oil pump keeps loosing prime.

[cobra5laddict]

had a bad weekend.

i have a reman 360 .040 and a new bulltear timing cover and oil filter adapter without bipass, and a hand lapped oil pump, and a s.s. midplate.

here is the deal;
the engine is full of 10-30, the pickup is 1/2" from the bottom of the pan, i blew through the pickup before i installed it and nothing was blocked. the oil filter was filled before install.

so friday night i tried to prime the new motor, the gears were covered in light oil .. i ran it with my 1/2" drill for about 2 minutes and it would not pump up.. so i pulled the adapter off and tried to re-oil the pump gears with a thicker oil. nada.. so i tried a bit of petroleum jelly and that seemed to do the trick i ran it for about a min and pumped oil up to all the rockers then took a short break.. so about 2 hours later i am ready to fire it up and i hit the drill again to make sure she is all primed up... and nada... i spin the drill for another min or so and nothing,.. the pump lost its prime.. i dont get it...


i figured i better give it a break and check with some pros before i damage something..

the only thing i can even think of is that the oil pump adapter gaskets got somewhat wet from all the assembling and disassembling .. but they were not leaking oil or anything..



when it was primed i was pulling about 17 psi on a manual autometer mechanical gauge.. i watched oil come out of the dist drive gear on the cam.. so at least i know i have that all good to go and hopegfully wont have dist gear problems..


so why would my pump loose a prime in 2 hours.. i dont get it?

[tufcj]

The only thing I can think of is that maybe the tube from the pickup to the block is cracked or the threads aren't snug. It could be drawing enough air from above the oil line in the pan that it won't suck up oil. I have seen stress cracks in the tubes up at the last bend close to the block.

Bob
tufcj

[dtaylor73]

In your other post you said you had the new filter adaptor without the bypass. That is the same adaptor I had trouble with. I put my old one back on and the problem went away.

See my thread here http://www.bulltear.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5355

[cobra5laddict]

dtaylor..

are you still having issues with loosing your prime?

[jeepsr4ever]

Are you using a filter without a anti drain back valve? What type of filter are you using and was it installed dry?

[cobra5laddict]

Filter was as full as i can get it and then quickly installed to not let a lot of oil drain out.

it is a napa oil filter it says made by wix

i have another filter at home (stp) i could try that i guess.

[jeepsr4ever]

try installing the next filter dry and priming it

[cobra5laddict]

should that be my next step?


1. try new filter dry and see if it pumps up.

2. swap out my oil filter adapter (oil bypass eliminated) with my old one. see if that changes things.

3. pull the pan and check the pickup for cracks?

4. pull the timing cover and check for a bad gasket?


i just want to put together a gameplan ... the motor is installed and ready to fire.. i would like to try the least evasive actions first.. i would prefer to not have to pull the motor or remove the timing cover again.. but i will if i have to.


anyone that has a game plan of what they would do maybe that could give me some ideas...

[dtaylor73]

I tried three different oil filters and none made a difference. If I were you I would try the new filter anyway. You never know. I also pulled the filter adaptor off a total of four different times checking the plunger and gasket seal each time. They looked good each time.

In case you didn't read all of my thread on this prob, I actually pulled the whole motor and tore it down after this problem first accoured. EVERYTHING looked OK so I reassembled it and finally got it to prime. Problem is it wouldn't hold the prime after sitting for a few days and wouldn't reprime by running the engine.

All I can say is I put the old adaptor back on and went to prime it. This time it primed in about two seconds and hasn't lost it's prime since. =D>

Good luck

PS: I couldn't find the gasket alone at the local parts stores so I ordered a bunch from American Parts Depot online. They cost a buck each I think.

[jeepsr4ever]

You must have had air somewhere in the system. Now that you have gottne it out try putting onthe new oil filter adaptor. If it still doesnt hold a prime send it in for analysis