No oil through pushrods while priming

[drew87gn]

Hi all. New motor rebuild with roller cam and adjustable rockers. Started priming with a 1/2" drill. Packed the pump with vasoline. Definitely feel the stress on the drill which tells me I'm getting pressure. At it for 5 minutes and no oil up to the heads. I pull off the left valve cover to make sure, spin the pump a few more minutes and nothing. Start to unscrew the oil filter and oil is coming out so oil is in the filter. Start to loosen the upper oil cooler line to the radiator and oil starts dripping out so I re-tighten. My fear is the engine builder forgot to put an oil gallery plug in. Am I missing something? Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks, andy

 

[bison]

Need more info. Did you check for oil on both sides? What casting is the block? If it's not engine in 4140 or 6109 it won't be grooved behind #1 cam bearing and will not get any oil to the left bank. Report back if you find you don't have those castings. There's a a fairly simple solution without pulling the engine


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[turbo87adam]

Did you put a mechanical gauge on to check pressure? Also I've had a similar issue had to rotate engine in 90 degree intervals to get oil out of all 12 pushrods.

 

[drew87gn]

Need more info. Did you check for oil on both sides? What casting is the block? If it's not engine in 4140 or 6109 it won't be grooved behind #1 cam bearing and will not get any oil to the left bank. Report back if you find you don't have those castings. There's a a fairly simple solution without pulling the engine


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Did not check both sides. I'm trying to avoid removing the passenger side cause it's a pain to get the cover off and on with the valve cover spacers. It's a 4.1. Casting 2551429. Just took off the oil feed line to the turbo and primed. Oil came flying out. The build was done a year ago. Is it possible the assembly line got "scammer"?

 

[bison]

Did not check both sides. I'm trying to avoid removing the passenger side cause it's a pain to get the cover off and on with the valve cover spacers. It's a 4.1. Casting 2551429. Just took off the oil feed line to the turbo and primed. Oil came flying out. The build was done a year ago. Is it possible the assembly line got "scammer"?

Not likely. The likely problem is there is no crossover on the #1 cam bearing. The comp cams roller cams 69-000-8 cores don't have the groove on the #1 journal. Unless a bearing or the cam was grooved you will not get oil on the left side. Remove the transmission and flexplate. Next remove the rear galley plugs and make a small jumper with 90* inverted to 1/8npt fitting and use a small inverted flared piece of nickel copper line to connect the galleys at the rear


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[bison]

Rotating engine to #1 exhaust tdc will leave the #6 ex open in a favorable position to remove the right side cover with spacer


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[drew87gn]

Did you put a mechanical gauge on to check pressure? Also I've had a similar issue had to rotate engine in 90 degree intervals to get oil out of all 12 pushrods.

I have a vdo electric. With the ignition on while /upriming it reads 50 lbs. Right now the crank is set at 25 degrees so after priming was complete I could set my can sensor

 

[drew87gn]

So you

Not likely. The likely problem is there is no crossover on the #1 cam bearing. The comp cams roller cams 69-000-8 cores don't have the groove on the #1 journal. Unless a bearing or the cam was grooved you will not get oil on the left side. Remove the transmission and flexplate. Next remove the rear galley plugs and make a small jumper with 90* inverted to 1/8npt fitting and use a small inverted flared piece of nickel copper line to connect the galleys at the rear


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So you're saying I'll never get oil to the left side of I don't do this modification?

 

[Wahoo]

yep, I've seen pictures on this forum with someone putting a oil line from one side to the other with to 90s and a U shaped tube acting as a crossover to allow oil to go from one side to the other.

 

[Gene Van Horn]

Keep,searching, there are threads with pictures of this mod done. Its alot easier than it sounds, real pita is have to pull the tranny out to do it. From what i read all the guys that did this had great results.

 

[ek02]

Common problem on 4.1's with a roller cam. Either T/A rear groove cam bearings have to be used, or a passage ground in the block like a 109, or a groove machined in the front cam journal. The rear cross over tube is the easiest fix in your case.

 

[Boost231]

Just ran into this as well. Here is the answer. Will be doing this mod next weekend

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[drew87gn]

Thanks to everyone for all the feedback. I'm going to remove the right valve cover just to confirm that oil is getting to the right side. So close to firing up the motor! Another weekend gone!

 

[earlbrown]

So you

So you're saying I'll never get oil to the left side of I don't do this modification?

There's three way to get oil to the DS. Grooved cam, grooved bearing, grooved backside of bearing, grooved block (yeah, I know that's four)


If you have none of those there's no oil on that side.


Personally I like grooving the block with a Dermel tool.

 

[turbo nasty]

Also, Galley to galley in back of block with external fittings/line.

 

[bison]

There's three way to get oil to the DS. Grooved cam, grooved bearing, grooved backside of bearing, grooved block (yeah, I know that's four)


If you have none of those there's no oil on that side.


Personally I like grooving the block with a Dermel tool.

All of those require major work and the cam out of the engine. You can save an entire days worth of work connecting the galleys at the rear. Grooving the cam is not ideal because it reduces the bearing surface.


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[VtheGNMan]

For someone with the block out and yet to be machined, what would the best option be? Or is there a truly better way or is it all the same, no advantage to any particular way?

 

[earlbrown]

If the block's out, groove the block. Takes about a minute with a handheld dremal.