Help! No oil pressure???

[darkred87T]

Hi, I'm sure there is tons of info on this already but I never have any luck with the search feature so sorry if this is redundant.

I have about 30 miles on a fresh motor rebuild. The first time I drove it it had great oil pressure. I took the car out today for the second time and as I'm driving down the road I notice there was no oil pressure showing on my Autometer gauge...zilch! I pulled into a gas station and shut it off. When I restarted it, I didn't notice knocking or anything unusual so I fiqured it was just the gauge and drove it home. Home was about 2 miles. I don't know what kind of internal engine damage this already caused but at least there's no audible signs thank God).

I took the valve cover off, started it again and no sign of oil getting to this point. . Usually it squirts out and makes a mess right? I also tried replacing the filter and that didn't help either. I heard that these pumps sometimes lose thier prime and you can take the cover off and pack it with vaseline to reprime it. Should I try this? It's kind of a weird how it all of the sudden it went from all to nothing. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Mike

 

[STP]

pull the turbo oil feed line off and stick the end in a cup...Fire the car and see if you get oil. Should not need to run but more than a few seconds..Once the pump primes, it shouldn't lose it's prime, unless it's left dry for a considerable amount of time. The proper way to prime the pump is to remove the cam sensor and spin the oil pump gear with an electric drill and an old distributor shaft.

 

[darkred87T]

It hasn't been run in a couple of weeks but I don't think it should have lost it's prime. What would cause a pump just to fail all of the sudden? I guess I'll have to pull it out and see what's up.

 

[STP]

Pump probably didn't fail...Wouldn't be a bad idea to pull the filter off and cut it open carefully to inspect of debris.

 

[darkred87T]

I put a new filter on it. I agree the pump shouldn't fail but why don't I have oil pressure all of the sudden?

 

[STP]

Could be a number of things...First thing to do is take the turbo feed line off at the turbo and stick it in a cup and fire the engine. If you get no oil there, gotta dig a little deeper. May have popped a freeze plug out of the oil galley behind the cam gear.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

Autometer gauge is electric?? If so, start there.
If you really lost psi, you'd never driven it 2 miles, started it, etc, and not had it knocking......

 

[corsair231]

Autometer gauge is electric?? If so, start there.
If you really lost psi, you'd never driven it 2 miles, started it, etc, and not had it knocking......

X2..... Lifters should have rattled at least unless preload is too tight. If it is not the guage then check to make sure your cam sensor has not backed out. All it has to do is lift enough to disengage the oil pump shaft.

 

[darkred87T]

Autometer gauge is electric?? If so, start there.

No it's mechanical. Just a a tube form the sending unit to the back of the gauge.

If you really lost psi, you'd never driven it 2 miles, started it, etc, and not had it knocking......

That's what I thought. I guess I'll take the oil feed off the turbo, start it and go from there.

 

[darkred87T]

Well I took the oil feed line off the turbo and started it again and it's bone dry. I then took the cam sensor off and turned the pump shaft with a drill and still no oil. It feels like it's turning the pump but no oil is being pumped. So then I took the oil filter off and did same thing and still, no oil. There was some oil in the oil filter when I took it off but very little. I don't how I drove it so far without destroying it. My engine guy sold some zinc additive to put in it and maybe that saved it.

I'm at a total loss here. I don't know whether to pull the pan and see if there is an obstructing in the pick up or pull and inspect the pump.

 

[BetMinesFaster]

Pull the engine, pull the cover and pan, inspect all bearings and take the pump apart. Like mentioned, possibly a plug from a galley. either way, if everything is that dry i would be looking at bearings regaurdless if it made any noise or not

 

[mygn276]

Check your dip stick to see if you have any oil in the pan.

 

[jcuadra]

Check your dip stick to see if you have any oil in the pan

+1

 

[BetMinesFaster]

Good point boys! That was never mentioned!!!

 

[Blown&Injected]

Even if a galley plug is out there will be some oil pressure.
pump not turning and or oil not making it to the pump - pickup problem

 

[darkred87T]

Check your dip stick to see if you have any oil in the pan.

There is oil in it but thanks that is a good point. It's the first thing my engine guy asked yesterday when I called him about it. I can pull the pan without having to pull the motor so I'll check the pick up and maybe pull a bearing or two in the process, not a bad idea. If it looks good, I'll pull the pump out and look at it. I think it might have been getting SOME oil pressure being some made it to the new oil filter but not enough to even count.

 

[TurboBuRick]

I would pour oil into the cooler lines and try the priming tool again. Also what direction are you spinning the pump? Not 100% sure but I want to say the drill has to be in reverse. Chuck? what do ya say? :biggrin:

Rick

 

[darkred87T]

I would pour oil into the cooler lines and try the priming tool again. Also what direction are you spinning the pump? Not 100% sure but I want to say the drill has to be in reverse. Chuck? what do ya say? :biggrin:

Rick

I spun the pump in both directions but I thought the cam sensor spun clock wise, no?

 

[Chuck Leeper]

If it was an engine that I built myself, my first stop would be the pan. Could be the pickup tube is loose, or fallen off the block, gasket sucked into the block, etc.
But, since you had someone build it 4 U, I'd do as Bet Mine said, "pull the engine". I'd then take it DIRECTLY to the builder, and let him figure it out.
Don't "muddy the water" by taking it apart, before he sees it.
It might be someething simple.. But, Murphy is alive and well. We all know what that means!

 

[m233roller]

I had a galley plug come out on a new engine years back and I had ZERO oil pressure.