Oil Pump not priming

[Bob Lob-Law]

Roger that. That will be my next task. I also did check the relief valve and it looked good and was free of any binding.

Thank you all for your help. It is sincerely appreciated.

 

[Steve V]

Roger that. That will be my next task. I also did check the relief valve and it looked good and was free of any binding.

Thank you all for your help. It is sincerely appreciated.

You are welcome, anytime.

 

[TurboBuRick]

Pack some petroleum jelly in the gears

 

[Gene Van Horn]

Im with rick, i had a similar prob maybe 8 years back. Got hold of a buick guy and he said pack the gears full of petroleum jelly, put it all back together and sure enough pressure went up. Its old school trick but it worked for me. Maybe lost pressure because it was tilted back so long and couldnt pull the oil, maybe???

 

[Jerryl]

I am going to respectfully disgree with the PJ idea. I know it's in the GM service manual for a new engine/pump but still wouldn't do it. You should be able to prime with a drill, without the PJ crutch. Many of us have done this multiple times.

For such an $$$$ engine, I wouldn't turn the key until I was able to prime witha drill. I mean . . . Will you need to put jelly in it again next time it doesn't prime?

 

[TurboBuRick]

I am going to respectfully disgree with the PJ idea. I know it's in the GM service manual for a new engine/pump but still wouldn't do it. You should be able to prime with a drill, without the PJ crutch. Many of us have done this multiple times.

A dry pump will never be able to create the suction needed to pull the oil up. Need oil, assembly lube or something.

Next time? Why would the pump ever lose prime? It surely doesn't lose prime from jacking the car up. There is another problem.

 

[Jerryl]

A dry pump will never be able to create the suction needed to pull the oil up. Need oil, assembly lube or something.

Next time? Why would the pump ever lose prime? It surely doesn't lose prime from jacking the car up. There is another problem.

Rick,
Like I said: I respectfully disagree, because my real life experiences are different.

My experience #1 of many;
I recently installed a TA cover, assembled with some GM EOS to lube the stock size gears and shaft. No added oil in the pump, PJ, blah blah. 5 Quarts of 10/40 in the pan, filter pre-filled with EOS and non synthetic 10/40. Ran a cordless ~600 rpm drill on the priming tool in CW direction only, and within 10-12 seconds, saw 60 PSI on my dedicated mechanical priming gage. I have actually successfully repeated this process quite a few times with various covers, from factory installed, over the counter, and now my TA unit.

The fact is: The engine lost prime, and shouldn't have. Even than, it should have primed right back up cranking, drill priming, starting, blah blah.
What we agree on; SHOULD not have lost prime and something is wrong.
What we will need to agree to disagree; "I" will never be convinced to add the PJ crutch to prime any engine, if it lost prime sitting on stands.

 

[TurboBuRick]

The point is there needs to be something in the pump. Your choice of flavor is just that.

 

[Jerryl]

The point is there needs to be something in the pump. Your choice of flavor is just that.

As is yours.

 

[No disintegrations]

As is yours.

The jelly is used since it will stay in place somewhat easily. Any kind of tacky oil would work but may be more messy. ( This is in the scenario where the pump was taken apart, not where it suddenly lost pressure.)

 

[SFI Cutlass]

Just wondering what kind of filter you have?

 

[earlbrown]

When I build pumps I use plain ole gear dope to lube the gears and pre-swell the gasket. They self prime with no problem.

 

[Bob Lob-Law]

All great advise. However, I don't think I'm going to try to prime the pump until I do a thorough search for the problem. Yes, it could have lost it's prime for being jacked up for that long, however, I feel that it should have regained that prime when I let the car down. I also put oil in the pump, through the coolant hose and no joy. I feel that there is a blockage or that the oil pickup tube is pooched, or something else that needs to be addressed. I'll be dropping the oil pan next weekend, 20th of January. I'll get back to you all on how it goes.

I truly appreciate everyone's input.

 

[Bob Lob-Law]

BTW, I'm using the Amsoil Ea 031 filter.

 

[Thumper]

is this a standard oil adapter for your filter on the front cover, or do you have the external bolt on oil pump?

 

[Bob Lob-Law]

I have the oil adapter for the oil filter.

 

[Steve V]

BTW, I'm using the Amsoil Ea 031 filter.

Spin the pump with the filter off.

 

[Bob Lob-Law]

Spin the pump with the filter off.

Please pardon my ignorance, but what would that accomplish?

 

[Steve V]

Please pardon my ignorance, but what would that accomplish?

I have seen Richard Clark do it many times with a bucket in front of it. I had a customer over last nite working on his engine, he put a K&N filter on it and the engine would not prime. So I took off the filter, dry, spun the drill, out with the air and oil came out. Put filter back on and it primed right up.

Before all the people chime in: yes the pump was set-up tight I did it myself, no I didn't pac it with vasoline-stopped that 4 years ago never looked back-covered was blueprinted per usual. My stuff primes up dry on the stand everytime. Lots of videos of me priming customers builds on my Facebook page.

 

[TurboBuRick]

My stuff primes up dry on the stand everytime.

Steve, you are superman if you can make a DRY pump pull oil. I too have primed an easy 100 oil pumps. I do them all the time on the stand as well. That's the only way to set max oil pressure. When I assemble the pumps I use a little assembly lube. That's it. I suggested the petroleum jelly only for this particular situation.

I would think running the pump dry would score the thrust. Metal parts need oil to prevent wear. I know you know that.