Help Oil Light Is On

[teddie87gn]

if someone could help me please i just put all new valve train front cover complete oil pump with booster plate and springs i primed the system before starting until oil came out of rockers i packed the pump with vasoline as well . iwent to start it and for about 3-4 min the car ran great i had the idle set to about 2200 rpm to break the cam in suddenly the oil/choke light came on andi shut the car off i don't have a pressure guage so i don't know what happened but the car never made any noise i'm worried and don't know what to do if you have any suggestions please let me know.

 

[TurboMike]

You will have to buy/borrow a oil pressure gauge to see if you truly lost oil pressure.

 

[Steve Wood]

You need to get a gauge.

You can pull a valve cover off and see if it is circulating oil. I believe the factory warning lite sender opens at about 4# of pressure...there is some chance that it has gone bad but I would not do anything until I verified the car actually has pressure.

My first thought was that the pick up tube had come loose. If you did not have it off, that is probably unlikely. What made you redo the front cover in the first place?

 

[Nick Micale]

Here is what I would do. First, do NOT start or turn over the motor! Pull the cam sensor and see if all is ok. Make sure the gear and pin in the end is still intact. Look at the cam gear and see if it is damaged. Then take a long screwdriver and turn the pump to make sure it is not bound.

As was said, hook up a mechanical oil gauge, if even only temporary, then run the oil pump with a drill motor to see what is happening with pressure.

 

[John Larkin]

KendallF went through a few replacement covers with dissapointing oil priming results. In the end, it was determined that the oil passages weren't drilled through completely in the cover. This was on a supposedly "high volume" cover. Might be worth your trouble to find out if this is true for you as well; better than fixing the car twice.

 

[ChrisF]

I lost an oil pump shaft on a 455, did the exact same thing. Pull the cam sensor and u should be able to see the shaft, and run the pump with a drill motor and a priming tool...you will feel the resistance if the oil is being pumped, and a buddy can verify the light goes out. (key on, engine not running)

I would NOT run the motor anymore until you find the problem.

HTH

Chris

 

[TurboMike]

Originally posted by John Larkin
KendallF went through a few replacement covers with dissapointing oil priming results. In the end, it was determined that the oil passages weren't drilled through completely in the cover. This was on a supposedly "high volume" cover. Might be worth your trouble to find out if this is true for you as well; better than fixing the car twice.

Same thing happened to me on a engine last year. This was a new GM cover though.

 

[Buick T]

Others have made mention that some cover gaskets don't have the correct holes in them blocking the passage. Someone else also told me that if you see oil in the passager side rockers but not in the driver the passage to that side could be blocked indicating possible cam bearing failure. Hope it is something other than that.