I just put a new motor and rebuilt tranny in this 82 I am working on. The truck is pretty much torn apart, front headlights are off the truck including front turn signals, rear lights are off. Dash is out. The rig worked electrically fine prior to tearing everything out.
What I need answered... I needed to turn the new motor over and get the oil pressure up in order then put the plugs back in and fire it up. In the past I have used the oil red indicator on the dash to tell when the pressure is up and things are good. Well, I plugged the instrument cluster back in to monitor the oil light the oil light, fasten seatbelt light, and battery light were light but very very dim. The instrument cluster lights are not working as well. I turned the motor over and waited for the dim oil light to go off but it did not. I stopped.
My question is does the instrument cluster function correctly if the front lights and rear lights are all unplugged? If they do what then is going on here? Do I need to hook everything back up for the oil light to function properly? I have checked all the grounds and everything looks good.
Need a little help...

 

anyone???

 

Your oil light is never going to turn off. Oil pressure only stays up as long as the engine is running. How do you expect to get the oil pressure up then put the plugs in and start it within the half second you have before it drops again?

What you want to do is cycle the oil a bit, which is what you're doing by turning the engine over without the plugs in. Just slap those plugs in and start the damn thing before your battery dies.

 

did you try to call me about this yesterday?

 

Wrong, the light WILL go out just with cranking the engine. Been there done that on three different rigs, two from the same person and mine as well. One 22r, 1 22-re and 1 3.0.

It might take almost a minute sometimes longer if the pump wasn't primed with something like grease/petroleum jelly when it was installed.

Make sure battery is completely charged prior to doing this as it's very possible to drain the battery trying to get the oil to prime.

The lack of headlights etc etc should not affect the oil light at all nor the cluster. But a low battery certainly will.

 

Thanks guys. Yes the light will shut off done it many times.
Didn't try to call you xtreme wasn't me.
In my experience turning over a fresh motor without the plugs in saturates the cylinder walls bringing oil into vital areas. I have always done this and heard it is the proper way to proceed.
I am inclined to think there is a ground issue not having the lights hooked up.

 

Huh...no kidding...

So the system gets pressurized and the second you stop the engine it stays pressurized? I assume for at least a short period of time.

Never heard of that and I've rebuilt a few engines myself...

 

Yeah, I've heard of cycling the oil to get it on the cylinder walls. I've even heard of spraying a bit of oil into the cylinders and cranking it over to get it on the walls that way (did this on a 1600cc VW Type-1 engine). I just had no idea it would stay pressurized if you cranked it long enough.

 

oil light will go out as long as you keep cranking, engine does not need to be idling. The idiot light goes out at 3.5-4 psi IIRC.

If your gonna lube the cyl walls on a fresh new motor, I suggest not using oil, but use WD-40. Oil will burn off and leave a residue on the walls possibly causing a glaze which will hinder ring seating. WD-40 will lubricate and eventually burn off clean leaving almost no residue.

A little oil on the piston skirts and rings on install is ok though.

 

Nic, the system doesn't actually stay pressurized, he's using the idiot light to tell him that the pump is actually pumping oil and the engine isn't just spinning dry, metal on metal, while priming the oiling system and getting oil delivered to crank, cam, etc, etc.

 

Ok, that's what I thought...I was confused for a second wondering how the oil system would stay pressurized without the oil pump moving.

We were talking about the same thing, just not understanding each other lol

 

Exactly!
UDATE....
SOOO my gf installed blue LED's in the oil light and fasten seatbelt light as a result they were dim.
As far as using the idiot light to tell if oil was getting where it should be I actually had to fire the truck up and get the RMP's up. I brought it up to about 600rpm and the light went right off. This is the first time I have had to do this. Usually just spinning it over a few turns with the plugs out works fine.
All is well and the truck is running. Running rough but running. I now have a charge light on in addition to a loping idle and when I shut it down after a little spin it won't fire. I have to wait about 30min and then it fires right up.
any additional help on that would be great!

 

Bad GF.

:wabbit2: