No oil pressure???

qwertyd10n · Post by **qwertyd10n** » August 22, 2009, 6:50 pm

Hey guys,

I just finished getting my engine back together last night after changing the timing set and rear main seal... as well as painting a few parts while I had them off. I also replaced the oil pump and oil pump shaft while I had the pan off... just for good measure.

However, I just started it up and don't seem to have a lick of oil pressure... any ideas of what I might be able to check or try before I have to pull the pan off again?

Mildly frustrated,
Dion

1961 slickwilly · Post by **1961 slickwilly** » August 22, 2009, 7:19 pm

the only thing i can think off is take the fitting off where your line for oil pressure goes into the block clean it off find something smal enough to stick in the hole where the fitting is at a paper clip should work and turn it over with the line off and see if that jelps it should squirt a little oil out and if it does put it back together and see if you have oil pressure in the cab

6166 Junkyard Dog · Post by **6166 Junkyard Dog** » August 22, 2009, 7:43 pm

if its a FE I always primed the oil pump, also make sure the shaft did not fall out of the oil pump ot that liitle keeper did not come off also make sure the screen was cleared and also make sure good oil filter, cheap oil filters will do bad things

qwertyd10n · Post by **qwertyd10n** » August 22, 2009, 10:32 pm

It is a FE (352) and unfortunately I didn't think to prime the pump... what would you do, just fill it with oil before bolting it up?

As for the pump shaft, I'm sure it was in there properly... keeper at the top so it can't be pulled out by accident if I remove the distributor. I cleaned the pickup/screen really well and used a Motorcraft oil filter with Castrol GTX oil.

So here's a couple other questions... given that I put a new pump and filter on it, how long should it take for the pump to prime and show some oil pressure? And along with that, how long is it safe to run the engine with no oil pressure showing?

Would it be possible/advisable to pull the distributor and put a socket and extension down to the pump shaft and spin it with a drill or something to try and prime it?

6166 Junkyard Dog · Post by **6166 Junkyard Dog** » August 23, 2009, 7:25 am

this is how I primed the pump,,, take a 1/4 drive socket that fits the shaft with dist. out turn by hand until you get oil either coming off the rockers with valve covers off orsending unit out also one other ? did you take your rocker assy completely apart cause I have seen it happen when putting all the rockers back on the shaft turn that shaft wrong way and can stop up the oil pressure running system also whenever I do a motor with new stuff I primed the oil pump that way also had a little oil in the pump before I bolt the pan back up just by turning the shaft with my 1/4 drive socket set up I was able to get oil going through the system before starting and its good to use motorcraft oil filter others especilly cheap ones can be defaulted already

banjopicker66 · Post by **banjopicker66** » August 23, 2009, 7:48 am

Another way to prime the engine is to remove all the spark plugs, and use the starter to spin the engine.
This will also check if the oil pump is working, by checking the oil light.

6166 Junkyard Dog · Post by **6166 Junkyard Dog** » August 23, 2009, 7:58 am

Banjo thats one way but if no oil pressure doing it that way you can kiss the bearings good bye or any other critical parts since the starter with no plugs in it will spin the motor pretty fast especially if you just put a little oil on the bearings,, I Always used STP On every critical part when building a motor

Roger Carter · Post by **Roger Carter** » August 23, 2009, 12:31 pm

6166 Junkyard Dog wrote:this is how I primed the pump,,, take a 1/4 drive socket that fits the shaft with dist. out turn by hand until you get oil either coming off the rockers with valve covers off orsending unit out also one other ? did you take your rocker assy completely apart cause I have seen it happen when putting all the rockers back on the shaft turn that shaft wrong way and can stop up the oil pressure running system also whenever I do a motor with new stuff I primed the oil pump that way also had a little oil in the pump before I bolt the pan back up just by turning the shaft with my 1/4 drive socket set up I was able to get oil going through the system before starting and its good to use motorcraft oil filter others especilly cheap ones can be defaulted already

Be sure to turn the oil pump shaft counter clockwise. I usually use a reversible drill motor when pre-oiling, or priming. You will know when you get oil pressure, by the speed change of the drill.

Roger Carter

JFCDeuce · Post by **JFCDeuce** » August 23, 2009, 1:18 pm

YOu can run the engine for a few minutes if you used a lot of assebbly lubem aand also didn't let the engine sit too long, but I wouldn't want to run it much more than that.

( I had an incident with a pump shaft that was not fully engaged and ran a fresh motor for about 5-10 min, now that it's all together correctly, It doesnt show any signs of premature wear.

Also the 1/4 inch socket on an extension works well as a primer... you may want to tape the socket on so it doesn't fall in.

qwertyd10n · Post by **qwertyd10n** » August 23, 2009, 6:08 pm

Alright, I pulled the distributor and primed the oil pump for quite a while with a 1/4" socket, extension, and electric drill running backwards. I had my sister watching the oil pressure gauge and it was showing as high as 35psi with my little drill turning the pump. I had the oil filler cap off trying to watch for oil at the rocker arms, but didn't seem to see anything there... when I'd shut off the drill though, I could hear oil draining back into the pan.

I then reinstalled the dizzy, hooked everything back up, started it up again, but the gauge showed <5psi and I heard a noise that's concerning me.

DAMN!!!

6166 Junkyard Dog · Post by **6166 Junkyard Dog** » August 23, 2009, 6:16 pm

with showing 35psi off the drill thats good but still have a problem, is the shaft bent? does the hex head fit good in the end of dist. you getting oil to the sending unit but is it going all the way through the block thats why I said take valve cover to see if going up through the rockers more likely it is since you heard oil draining back down,,, what kind of noise??? like metal against metal ?

qwertyd10n · Post by **qwertyd10n** » August 23, 2009, 8:08 pm

It's a brand new ARP hardened oil pump shaft... so I can't imagine it's bent. And yes, the hex end seems to fit just fine in the end of the dizzy.

Just tried a bigger, faster, more powerful 1/2" drill and saw the oil pressure sit just above 50psi... so I'm pretty confident the oil pump is working.

As for the noise, yeah it was a little metallicy sounding...

furnitureguy-123 · Post by **furnitureguy-123** » August 23, 2009, 8:23 pm

OK guys all this talk about priming oil pumps, does anyone have any input on how you prime a 240-6? The dizzy is run off a gear in the center of the cam shaft. The only way I can think of is to ruin a dist and rig it some way to turn it fast enough to prime the pump.

Roger Carter · Post by **Roger Carter** » August 23, 2009, 8:24 pm

Is the sound like a knocking, tapping or is it a rubbing, scraping sound? Did you have the rocker assemblies off the engine when you were working on it? How about the cam thrust, behind the timing gear? Did you have that off? Did you replace the rear main bearing when you replaced the rear seal?

Roger Carter

qwertyd10n · Post by **qwertyd10n** » August 23, 2009, 8:32 pm

I think it's more of a knocking or tapping sound.

I did not have the rocker assemblies off the engine this go round. I did not have the cam thrust off... just replaced the timing gear. And no, I did not replace the rear main bearing when I did the seal.

62galxe · Post by **62galxe** » August 23, 2009, 8:43 pm

is the ARP shaft the same length as the original shaft?

qwertyd10n · Post by **qwertyd10n** » August 23, 2009, 9:19 pm

qwertyd10n · Post by **qwertyd10n** » August 23, 2009, 9:20 pm

Yes. And I've taken some more measurements to be sure the shaft is getting far enough into the dizzy too.

qwertyd10n · Post by **qwertyd10n** » August 23, 2009, 10:56 pm

Alright, this is really starting to tick me off...

Pulled the dizzy once again, put the socket, extension, and drill on the oil pump shaft and spun it in reverse (counterclockwise) for almost 5 minutes. Oil pressure on the gauge in the dash was hovering around 50psi.

Measured how far down it was from the top of the intake where the dizzy mounts to where the dizzy gears sits and also to the top of the shaft. The oil pump shaft should be at least 1/2" into the bottom of the dizzy. Dizzy gear seems to engage the gear on the camshaft just fine as the rotor turns as it's being installed.

Put the dizzy back in and buttoned everything back up, started the truck and I still see no oil pressure on the gauge - obviously didn't leave it running for that long.

The fact that the engine seems to be running fairly smoothly seems to indicate that I didn't install the new timing set or dizzy incorrectly. But why the heck does it not show any oil pressure???

Am I missing something simple guys?

Very frustrated,
Dion

DCarr · Post by **DCarr** » August 24, 2009, 1:38 am

Not sure about the pressure problem,but there are 2 different timing sets for FEs. Fixed one
on a 390 once-the wrong one sounds similar to a rod knock.The wrong one offsets the cam gear too far forward.

No oil pressure???

No oil pressure???

no oil pressure?