[Uncle Douglas]

Short rant:
I hate the oil pump design on these engines and the fact that they routinely loose oil pump prime if left sitting.
I made myself a tool to spin the oil pump drive (requires pulling the distributor) fast enough with a drill that its supposed to pump the air out and prime (forget the starter) but that never seems to work so I have to resort to fully removing the filter head and packing the gears and the entire filter head full of vaseline. and then reassembling the whole thing. I just hate that the piss poor design requires me to use and keep vaseline on the shelf.
Rant over.

 

[Brewie212]

I'm sure that is the only reason you have Vaseline on the shelf

 

[jafir]

I remember someone talking about taking the oil pressure switch out and using a hand vacuum pump to prime the pump.

 

[the rover shop]

I wanna say that we used to remove the oil pressure switch and squirt oil back down in there and that was enough to allow us to spin up the drive with a drill.. All you needed was a bit of oil in the gears to let it for m a decent seal... I remember pre delivering brand new classics and we were warned to never leave the oil out of them overnight..if we did a service we had to complete the oil change and run it before leaving it overnight... So they knew this was a fault from brand new...
We just got done restoring a classic 95 with engine rebuild and the pump lost prime.. I think the tech didn't put enough grease in the gears.. Rather than pulling the whole front off (newer style front cover with crank driven pump.) I dropped the pan and used a mighty ac oil pump to force oil up the pickup tube and into the pump... Put everything back together and she fired up and got oil pressure pretty quick... Sure beat pulling the whole front off...

 

[Uncle Douglas]

I'm sure that is the only reason you have Vaseline on the shelf

In the shop-yep it is.
None in the house. Hate that crap.

 

[the rover shop]

In the shop-yep it is.
None in the house. Hate that crap.

It's a bitch to get it off your sporron...

 

[Uncle Douglas]

I wanna say that we used to remove the oil pressure switch and squirt oil back down in there and that was enough to allow us to spin up the drive with a drill.. All you needed was a bit of oil in the gears to let it for m a decent seal... I remember pre delivering brand new classics and we were warned to never leave the oil out of them overnight..if we did a service we had to complete the oil change and run it before leaving it overnight... So they knew this was a fault from brand new...
We just got done restoring a classic 95 with engine rebuild and the pump lost prime.. I think the tech didn't put enough grease in the gears.. Rather than pulling the whole front off (newer style front cover with crank driven pump.) I dropped the pan and used a mighty ac oil pump to force oil up the pickup tube and into the pump... Put everything back together and she fired up and got oil pressure pretty quick... Sure beat pulling the whole front off...

This is a v belt 4.2 so 93 or so. There is a plug above the pressure switch and relief valve so I had taken an old school oiler and pumped over a quart in that upper access and tried spinning it up, no joy.

------ Follow up post added September 24th, 2014 08:14 PM ------

It's a bitch to get it off your sporron...

Oye, now thats funny right there

 

[the rover shop]

I think that plug is after the check valve so doesn't get into the pump, but if I recall the switch pressure is measured pre relief.. Been a while now but I have one on the bench and can take a look to make it easier next time you have to do it...

 

[NAS646]

I'm having this problem right now. 95SW sat for months. Fired right up, then lost oil pressure. Would pouring oil down the upper oil cooler line do the trick? If I pull the plugs, and turn the motor over, will the oil pressure light go out while I'm turning it over, once it's primed?

 

[One Ten]

Heres a trick I was told by a friend that works for me. Pull the fuel pump fuse, disconnect one of the small wires off of the ignition coil (so it doesn't start while you crank and crank and crank). Overfill the engine by about 4 qts. Leave the oil fill cap off and use your blow gun and a rag or towel stuffed around it and keep blowing compressed air to pressurize the crank case while a friend cranks the engine. Once the oil pressure light goes off, drain out the extra, hook everything back up and start it up.

 

[the rover shop]

And keep your fingers crossed you don't pop a rear main oil seal out...!!!!! You are better off applying vacuum to the oil cooler line/ output from the oil pump.. Remove plugs and disconnect coil wire and remove fuel pump relay.. This allows engine to crank over at higher speed with no load on rod bearings etc..the vacuum assists in getting oil flow, a small hand held vacuum pump will do the trick or you can use an old shop vac if you like...just don't use your wife's house DYSON... She won't be happy...and yes...oil pressure light will go out when cranking when oil pressure is achieved..

 

[NAS646]

And keep your fingers crossed you don't pop a rear main oil seal out...!!!!! You are better off applying vacuum to the oil cooler line/ output from the oil pump.. Remove plugs and disconnect coil wire and remove fuel pump relay.. This allows engine to crank over at higher speed with no load on rod bearings etc..the vacuum assists in getting oil flow, a small hand held vacuum pump will do the trick or you can use an old shop vac if you like...just don't use your wife's house DYSON... She won't be happy...and yes...oil pressure light will go out when cranking when oil pressure is achieved..

It worked! Took off the top oil cooler line. Hooked old shop vac to hose. Turned over engine with the vac running. 15 seconds later oil was flowing out of the radiator oil cooler. Hooked every thing back up. Turned over engine for another 15 seconds...oil pressure light went out. Thank you Shayne!!

 

[Jymmiejamz]

I usually use a socket on the distributor drive and hook it to a drill. I will hook a multimeter up to the oil pressure switch so I can see when it has oil pressure.

 

[the rover shop]

It worked! Took off the top oil cooler line. Hooked old shop vac to hose. Turned over engine with the vac running. 15 seconds later oil was flowing out of the radiator oil cooler. Hooked every thing back up. Turned over engine for another 15 seconds...oil pressure light went out. Thank you Shayne!!

No prob... It's one of the reasons you guys keep me around...

 

[kevincdoyle]

This whole thread was so far over my head I got a headache trying to figure it out.....

 

[o2batsea]

Curse the guys at GM. It's their lump after all.

 

[Uncle Douglas]

Ha. Others feel my pain.

 

[UnfrozenCaveman]

It's a PITA alright...oil pumps belong in the sump. I've tried the pump it in at the sender...seems like it fills everything upstream but has little effect on filling the pump itself.

YMMV

 

[sonoronos]

is there a dry sump available for this engine?

 

[UnfrozenCaveman]

Dry Sump Oil Systems - J E Developments Home of the Rover V8

Apparently "yes"