I just finished putting new head gaskets on my car (95 TA w/LT1). Went ahead and put on a new oil pump and pan gasket while I was at it. Got it all back together, but did not manually prime the oil system.

I pulled the PCM fuse and cranked the engine for about 30 seconds. Put the fuse back in and fired it up. Started right away and got 60 psi on the guage. There is no oil coming from the push rods!

Any suggestions?

Thanks in advance. Thomas

 

What weight oil are you using? Also how long did you have it running and notice no oil coming up to the rockers? I notice when I do a cold start the oil doesn't come up to the rocker right away.

 

what RPM were you turning when you were checking this? I'm not an expert but I imagine that at idle there might not be that much oil flowing, compared to a higher RPM. also, did you remove the distributor plug? if so maybe it didn't get put in correctly? It's in there in part to 'close' the oil circuit that leads up the top end of the motor.

 

i would think if he's pushen 60 psi it should be getting oil where it needs to

 

There should be no problem getting oil to the rocker arms with the car in idle. When i adjusted my rockers the car was running and at idle I had oil going everywhere. So u shouldnt have to rev it up to get oil to the rockers.

 

Is it not coming to both sides or just one side?

 

I have 10 W 30 in there. I had it running for about 60 seconds when I noticed no oil from both sides. I did not want to run it any longer, scared to lock the engine up. I removed the PCM fuse again last night, and cranked it for another 20 seconds or so.........still no oil.

When I did start it, I let it idle for about 15 seconds and revved it up to about 800-900 RPM. I did not remove the coil wire at all.

I have a GM service manual for my car, and I went through it to make sure I installed everything correctly and reconnected all wiring and such. I can not see any problems.

 

Better pull the intake and use a primer tool and a drill and see if it will prime.(you have to reverse the drill)
Lot of work but it is better than hurting the brgs.

 

Is it possible that I installed the oil pick up wrong?

I took it to a shop near my house to have it tacked on, due to the pick up not fitting tight inside the oil pump. I had them tack it as close to the same position as the original.

 

How cold is the motor/oil? After my buildup it took AT LEAST 60 seconds for oil to reach the valvetrain. If your gauge is showing 60 psi then more than likely it's functioning correctly. Give it a little more time. If it makes it easier on your mind then pour a little bit of oil on the valvetrain while it's idling until oil flow starts.

 

Well, it is ~65* outside right now. Maybe a little warmer in my garage.

I went ahead and put some oil on the rockers and let the car idle for about 90 seconds. Still nothing from any of the pushrods. My gauge was still showing a little over 60 psi.

If the pushrods are not getting any oil, are my cylinders? I don't want to lock this thing up.

Thanks for the help...............

 

i got the same problem, two or three on the drivers side have a lot of flow, and most on the passanger side do to, im thinking its the assembly lube i used to put the cam in got it clogged

 

Run it for a few minutes, let it get up to temp. The oil really has to circulate in and around your lifters before it can even start to work it's way up to the pushrods and rocker arms. You won't get much oil flow out of the push rods at idle anyways. When you rev it after the car has reached operating temp, then your gonna get oil everywhere.

If you have pressure you won't hurt anything (unless something is clogged ro has already been damaged)

Does the oil pressure rise or drop if you rev it a bit ?

-Shannon

 

i replaced all my lifters with this engine rebuild, if i start the engine with the valve covers off while cold i get essentially NO oil coming up to the rockers. I replaced 3 lifters (that's another story entirely), but when ir un it on cold i get all kinds of oild bleeding through those lifters. I think a lot of it has to do with the lifter design as well and how it bleeds.

 

well mine shows good pressure 60psi while idling, i havent driven the car yet, just idling a a lil rev in the garage, but when it gets warm it idles about 40psi and when you rev it the pressure goes up, im not too worried about the rockers b/c they still have assembly lube on them, plus i oil them down each time i start it, i just wanna know when or how i can get it to come up by itself