Oil pump sucking air

[TurboBuRick]

Worked on a car with oil pressure issue unknown to the owner. Oil would take 30-40 seconds to build pressure on a cold start. Warm starts not much better. Crack the oil filter and the oil that came out was full of bubbles. Has to be sucking air or is being restricted.

Thought for sure I found the problem when I discovered the RJC oil pan was smashed. The pan was prolly against the pick up. So i pull the pan and straighten it out. Reinstalled and started the engine. Same as before. Oil pressure took forever to come up. At this point my mind is going in 10 different directions.

Had the oil pan and front cover off 3 times trying to find the issue. Motor was literally brand new inside. I spent several hours inspecting and going over possibilities to no avail. I was honestly ready to give up on this one.

The motor has a RJC girdle and a oil pick up extension all of which look like new. Removed the pick up and extension several times as well. Nothing was obvious. Thinking maybe the block was cracked, I even went as far as to pull a vacuum on the oil circuit from the pan. Rock solid. I was at a loss..

I started to look closely at the pick up and extension and discovered a small nick in the side where bolt hole is. Like it was hitting something. Sure enough it was hitting the girdle ever so slightly and keeping it from sealing against the block. I had to clearance the extension quite a bit to give enough room. Put it back together and blamo! Problem solved!

This one kicked my ass!

What kills me more is the owner never even knew about the problem.

 

[trixdout]

I had a issue as well for oil pressure to build up and caused me bearing failures on rods and mains. Brand new front cover, modded by earl, and no flakes at all in the oil. after assembling it, assuming I may not have done something correct with the pickup tube. No girdle on my 109.

Should the pickup tubes be sanded flat so they mate properly to the block? Or are they pretty close straight out the box? Of course they need to sit flat, but didn't think with a paper gasket it would cause me an issue.

 

[TurboBuRick]

Was it sucking air? Bubbles in the oil?

The pickup flange should be flat out of the box. I did run the above pick up on the belt just to eliminate the possibility of warpage.

 

[Chuck Leeper]

I file them flat.
I cover the surface w/ bluing, [magic marker works, too], run a fine cut file over it. Check to be sure the marker is removed.........

 

[trixdout]

Was it sucking air? Bubbles in the oil?

The pickup flange should be flat out of the box. I did run the above pick up on the belt just to eliminate the possibility of warpage.

Well I never cut open the filter to check. Just odd to me with a new pickup tube and brand new early brown timing cover I would run into a lack of oil pressure buildup at start.

 

[fastblackracing]

Worked on a car with oil pressure issue unknown to the owner. Oil would take 30-40 seconds to build pressure on a cold start. Warm starts not much better. Crack the oil filter and the oil that came out was full of bubbles. Has to be sucking air or is being restricted.

Thought for sure I found the problem when I discovered the RJC oil pan was smashed. The pan was prolly against the pick up. So i pull the pan and straighten it out. Reinstalled and started the engine. Same as before. Oil pressure took forever to come up. At this point my mind is going in 10 different directions.

Had the oil pan and front cover off 3 times trying to find the issue. Motor was literally brand new inside. I spent several hours inspecting and going over possibilities to no avail. I was honestly ready to give up on this one.

The motor has a RJC girdle and a oil pick up extension all of which look like new. Removed the pick up and extension several times as well. Nothing was obvious. Thinking maybe the block was cracked, I even went as far as to pull a vacuum on the oil circuit from the pan. Rock solid. I was at a loss..

I started to look closely at the pick up and extension and discovered a small nick in the side where bolt hole is. Like it was hitting something. Sure enough it was hitting the girdle ever so slightly and keeping it from sealing against the block. I had to clearance the extension quite a bit to give enough room. Put it back together and blamo! Problem solved!

This one What kills me more is the owner never even knew about the problem.

kicked my ass!

Yeah but it sure makes you feel good when you finally find it!!! Good job on not giving up.

 

[BEATAV8]

I've had a few ass kickings in my day too! Lol

 

[turbofabricator]

Agree with having to modify the RJC oil pick up spacer when using a girdle. I had to grind about .125" along one side the thickness of the girdle. Be sure to verify that the p/u sits 3/8" off the bottom of the pan, too. I've needed to modify the pick up tube, also. One of the pans the CAD plating was flaking off on the inside, so I had to scotch bright it out. (New pan) I also add a baffle at the front of the sump to keep oil in the sump during hard braking.

 

[TurboBuRick]

Every ric pan sheds the coating. I feel better removing it as well.

Good idea on the front baffle. Always thinking ahead.

 

[TRICKSIXPA]

I know this is off topic a little bit what is the best way to check how much clearance there is from the bottom of the pickup to the bottom of the pan. I guess measuring??


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[1KWIKSIX]

After measuring carefully, I checked using a back up method. May not be to conventional, but it worked and took out all the guess work.
I placed a piece of saran wrap around my oil pick up screen, then took a piece of silly putty (play dough might work also)...then flattened it down to a small pancake sized piece.....applied it to the saran wrap / pick up screen then installed the oil pan with gasket. This process will compress the silly putty to reveal the clearance.
Removed the pan and measured the thickness of the silly putty with my digital vernier caliber.