dKillaCamaro

Trying to prime the motor nospark plugs in, cranked it 15 20 times no oil what's up, new oil pump Dist installed 100%

jg04222

Just for starters...try to pull the distributor out and use a priming tool to do it. Also, make sure the push rods are fully seated in the lifters.

Apeiron

Is this a new engine?

dKillaCamaro

no 50,000ish

92droptopws6

iTrader: (10)

priming an engine with the oil priming tool just gets oil to the bearings ,the motor has to turn to push oil from the lifters through the pushrods onto the rockers.

5678TA

you, my friend, are wrong.. i prime my motor with an old distributor base and shaft (basically a free priming tool) and power drill.. you need to spin it long enough for oil to actually reach the rockers.. i never turn my motor over without priming to the rockers.. sometimes it takes over a minute to fully prime..

but yes, make sure the pushrods are seated correctly..

sweetaq

iTrader: (1)

I agree completely!!! I used the same method as above with my motor on the stand and had oil to the rockers in about 45 seconds. I also used a good priming tool right before starting the motor and once again had oil to the rockers.

The motor isn't new so that rules out some of the possible causes. I would think that if the push rods weren't fully seated and the motor was turned that many times the rocker would be way loose now...right? Was the same pickup used? could it be clogged or is the new pick up not sitting low enough in the pan? Do you have pressure on the gauge? Could be a bad pump out of the box? Just spit balling here trying to get some ideas together.

jamon8

iTrader: (3)

can you see daylight through the pushrods

NY87Iroc

iTrader: (1)

It takes awhile to get the oil up to the rockers..Your better off using the primer tool if you wanna see oil up to the rockers, and make sure you have a decent drill.

ljnowell

I dont see the big deal with getting oil up to the rocker arms. When building a brand new engine, I dont prime one like that. We use assembly lube on the top end, and crank the engine a few seconds with the coil off to get oil in the bearings. Let er rip after that. A used engine? The hell with it, fill it with oil and fire it up.

I have worked for different dealerships and myself, no one is going to prime a SBC, especially a used one to the point that oil is coming out of the pushrods, its just a waste of time.

92droptopws6

iTrader: (10)

hmmm never primed a motor long enough i suppose but then again i just do it enough to get oil pressure then go for it from there.fire it up check for leaks then go racing.

5678TA

i know its not a big deal but thats what i was taught.. that way you can see if there is an obstruction of oil flow.. i would much rather prime to the rockers and have my valvetrain live than saving an extra minute or two and having them fail from lack of oil.. i take my time building motors anyway, so a couple minutes is nothing..

ljnowell

If you took your time building it, it would all be right anyway. I'm not saying that you are doing anything wrong, dont take it that way. I am just saying its not important. If you can verify you are building oil pressure, fire it up.

Stekman

+1. I didn't prime my SB2. Runs fine last I checked.

I agree with LJ. When I do prime, I just take out the plugs, unhook ign, and hit the starter.

jamon8

iTrader: (3)

bottom line you are supposed to prime the oil pump

every time

but you dont have to get it to the rockers

as soon as you feel the drill bog down you are done

if oil does not get to the rockers in 2min of running then shut her down

all this arguing is unproductive but humourus

88IROC350TPI

I've never primed an engine and never will. It's a total waste of time and will just put a hurting on your back and your electric drill.

Also, oil doesn't come out of my rocker arms until the engine has been running for over a minute. It's nothing to worry about and nothing is going to fail as a result. Go take off the valve covers and pour oil all over them if it makes you feel better.

Apeiron

An SBC pump is self-priming.

ljnowell

And you are correct sir! It amazes me sometimes at the volume of armchair mechanics that will insist its a necessity to do something that people who do it all the time for a living scoff at.

Bottom line is if it makes you feel good, do it. It isnt necessary. Assembly lube covers your *** until it fires.

SDIF

This was a great learning experience reading this post. I have never been able to get oil out of the pushrods by priming a SBC. Maybe I cant see it because of the roller rockers and stud girdle. I primed it until I had good oil pressure at the gage and figured good enough.


I now prime my race engine after every oil change when I empty the accusump. I figure its a good idea because there would be so much volume to fill with the lines coolers remote filter etc. System hold about 10.5 quarts.

Is this practice a waste of time?

ljnowell

If it makes you feel good, disable the ignition and crank the engine a few seconds. It accomplishes the same task. No removing of the distributor.

sweetaq

iTrader: (1)

Well I am not trying to be a arm chair mechanic but I figured a priming tool is awfully cheap, my motor is on a stand, it takes 60 seconds, and even though I was careful while building it, everyone makes mistakes and it was a way of checking my work. Not to mention that the tool was like 1% of the total price of the engine build and the 60 seconds was less than 1% of the time it took to build it (including research of course).

I think the majority of us don't build engines all the time or even often so for us I think priming until we see oil at the rockers might be just a little of a security blanket. Just a thought.

ljnowell

LIke I said before, if it makes tyou feel good, go for it. Its not going to hurt anything, but in reality, it doesnt make a difference either. I just opined that those of us who do rebuild engines on a regular basis, or install new engines is cars for customers do not do this on a regular basis. Its not worth the time involved.

DENN_SHAH

iTrader: (1)

there was a time when i didn't worry about priming.
now i prime every motor before i put it in.
but i don't do it to actually prime the motor, i do it to check for oil leaks.
i don't remember which one it was right now, but i had to pull a motor back out because of either a pin hole in one of the new oil passage plugs or a crack in the block at one of the passage holes.
there were a couple of other motors that i found leaks on that were easy to fix out of the vehicle.
odds are i'll probably never have another oil leak, but to me its worth the couple of minutes to prime and check for leaks before i put it in.

jamon8

iTrader: (3)

my buddy ruined an engine because he did not prime the oil pump

forgot to tighten the oil pump down

I know you couch mechanics who say that this step is useless because you never make a mistake would agree that if he primed the oil pump he would have taken the motor out and check it out

also it eliminates all the air between the oil pump pick-up and the main bearings

be as lazy as you want and I hope it never bites you in the ash

ljnowell

#1 I am not a "couch" mechanic. I turn wrenches for a living every day.

#2 If your buddy "forgot" to tighten down an oil pump, then your "buddy" shouldnt be attempting to build an engine. Sorry, but thats just common sense. How can you forget in the first place? Stupid.

#3 Air gap? You have no idea how quickly a submerged pickup system will have oil through to the bearings. Assuming you arent as dumb as your "buddy" and you used some assembly lube, it is a moot point.

#4 It has nothing to do with being lazy. Its called flat rate, do you know what that is? I wont do 15 extra minutes of work that I wont get paid for, sorry. I wont do it on my own car either, because I dont get paid to do that.

Apeiron

No, he ruined an engine because he

Maybe... but if he hadn't been too careless to notice a lack of oil pressure within the first second of starting the engine, he would have taken the motor out and checked it out, too.

And possibly washes out the assembly lube, which is a better lubricant for an initial start than engine oil.


My tica housekeeper tells me that I shouldn't bathe for an hour after I eat, or I'm at risk of being struck down dead. When she's around, I smile and nod and then wait an hour after breakfast. It doesn't make me any less likely to slip and break my neck, but it doesn't cost me anything and it makes her feel better. I'm sure that if my waterlogged corpse is found in the shower one day she'll insist it was because I showered after breakfast and had nothing to do with stepping on the soap, but at that point I won't care anyway.

Priming the oil pump is exactly the same.

ljnowell

I like it.

ACZ28

Problem: no oil to top end---
I've built 20 or more small block Chevies in my younger years,but never had this happen....
Ok, I know this is kind of an old thread,, but just wanted to add my 2 cents worth in, and what I found and solved the problem, here goes.
Been running BB Mopars 20+ years now,in my '69 Roadrunner, but Mopes are ridiculously expensive to play with. Soooo, I bought an '83 Z28 6 years ago to run around and show too. Had Lone Star machine in Fairfield Tx. do the work for a stroker 383, and punch it 30 over. First block had a slight crack in the lifter galley, so Dave had another 350 4-bolt I bought from them. Did all the machine work great, brought it home then didn't touch for 3 months during summer. Cooler weather finally came, so started putting it together, in amongst heads and induction had to save for.
When it was ready, went to pre-lube it, fired up the old 1/2 Craftsman, and started spinning it, watching the oil pressure gauge. Heard oil hitting the floor ,( now a mess) and found the plug above the oil filter wasn't there. Hmmmm, well found a plastic plug with a drain for it and proceeded again. Got the motor primed, good oil pressure and for at least 5 minutes. Good to go. Since I live out in the boonies it was over a week before I got a good brass plug, and changed it.Never had to put 1 in before ya know, well you can seat it toooo deep, yessir.
Now yall know where this is going....Spent weeks that spring getting that thing sandwiched in the car, (I'm 67 now , nothing goes fast anymore) and finally fire it, valves set and no oil to the top end....duhhhh. Whats going on? This never happened before. Checked this, and that, pulled the intake and a lifter, dribbles thru the passages. Crap.
Anyway, it's now a year later, after lots of head scratching, and a stay in the hospital this spring where it had me down for 4 months, I was finally able to figure out the brass plug was cutting off top end oill flow. Dave said he never pulls those out, unless it's got a sending unit on it. Go figure, mine he did. And , he also noted that if you build your motors in anywhere but totally a wasp-proof shop, dirt robbers can seal up a block with ANYTHING close to concrete. It can survive a block cleaning, he's had it happen. Words of wisdom, at least mine was self induced.
2-1/2 years later now, it's oiling, and now i gotta reassemble it all before I die from this heat. Hope this helps anyone.