I'm turning over the motor to prime the oil pump, but I'm not getting any reading on my guage. Coil is unplugged and so are the injectors. Shouldn't the gauge be reading something or does the car have to be running?

 

I cant imagine it reading anything since the sender is so far up in the motor. I never understood why people "primed" the motor with the starter. Seems pointless to me. Parts arent supposed to move when you prime it, thats the point


I'm assuming you did a heads/cam swap, if so, jsut start it.

 

One problem, the damn thing won't start.

 

Thats never fun

Check the usual stuff, then check it again, its probably something simple

 

Wait a sec, what's the problem here? Is it that the car won't start, or that you dont want to start it b/c you haven't primed it??? People prime to lube up the moving parts so they aren't high and dry when you start it up for the first time. This is definately a good idea...

 

car has to actaully start for you to see the reading

i was freakin out too the first time i started my 355 heehe

 

I did exactly what he did to prime a motor i built for a friend. Even if the parts ARE moving the oil left on there, or you put on there from buildup should be good enough until you get a little pressure up. At least if you turn it with the starter its spinning over a LOT slower than if it were running @ 1000 rpms. When I did mine I think the guage jumped a little, I didn't have to turn it over tooo aweful much. If you took the oil pump out you needed to fill it (the pump) with a little oil or you will have a problem with it starting to suck oil. Kind of like priming the pump.
If that doesn't make any sense sorry just got home from work

I don't see why the guage wouldn't work, key is on it should work. I'm pretty sure the one i did it moved but i could be wrong on that. Either way when i fired her up it went right up just like if I did an oil change.

 

We tried it on my friends Formula and his gauge didn't move. So I'm guessing it needs to be running. Anyway I'm pulling the opti tomorrow.

 

i've primed two different motors this way, by pulling the coil wire and just running the starter. The 93's will show oil pressure without the engine running. I actually got good oil pressure like this.

 

The gauge will work. It worked each time I wanted to prime mine. Crank 5-10 seconds, wait for 5, crank for 5-10, wait. Repeat a couple of times. You'll get some pressure reading on the gauge.

 

Yup.. You'll get some pressure. Although not much. i just finished a cam swap myself and got close to 20psi w/ the starter turning the oil pump.

 

I don't think I did it for 5-10 seconds... Cranked it over a few seconds like 3 times, but all that doesn't matter now. My friends 93 Formula showned no oil pressure while just cranking the motor without running.

 

thats not good. Are you sure the sending unit is good. Make sure the wires are not pinched or burnt.