No oil while priming
 

I am attempting to prime my motor but am getting no oil through the push rods.

Several weeks ago, I attempted to prime with a flat head extension on my drill while the motor was out of the car. As soon as I started, some assembly lube started to push out but about 10 seconds later the bit fell into my oil pan. :(
After draining the oil and pulling the pan I decided to wait until the motor was in the car and use a proper rod.

Fast forward to no.

After several minutes of drilling with an actual priming rod, I am getting no oil out of any pushrod. I have rotated the crank multiple times.

Double checked the direction of the distributor and that there was oil. I am slightly worried this could be a major problem.

Drill I am using is a new 6 amp black and decker w/ cord.

Is the drill turning counter clockwise?? Need to have it in reverse.

X2 Drill has to be run in reverse. I use a 3/8" drill motor not sure if it's comparable to yours. JD

turn the motor over every so often when priming

Any chance the oil pick-up fell off of the oil pump?

EDIT: Mis-read the first post.

I have been drilling in reverse. What is next to check?

Eh? The oil pump shaft turns the same direction that the distributor turns, both being counter-clockwise as viewed from above.

Bear

Alright, I mis-read the first post.

Drill has been running in reverse. Now what?

And you need toprime for longer than you think.....go for 10 min straight!

Does the drill motor load down at all? If the pump is working you WILL notice the drill motor is being loaded. Turn CCW as mentioned.

george

I can give that a try. I'm leaning toward my drill not giving out enough power. I don't have an oil gauge hooked up so I can't tell pressure.

Is priming even necessary for my case? I pulled the motor out, replaced valve springs, lifters cam and timing gear+chain. Reused but cleaned the pushrods. Have new cam bearings. I didnt have the motor cleaned out or replace and water/oil plugs.

Yes it does and it starts to produce a burning smell after awhile. Probably ran for 2 minutes straight. Perhaps not enough?

It took a long time for me to get oil to the rockers, a long time.

I was told afterwards that I didn't need to verify oil coming out of each rocker and that all I was doing was washing the assembly lube off the bearing surfaces? I have heard it both ways, to rotate the engine and make sure oil was coming out of all rockers, or just get oil pressure and don't run it too long?

Anyway, mine did fine, and I was worried like you that it was coming out after a couple of minutes, but it will eventually, nothing out of the ordinary I would say.

Not enuf power...........
 

It has been discussed before, but it's hard to underestimate how much power is needed to turn an oil pump when priming. To illustrate, I use a 25 year old variable speed 1/2" Sears drill that is rated @ 3/4 hp for this task. I have to bury the trigger and hold on tight as the torque tries to twist it out of my hands.

In my case, is priming even necessary?

If for no other reason, I personally would do it just to make sure that the oiling system is working. It would be bad to find out you aren't getting oil pressure after you start the engine the first time.

I also suggest getting an oil pressure gauge, even a temporary one to use as an indicator. An electrical one is easy to connect.

A drill with a 1/2" chuck will do the job nicely. A smaller drill motor may not spin the pump high enuf to develop a lot of pressure, i.e. take longer to get up the push rods.

George

Can't kill those old Craftsman drills. I have 1 from the 60s, 500 rpm and I use it. I usually set it so the firewall prevents it from spinning so I don't have to fight the torque and leave it run till I get pressure at both bottom, top and push rods. Figure 500 rpm on pump =s 1000rpm engine. Sometimes it takes a while to prime

Hopefully you are just not doing it long enough.
I did have a case before that the machine shop i used did not clean out all the passages in the block. I ended up with broken teeth from a composite timing gear in the passages that run from the mains up to the cam. After clearing these out I got plenty up top. Also check to make sure the rear galley plug is in your block, if you have had any machine work done. this would lead to no top end oil either.

If I am priming my engine and pull a lifter out, it will shoot to the ceiling. So try pulling out a lifter and see if you are getting anything at all.

Hope it is just your drill.

good luck!

Guy I know did some damage to his motor. It sounded like every valve needed to adjusted. Ended up being RTV in one of the passeages.

hmm I didnt get any machine work done and I didnt fully disassemble the block. I really have a feeling that it is something simple. I'll update tonight.