no oil PSI after winter sit, HELP!!

[Turbo317]

i just got my oil pressure guage hooked up, and started it up (no exhaust, from dp back) and the guage is sitting at zero, did a winter sit kill the oil pump?!!?, what should i do...??
Ps. i did have the pan off this winter to change rear main, but put it back together properly, is there maybe a connector i might have missed or something??????
thanks,
Bryan

 

[Red Regal T]

When you pulled down your pan, you may have lost your oil prime. You may have to pull your cam sensor and use a drill to get your oil prime back before you start your engine. You may have to take off the pump cover and fill with vaseline to get the pump prime back.

 

[Turbo317]

what do i have to drill in the cam sensor?? could you give me a description on how i go about drilling the prime?????
thanks,
Bryan

 

[ChrisCairns]

Yep...you prolly lost the prime. However, instead of pulling off the front cover to vaseline the gears....remove either the top or bottom oil line at the oil cooler in the radiator (I can't remember which one, someone else will have to advise) but you want the one that takes the oil from the engine to the cooler, not the one that returns it to the engine.

Take something like a turkey baster full of oil and while someone else is turning the pump backwards with the drill through the cam sensor hole(counterclockwise) you squeeze and keep the line filled with oil. That'll fill the pump and the internal passages back to the pickup. Then you reverse the drill and pressurize the system.

I used a large syringe (my wife is a nurse) instead of a turkey baster but you get the idea.

 

[Turbo1dr]

I'm certain you cranked the engine after you installed the rear mail seal???

Did you crimp the oil pressure lines too tight while installing the gauge? (The pressure can't get to the gauge.)

 

[Turbo317]

no the red light was on when i 1st started it up, then i got a guage.....
how fast to i have to turn the thing behind the cam sensor?? (whats it look like??) while putting oil on the the cooler line??
thanks,
Bryan

 

[Red Regal T]

Sorry Bryan, forgot to mention you need an oil pump primer tool. It's a shaft that fits over the pump shaft and the other end you connect a electric drill to it and pull the trigger. This spins the shaft and pulls the oil up thru the engine. I think Poston sell them.

 

[Turbo317]

ohhh i see i see, well is there another way then i can prime it besides that tool??? and you know if advanced or pep boys might have that part to rent out???
Thanks, Bryan

 

[Red Regal T]

Maybe......I think the same tool works on a chevy so just check around. Maybe NAPA has them. It's just about a foot long. I don't think they cost that much.

 

[QuickWrench]

The cheap way to make an oil pump primer for our cars is to go to your nearest junkyard, and buy a distributor for any carbureted 3.8 or 4.1 from '78 - '87. Should cost you no more than $5, just make sure the cam gear is in decent shape.

Pull off the cap, rotor, and all of the guts. Depending on the distributor, do whatever you have to in order to be able to chuck the shaft into a drill. Put it in place of your cam sensor, and prime away.

If you ask nicely, someone on the junkyard forum will probably give you one for the cost of shipping. They're worthless for anything else.

Good Luck.

 

[Joe Tiano]

pull the oil cooler lines off the radiator...use a small funnel(or turkey bastor)...hold the oilcooler lines "up"...and poor oil in...let it trickle in till the pump gets primed...you can pull the filter off to get some of the trapped air out...then fill the filter with oil..let it wick up oil till its full...then install it!....its alot easyer than pulling the cam sensor...just my O2 joe

 

[UNGN]

I would think you could take the oil feed line off the turbo, hook a hose and funnel to is and pour a quart of oil in. That would give the pump something to pump, without taking out the cam sensor.

 

[MSDGN]

Just remove the top oil cooler line...insert a small funnel...then spin the gears counterclockwise using a variable speed drill and priming tool...you want the drill to turn slow as it will suck the oil in pretty fast...make sure to keep oil in the funnel...don't want to suck any air...suck in about a half quart...hook the cooler line back up...then spin drill clockwise...should feel the drill start to bog down...really helps to have an oil pressure gauge...

 

[TRENT THOMPSON]

if you need too use an oil pump primer let me know

 

[1badTTA]

I made my oil pump primer tool with a 5/16" rod about 2 feet long from ACE Hardware. I filed one end down to look like a standard screwdriver to fit in the oil pump slot and just chucked it up in a drill, run the drill forward untill it slows down and you know it is primed, look at your gauge and you should have oil pressure, pull off the DS valve cover and make sure you have oil from the rockers (last place in oil system). I did that, put everything together and fired up the engine and had oil pressure on the first rotation.