9o7yota

Im almost to the point of starting my newly rebuilt engine...my pops said to crank it over without plugs of course, with the valve cover off... to make sure that oil is circulating to the top of the cam and rocker arms...i am not seeing ANY oil being moved...but everything moves fine... does the valve cover need to be on for vaccuum to make the oil move or....is something wrong?

limon32

Vaccum doesn't play a part in moving oil through an engine, thats done by the crank driven oil pump. I've never heard of cranking the engine to check oil flow nor have I done it and i've rebuilt 3 engines now. Don't get me wrong, not trying to claim i'm an expert but thats been my experience. I'm assuming you used some type of assembly lube? The purpose of that lube is to make things slick until your oil starts pumping for the first time, among some other things...

91Toyota

just crank it over a lot with your hand so you know oil will be ready to be circulated throughout your engine once you start it.

You can start an engine with no oil...it just won't last long. lol.

malteserunner

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, you should have pre-lubed the moving parts during installation. Button up the engine and fire it up. Then make sure you have oil pressure. If not, shut it down. When you fire it the first time, just let it idle.

9o7yota

yeah... but what im doing is checking to make sure that its all pumping right... i donno.. my dad says there should be a way that the oil gets onto the rocker arms...usually through a hole... well i dont see any holes..nor do i even understand how the oil gets there now... i have a mercury cougar..it uses a hose to each valve cover that sprays oil. how does oil get there in a 22re... do i have to have the valve cover on for the oil to start moving into the head area?.. its basically not getting oil to the top when i turn the engine over..no matter how long i crank it... im assuming that would seize the rocker arms or the valve stems etc.

Last night when i tried to start it..it was really stuck. took a 3 foot pipe extension on my ratchet turning the engine backwards to get it to free up. I did use assembly lube on all my bearings.. But its been 2 weeks or so since i put them in, and my truck is outside in my driveway...and its almost getting to freezing every night... so yeah.. anyway, i got it free'd up and turned it the correct way with my hand and ratchet(no pipe) ... probably like 10 full rotations...still no fresh oil into the head..

flyingbrass

I'm in the middle of my first rebuild and don't have an answer.

Out of curiosity, during assembly did you check your main and rod bearing clearances with plastigauge to make sure they were all within spec? Did you pack your oil pump with Vasoline or grease to help it prime?

9o7yota

i did not plastigauge my clearances for the rod and main bearings. It was to my understanding, that, plastigauging the clearances for the bearings is simply to ensure the bearings are the right size for the crank surface. I have never replaced the crank, nor had it machined, so the normal standard bearings would have more than enough oil clearance. i had it explained by a machinist..so i was confident that it need not be done.

My oil pump never came out of my timing cover. It was already in working condition and didnt need a prime...

Anyone know how oil gets to the top of the engine?

TNRabbit

Even cranking it with the starter won't bring the pressure up to be able to tell. You just need to start it and let it run for a few seconds & WATCH YOUR OIL PRESSURE GAUGE. If it doesn't start to rise within 5-10 seconds, shut it down.

9o7yota

i dont have an oil pressure gauge. just an idiot light that looks like an oil thing.

And no one has answered my question yet how does oil get to the top of the engine?

turboboost

Get a mechanical oil guage, start it, and if it's not building significant pressure after about ten seconds, turn it off and then start to troubleshoot.

limon32

Slow down, re-read my original response. There is an oil pump which is driven by your crankshaft which pumps oil throughout your engine through various passages, just like your water pump.

On the topic of Plastigauge, you should always gauge your bearings, what if someone put the wrong size in the box, what if you were given the wrong box, and mostly because they are often supllied slightly oversized and need to be modified for a perfect fit.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think thats your problem, furthermore I don't think you have a problem at all, I don't think you can turn the oil pump at a high enough velocity by hand to build enough pressure to get oil to the top of the head. Just my observation however.

9o7yota

Yeah, well plastigauging wasnt going to be an option, so i skipped it. im sure it will be okay, as ive heard many people got away without doing it.

As for the oil pump, i know what it does, but WHERE is the holes or ports that allow the oil INTO the top of the head to supply it to the rocker and cam shaft.. thats my question, still all failures at answering it.

myyota

The oil flows through oil passages in the block and up to the head to the rocker arm assembly. Oil then flows through the inside of the rocker arm assembly to lube the rocker arms and related parts.

iamsuperbleeder

there's little oil grimlins that ride up and down the timing chain with a little bucket... they fill the bucket up with oil in the oil pan, grab onto the chain and ride it up (carefully missing the tensioner of course), hop off at the top, run down to a rocker, throw the oil on it, then quickly return to the timing chain and ride it back down to the oil pan to start the process over

there's 8 grimlins; one for each rocker

you DID remember to get new grimlins, right? or at least give the old ones new buckets?

limon32

Ok calling us all failures is not super motivating, just an FYI. I haven't seen one posting that wasn't a good faith effort to help you out.

Generally the oil passages leading to the crank and cams are small tunnels leading through various parts of the block leading to small holes in the bearings and/or journals.

Lets review:

Oil is picked up from the oil pan and pushed through the oil pump. Travels through tunnels in the block to the top of the block, pushes into small holes which terminate at the bearings or journals. Really not any more difficult than that.

In your application, should it be possible to actually get enough oil to flow, you should see it squirting out around the bearings.

malteserunner

iTrader: (1)

Just a few pointers regarding plastigauge (for future reference). It's a handy tool in many ways besides the obvious clearance issues. It's a good tool for someone like you who wants to re-use your crank. If you plastigauge it with the new bearings, you can determine whether or not your crank needs to be ground; for instance, if you find that the gauge is wide in the middle and narrow on the outer edges, showing uneven wear. Also, if you find the tolerances are a little loose, or tight, you can determine if you'd like to use a higher or lower weight oil to achieve the correct oil pressure.

Just some insight. Hope the motor works great for you. Did you fire it up yet?

kdo58

http://personal.utulsa.edu/~nathan-b...54descript.pdf

9o7yota

Lmfao!
hahahaha dude nice..


Limon, sorry man i was in a bad mood earlier. I just dont like reading everyone talking about things that werent my question haha. Thanks for the info

Recap, oil goes to the head from the bearings and rocker arm assembly, and wont be able to be seen by just hand turning/dry cranking.

About the plastigauging...Yeah, i really wanted to be able to plastigauge them, but in reality, it came down to: Engine still in truck, so the crank wasnt coming out regardless of wear, my main bearings looked GREAT as far as wear pattern, as did the rod bearings...not saying that has much weight on the fact that they could still be out of round, but i couldnt take it out to get machined regardless, so it was sort of a hit an miss, most likely a hit type of scenario

Thanks for the info guys, it all helped...

As for has it started yet, i just tried...my battery is dead haha .. Jump starting it wouldnt give it enough. Battery charger said 12.8 on the battery, clearly dead. Its chargin atm while i scarf down some spaghetti

limon32

9o7Yota - are you actually in AK? I just realized what your screen name was implying (do people still call them screen names?). Total aside I realize, just curious...

Something did occur to me just now, if you still have your valve cover off, try turning the engine with the starter, ignition coil disconnected. That may produce enough pressure after a minute or so of turning the engine to get oil to squirt out the cam bearings/journals... (do these trucks have cam bearings?) I would disconnect the fule pump too if you try that.

muddpigg

iTrader: (1)

Just throwing this out there. Did you drop the oil pan? Did you remove the syphon tube w/screen pickup? Did you put it back on?

Usually its the little things that get me and I've had my share of brain farts.