How to prime the oil pump?

ekesz13

Registered User
When rebuilding my engine, I did not pack the oil pump housing with vasoline like the manual says. Now that everything is installed, is there a way to prime the oil pump? Or do I have to remove it, pack it and reinstall? Thanks in advance for the help.
 
Well, I can explain how we did it with me new motor last year, but you have to have an extra cam stator kicking around. What I did was borrow a cam old cam stator from my engine builder that was modified to fit into a drill chuck (like a long bit)

We then filled the pan with oil, and spun the stator (which drives the pump) from a corded drill at about 500 rpm. You need an oil filter on also, obviously.

Worked like a charm!
 
I don't have an extra cam stator, but maybe I can find one or machine a piece of stock with a slot in it? Thanks for the help.
 
prime oil pump

What about disconnecting/disable the
ignition & fuel & crank it over 23-30
seconds? Or remove the spark plugs
& crank it a while? engines really freespin with no compression, & look for your oil pressure guage to come up off
the bottom & that should get it.
 
Last post is a BAD IDEA!!!!!!

Any new motor has barely any oil on it. The engine requires the most oil on new start up. Do like the first post says, prime the oil pump with the drill motor. You will feel the resistance and if you have access to a gauge, place it in place of the sensor to see real oil pressure.

This is the ONLY way to ensure proper motor break-in.


Don
 
Or just remove it, fill with oil; keep upright (or else have a mess), and carefully reinstall. Its not too hard of a job. This will work, Ive done it myself. But don't crank the engine over for long without oil flowing.
 
Don is right. We did this with the motor on a stand, so it was much easier to work with. If the motor was just undergoing a head gasket change or something, then you could pull the spark plugs and unhook the injectors and prime that way. If the motor is new, find a way to prime it as suggested. The stator end is square, so a comparable size and shaped tool will suffice.
 
Appreciate all the help

Thanks guys. I have to agree with Bill, Don and TbirdSCFan, the only way I was considering doing it was removing it, or with a drill. Too much work into the rebuild to chance it now. My experience is with older small block chevy's (shhhh!) and ford's and I always used an adaptor on a drill down the distributor hole, but I didn't know if that could be done on this pump. Mostly because of no distributor hole!:D Just kidding. Thanks for your help guys, if I can't get an adaptor on it, its coming off!
 
Update

Okay, I decided to go the route of removing the oil pump this weekend. First, it is a major PITA to get to the back 10mm bolt. I had all sorts of mocked up swivel extensions, universal joints, etc. It took me over an hour to get that bolt loose and out. Second, once loose the oil pump will NOT come out. The drive for it is too long. My oil pump hit the cross member before the drive was clear, and no way was I forcing it. What it did do however was give me about a 1-2 inch gap between the pump and housing. I made a makeshift "petroleum jelly injector" out of an old RTV nozzle, a plastic baggy, and some duct tape to hold it together :D . I managed to get quite a bit in there and pack it down with a tongue depressor. It took roughly 30-45 min to get the back bolt in and I was done. Also, if I would have put oil in the pump, it would have had to have the oil filter installed as stated above, but then it would have been impossible to get that back bolt in, since I was working in the cavity filled by the oil filter. It took almost 3 hours elapsed time. Won't forget that again.
 
Re: Update

ekesz13 said:
I made a makeshift "petroleum jelly injector" out of an old RTV nozzle, a plastic baggy, and some duct tape to hold it together :D
MacGyver would be proud of you. ;)
 
Backyard Mechanic at your service

No kidding, that's what it felt like. But hey, got to get it done right? :)
 
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