mcm375

Just finished rebuilding, have hooked up an electronic sender + gauge to check oil pressure when turning over. Spark plugs are out and fuel injectors unplugged so I can just turn it over w/ the starter.

No oil pressure registers after about a minute of cranking. Oil filter is completely dry and empty, leading me to suspect something to do with the oil pump (no duh).

I DID NOT prime the pump w/ petro jelly when I built it, something I forgot about until now. Is that a big issue on this motor?

Can oil be fed into the inlet of the oil filter connection to prime the pump w/o dissassembling the mother er?

Gah.

yoterr

well last time i took apart my timing cover n such i didint take off my oil pump and i didint prime it either, it took a sec or 2 to get oil into her, i also poured an entire quart over the rockers n cam b4 i put the cover back on, then started it, you might just have to start it for the oil pump to build pressure...

yoterr

oh yeah and it should only take like 15 min to take the oil pump off

abecedarian

Gonna ask the "duh" questions first so don't be offended:
Did you put oil in it?
Did you put the oil pick-up tube and sump in properly?

Pouring oil in through the oil filter boss wouldn't hurt anything though.

mcm375

No offense taken, that's the kind of over the shoulder look I need.

Yes put oil in it, approx 5 qts dipstick reads 3/4 of hashed area.

Yes put oil pickup tube in, yes believe I put the oil pan on properly FIPG'd and everything (89 22RE).

The one thing I am a bit not sure about is whether I got all of the oil gallery plugs... I know I got the one on the back because I have a photo of it. I know I have the one on the side of the block because I also have a photo of it. I'm 99.999% sure I got the one on the FRONT of the block because when the machine shop gave me a new block (after ruining my first one) I recall noting that I didn't need to re-use my old front plug...

I tried pumping oil into the oil filter inlet (that's the center hole, right?) and it took a bit of oil then started overflowing. Tried cranking for another 30 seconds or so, no deal. Have probably cranked for a total of 2 minutes by now... still zero reading on the sender (and I know it works because when I disconnect the lead it goes to MAX reading immediately, plus it comes up to zero from below when it has +12v going to it.)

Sigh, guess I'll be pulling the oil pump soon... just as well I didn't put the radiator in yet... Oh one last question; the oil pump gear that slides over the crank shaft (keyed) goes in gear side OUTWARDS, right?...

Like this:

yoterr

i think theres a mark on it? to wich side is out? hope you figure it out, another guy on here just rebuilt his motor too, and was running it but it had low to zero oil pressure, i guess he had debris int he oiling system...sucks

mcm375

Just popped the oil pump off, it was dry save for some light lube I applied on assembly. I fed a rubber vac hose down the OIL PICKUP route (top path, I believe?) and had to feed it a LONG way (basically 1.5 feet) until it came out with oil on it. I believe this should be the culprit; I need to prime the pump with vaseline.

Question: Should I fill the pickup tube from the pump down with oil? or will this just raise the crankcase level and not fill the tube... What about stuffing vaseline into the pickup tube from the pump? Is that advisable?

mcm375

FIXED!

Primed the pump as much as I could, did everything back up, cranked it and within 5 seconds had 50 PSI and maintained that for about 20 seconds to make sure everything is nice and oiled.

Wonder how that vaseline mixes with the oil... or does it just clog up the filter...

Anyway. The mocker gods then proceeded to cast rain down upon me, ending my near-birth of the mighty (new) 22RE for another day... F SAKE.