been able to determine how much. I would not want to find out what would happen at high rpm's with this scenario. Thanks for all the input!