Oil Pump Lost Prime

[SecondhandSnake]

Bought a used 302 to throw in the fox. Engine turns freely. I changed the oil and put a new filter on. Went to prime it by turning the oil pump shaft with an extension and drill, and it just won't pick up or push oil. I'm turning it the correct direction (verified in the Chilton's manual). There's enough oil in it.

I know the normal approach is packing the pump with petroleum jelly or even assembly lube to get a good prime and then turning it. That's always worked for me on fresh builds, and that's with the same heavy duty drill. But this one has been sitting, and it's already in the car so I don't want to have to drop the pan.

Are there any other good ways to get it primed again? The only two I can think of are removing the filter and trying to push oil back into the block through the filter inlet port. I could maybe do that with my pressure priming tool and a rubber plug. Or the other option is back fill it through the oil pressure switch port, but because of the anti drain back valve, I would need to use an old filter can and gut that valve out of it.

Also I never noticed this section before, but I'm glad to see it and I'll have to frequent it more.

 

[WVTrakPak]

Man, I hate that. I cannot think of a reason why it would not work with the drill. I have done that many times.

 

[SecondhandSnake]

Managed to back feed the oil and get it primed. I put the distributor back in and fired it up. Now I've got a new problem. My guess at timing was too far off so I needed to advance it a tooth. I go to put the distributor back in and it won't seat. It feels like it won't engage the pump shaft properly. I go to turn the shaft hoping it will slide on properly and it feels like the shaft is kind of cocked, and very notchy. It's not snapped- I can just barely see the base of it turning down by the pump. I tried throwing the drill on it and it does not feel like it's moving oil now either. I'm going to put a gauge on it to see, but I don't have high hopes.

Any ideas what could cause it to not want to seat, feel notchy, and not seem to move oil? Well, aside from spontaneous oil pump failure.

I guess I shouldn't be too surprised at the number of components grenading after sitting in a junkyard for 15 years.

 

[MG0h3]

Maybe the oil pump was seized and you just stripped it out with the drill.

Hence no oil pressure and now a notchy feeling oil pump drove shaft.


Sent from my iPhone using svtperformance.com

 

[SecondhandSnake]

Definitely wasn't seized- at least at the outset. When I ran the drill on it the first time it felt like a normal pump- no load for a bit and then you felt it bog down as it picked up oil. I took a valve cover off to confirm it was pumping oil to the top end. If it did bite the dust it must have been during the course of the minute or two of run time and/or distributor removal. Then again that was also enough time for it to lock up the smog pump and snap the pulley clean off, so who knows.