Hey guys, I need some more help. I'm to the point where I am about to start the car, which is a good thing cause it's taken me two years to get this far. Anyway I went to prime the motor Sat. and I must of done it for a good 10mins. or so but I wasn't seeing any oil on the heads or rocker arms or anything. I didn't even have any oil press. which I figured maybe because I put it in the dipstick hole on the timing chain cover. Anyway should it take longer than that to even see anything or is there something maybe wrong with the pump or pick-up??? It's pretty bad that someone who works at Summit racing can't even figure out what's wrong with his own car. Well any help would greatly be apprechiated and thanks ahead of time for the info. Dustin prod owner of a stallion that eat's nothin but rice and chevy's.
If you're talking about a V8... Was your drill running forward or reverse? It has to turn counter-clockwise.
try this dude. ( it worked for me on my 302 we just installed. ) the engine had sat for almost 6 months. i removed the plugs to eliminate compression. took off coil wire. cranked the engine for 15 seconds at a time with 15 seconds or so in between. on the third cranking, the idiot light went out. put the plugs back in and without setting the choke i started the engine. it bucked and wanted to die but the idiot light went out. then i set the choke and started it normal. none of that knocking you get from an engine that sat for a while.uhhhh also fill your oil filter as full as you can before you install it. best of luck sorry for the lecture.
Scott is right on the mark. This is something I had always neglected to do myself, if you think it through, it really makes sense. It helps get the oil where it need to be sooner! Saves a little extra wear and tear on your engine.
Like someone said above, make sure you use the drill counter-clockwise. Other than that, i wouldn't go strictly off of the oil being up in the heads...usually it won't get up there until you're actually running the engine (it will get to the lifters, but until the lifters pump up and get compressed, it won't move up to the cylinder head). Best bet for cylinder heads is to actually pour oil on the rocker arms and around the valves. You could also turn the motor over by hand with a ratchet with the distributor in--more work, but you'll be able to tell when it's lubed just by the feel of it.
If a drill wont get oil up to the valve train, I wouldnt turn the engine over. Could be a problem there that needs to be corrected first. If the engine was sent to a machine shop, make sure all the oil gallery plugs are installed. I have seen these left out more than once.
Ran into this with my sons 302 for his ex-turbo mav. Have to use a 1/2in drill motor to turn it when oil starts to pump, took an old distributor shaft and use it for driving the pump shaft. While he was running the drill I sat inside watching the gage, no oil pressure, also was hearing air and some oil coming from the pushrods. We discussed the problem and knowing all galley plugs were in, dropped the pan down and removed the new oil pump. Screen was clean and gasket on block(if this is ommited will cause no pressure also, or very little) Took the pump apart and found nothing wrong, happened to see the pickup tube gasket had slipped out on one side during assy. (I didn't do it ) That was it, replaced the gasket and at next prime, had 60 lbs on the gage and oil coming out of the rockers etc. Have always pre primed all my engines and with a good drill motor, oil should always pump up to the rockers, spiining that pump shaft is the same as having the distributor in and running the engine.
