Terry Field Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 Before firing up my rebuilt engine I have been spinning it over to get some oil pressure. I have now flattened the battery twice, without so much as a flicker on the (electric) pressure gauge. Do i keep recharging the battery and retrying, or what 🤔 Any thoughts? Terry Q783 OOR. Team Lotus colours with flares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
budgie Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 I would have thought that you would have seen an indication by now. Are you sure the gauge is ok.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Lane Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 Did you prime the oil pump ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Field Posted January 30, 2005 Author Share Posted January 30, 2005 Rob I didn't prime the oil pump - how do you actually do it? The only way I could see to do it is to unbolt it from the block, and put oil in it - but wouldn't it then all pour out as you turn it sideways to bolt it back to the block? I must admit that this occurred to me as a problem because I couldn't see any oil circulating around the rocker cover. What I did do was to drip feed the oil channel which feeds the pressure switch with a squirty oil can (as directed by Vulcan) before screwing the pressure unit back into place. I was thinking whether the gauge was faulty - but it worked fine before the engine was changed, and there was just the slightest movement on the needle, but not even enough to get the needle on to the scale. How much pressure would you expect to see on a spin over? It is very tempting just to fire it up, but............ Terry Q783 OOR. Team Lotus colours with flares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billy Bonkers Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 Packing it with vaseline is acceptable for priming. Did you use a new pump on the rebuilt engine? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clive powell Posted January 30, 2005 Share Posted January 30, 2005 Terry,I always grease the rotors, fill the filter up with oil, then put a pump type oil can into the oilsender hole and keep pumping till it gets wet around the rockers. Can take a long time if you have a dry oil cooler and pipes, worth it though for peace of mind. Cant beat the instant swing of the oilpresure gauge Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Field Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 Clive What do you call the 'oil sender hole'? Is this the hole in the block into which the oil pressure sender screws? I have been pumping oil into this area over a couple of days, but how does this oil get to the rockers which are at a higher level? Terry Q783 OOR. Team Lotus colours with flares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe 90 Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 The oil pressure sender feeds off the main oil gallery, which runs all the way from the front of the engine to the back. Somewhere near the front there is a drilling which takes the pressurised oil up the the front rocker post. The front post has a mating drilling which takes the oil to the rocker shaft. SEP field working, not spotted in 103,100 miles. Some photos on webshots, updated 25 Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Field Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 Oliver/Clive I can understand what you are saying about the main gallery, front rocker post and rocker shaft - that bit is straight forward. What I can't grasp is how pumping oil through the oil sender hole with an oil can will get the oil up to the (higher) rocker post. When I pump oil through the oil pressure sender hole, it fills up until it overflows,then goes down again until I refill it to overflowing, but the oil seems to be going down, and not up to the rockers. Am I being particularly numpty about something? I will take the oil pump off grease the rotors/fill with oil, and continue to squirt oil into the sender hole before giving it another try. Thanks for the advice - keep it coming Terry Q783 OOR. Team Lotus colours with flares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manxseven Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Terry, Excuse the question. You have taken the spark plugs out haven't you? L7 BDA Supersprint Joy here 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Field Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 Manxseven - Oh yes! Without the compression its churning round like a good 'un, just can't get the pressure up! Terry Q783 OOR. Team Lotus colours with flares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manxseven Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 thought so I had this problem with my Mini once. Made sure oil filter was full and stuck some in the rocker cover, cranked it over for a couple of times (about 25 seconds each time), put plugs back in and started it, keeping very close eye on the gauge 😳 All was well and presssure came up after a few seconds. L7 BDA Supersprint Joy here 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashaughnessy Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 I had the same problem on first spinning up my rebuilt xflow. I took the side cover plate off the oil pump to expose the pump rotor and squirted oil in until it made a mess, put the cover back on and everything was then fine. In other words, I wasn't aiming it scientifically at a particular point, I just hoped that by squirting enough oil into the side of the pump, enough would get to the places that needed it to make the pump push/pull effectively instead of sucking air. I also made sure my oil filter was filled. Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Field Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 Manxseven, It is very tempting to go down the route you suggest (after all, with my old bangers that never had any pressure gauges, I just fired them up and hoped . Not too keen to do that with 2.5k's of new motor tho'. The received wisdom seems to be lubrication of the oil pump by whatever means, so that's the next step. Terry Q783 OOR. Team Lotus colours with flares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe 90 Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Have you checked that all the oil gallery plugs are fitted? The one that caught me out was the one behind the cam shaft sprocket. SEP field working, not spotted in 103,100 miles. Some photos on webshots, updated 25 Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Field Posted January 31, 2005 Author Share Posted January 31, 2005 Oliver, Now you are getting beyond my level of knowledge - which is one reason why I had the engine built for me (by Vulcan). I'll just have to hope that the priming works, otherwise I am b****ered and will require serious assistance! Terry Q783 OOR. Team Lotus colours with flares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rishy Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 I had the same problem with my new crossflow, flat battery - no oil pressure ☹️ Fill everything you can with oil, filter, oil cooler, oil cooler pipes, you get the idea. Then remove the oil pump cover plate and using a pump type oil can pump away until oil goes everywhere. Re-attach the cover plate and as if by magic you should have oil pressure. Don't just fire it up until you have oil pressure. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clive powell Posted January 31, 2005 Share Posted January 31, 2005 Terry, my oil pump end just has the same taper as the brass conector fitted in the block so i can get quite a bit of pressure in. Some high lift cams (my piper 285) have bigger slots cut into the front bearing allowing more oil up to the rockers and you can see the air coming out of the sides of No 1 rockers first. I hope the oil pick up pipe has been fitted or isnt cracked !!! Other than that it has to have pressure as soon as the pump turns. You can take the end plate off and turn it over by hand to check that. Hope that helps.Good Luck Clive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.Mupferit Posted February 1, 2005 Share Posted February 1, 2005 You can easily check if the pump is pulling oil up from the sump simply by leaving out the oil pressure sender, then get someone else to crank the engine whilst you hold a rag over the hole. If oil shoots out after a second or two then you are ok to put the sender and plugs back and fire up. I have worked on X/Flows and their predecessors for more years than I care to remember and found that some electrical gauges don't always register well at low (cranking speed) pressures. The above check helped me out in many similar circumstances. Brent 2.3 DURATEC SV. Gad these things are expensive ❗ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Perry Posted February 4, 2005 Share Posted February 4, 2005 Did mine today, and for the first time ever we had problems getting pressure up so in the end we reverted to the method we used to do which was to overfill the dry sump so that it would splash plenty of oil about and then just went for it. It found pressure after a couple a couple of heart stopping seconds once started. No rattles...................... yet. Will have a blat tomorrow and see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hugh Posted February 5, 2005 Share Posted February 5, 2005 change the gauge to a mechanical, unit the electrical units are rubbish, my engine has been in and out/rebuilt several times after years of abuse, sprints trackdays etc, if you have no reading on a mechanical unit then you need advice. regards hugh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe 90 Posted February 6, 2005 Share Posted February 6, 2005 I'd go with Brent's suggestion. If the oil spurts out of the pressure sender hole, then the pump must be pumping it into the main gallery. I would then start it (it should be fine for 15-30sec anyway if the bearings were lubricated on assembly), and if you don't get a reading, I'd change the sender. You can test the gauge by shorting the sender wire to the chassis. SEP field working, not spotted in 103,100 miles. Some photos on webshots, updated 25 Jan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Field Posted February 7, 2005 Author Share Posted February 7, 2005 Oliver - I tried removing the pressure sender and cranking the engine and, bingo! oil spurting everywhere! So I am now happy with that angle. The bl**dy thing just won't start now - but I have done a separate thread on that. Thanks for the help Terry Q783 OOR. Team Lotus colours with flares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete east Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 Silly question I know, but did you take the spark plugs out before turning the engine over? This relieves the starter motor of having to work against compressions (the engine is simply rotating) and avoids commpression loads on crank bearings/ journals which do not yet have oil under pressure between them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manxseven Posted February 7, 2005 Share Posted February 7, 2005 Pete, See page 1 of this thread. I got there before you 😬 😬 😬 L7 BDA Supersprint Joy here 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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