HELP!! Oil priming problem

[kman67rsss]

i am trying to prime my motor 414 BBC and cant seem to get oil to the heads. i have the priming tool on the pump drive shaft, and am spinning it in w/ a 3/8 drill. i have oil to the hole just above the filter, found out the hard/messy way i missed a plug. just cant seem to get it to the pushrods. this is after 2 min of constant spinning. i dont want to try to fire the engine without being sure the oilling system is working properly for obvious reasons. any help as to where to look first would be great. thanks

[Matt@RFR]

What I like to do is to have an oil pressure gauge temporarily on the motor while I pre-oil. Just makes me more confident in the whole process.

Also, spin the motor with a wrench as you're spinning the oil pump so that you line up all the lifters with their respective oil port. You should get atleast some oil to some of the pushrods without spinning the motor though.


You might want to try a 1/2" drill. You're trying to push a lot of oil, and if the 3/8" drill doesn't have enough poop, it might not be spinning the oil pump fast enough.

Beyond that, I don't know.

[camcojb]

Do you have the primer that looks like the bottom half of a distributor? If you have the skinny shaft type it doesn't seal the oil galleys at the rear of the block that the dist. housing would normally seal; makes it almost impossible to get oil up top.

I will say though that if it's primed and pressure is built I do not wait for oil to get to the top of the engine. If the engine is properly assembled the rockers, lifters, valve stems, etc. all are lubed to begin with and that's fine.

Jody

[Matt@RFR]

Jody, but why not double check? "Should" aint no garuntee.

[camcojb]

Jody, but why not double check? "Should" aint no garuntee.

Lost you Matt. All I said that if the engine is PROPERLY assembled and lubed when it was assembled you do not have to wait until you see oil up top. If you've primed the pump and are showing pressure for 20-30 seconds you're good to go.

Jody

[Matt@RFR]

I agree 100%. "Properly" being the key word in your statement, ofcourse!

So now, out of curiosity, would it cost anything other than time to go ahead and wait for oil to hit the top end?

[camcojb]

I agree 100%. "Properly" being the key word in your statement, ofcourse!

So now, out of curiosity, would it cost anything other than time to go ahead and wait for oil to hit the top end?

Probably not, although with some primers it never gets up there. I've seen guys on other car boards prime off and on for a day or two and never get oil to the rockers. They finally fire the engine up anyway and everythings fine.

For me I won't waste my time. But you're probably right, for advice to someone you don't know it's not a bad idea to wait. Just realize that you will not always get oil to every rocker with the priming method, ESPECIALLY if using the cheap shaft primer.

Take care Matt!

Jody

[Matt@RFR]

Jody, I've allways used my trusty gutted distributor to pre-oil, so good point about the cheaper task specific pre-oilers...I never knew they were a problem...now I (we all) do. Thanks!!

Give me a dry sump anyday!

[camcojb]

Jody, I've allways used my trusty gutted distributor to pre-oil, so good point about the cheaper task specific pre-oilers...I never knew they were a problem...now I (we all) do. Thanks!!

Give me a dry sump anyday!

If you look down the hole with the shaft type primers you'll see all the oil running out of the rear passages back into the pan. Without using the dist housing type of primer there's nothing to seal the passage so the oil will go to the top of the engine.

With your fabrication skills, a dry sump is a piece of cake! Have a good weekend Matt!

Jody

[Matt@RFR]

Thanks Jody! You too.

[Tig Man]

Is your block a pre 67. If so it needs a groved rear cam bearing to supply oil to the lifters,pushrods,etc. If the machine shop put in a later style bearing with no grove you'll have this problem.

[kman67rsss]

nope, the block is from 1970. anyway, i have the primmer that has the bushing to block off the return holes. tha problem i am having now is when the oil builds up to the lifter valley the pressure (i think) causes the primming tool to jump off of the pump shaft. and this is with me forcing it down

[Matt@RFR]

Can you tie it down with the distributor hold down?

[kman67rsss]

i was thinking about that but im not sere it will work because there is no fixed peice on the tool to catch

[Matt@RFR]

Go to http://www.mcmaster.com/ and cruise catolog pages 1031, 1032, 1033 and 1034 to see if any of those will work, so you can clamp your pre-oiler down.

[MrQuick]

I just wanted to add something cause there is alot of good info going through. However priming a motor till you get oil going up the push rods isn't recommended. It take alot of pressure with out the proper tool or the rotation of the engine to do so.Offen this may lead to premature bearing failure. Reason is all the oil being primed through is going to wash off most of the cam lube and assembly grease that was applied to the motor during assembly.When you first fire off the engine the cam lobes and cam bearings will quickly heat up and can cause galling.Seen it before. Recommended way to prime is to prime till you get 40 psi for atleast 30 seconds then fire off the motor and run over 1500 rpm for adequate oil splash to lubricate the rings.