Is it possible to prime a Cummins oil pump?

[HSchroen]

Sorry for the ignorant question, but I did a search here and on Google and did not come up with anything. Anyway, is there a way to prime the oil pump on a Cummins? I'm used to doing it on gassers through the distributor hole, but dont know my way around a Cummins yet. I have a dry motor that I would like to prime before trying to start.

Thanks.

 

[Paychk]

Easiest way without spinning the motor; is to apply external pressurized oil into the oil galleries, ether by a electric pump or say a garden sprayer filled with oil and pumped up to what ever pressure you can get. The rub is where to plumb into the galleries at, most likely the oil filter mount, but you would need to temp plug the oil line to the turbo, to prevent loss of pressure.

 

[HSchroen]

Hmm, so I take it theres no way to spin the oil pump? I dont have an electric pump that I think would work for this... . a garden sprayer yes but would that really build enough pressure to get oil to flow through the galleys?



Anyone else tried this?

Easiest way without spinning the motor; is to apply external pressurized oil into the oil galleries, ether by a electric pump or say a garden sprayer filled with oil and pumped up to what ever pressure you can get. The rub is where to plumb into the galleries at, most likely the oil filter mount, but you would need to temp plug the oil line to the turbo, to prevent loss of pressure.

 

[Joseph Donnelly]

Its geared off the crank so you can't spin it. Put in some grease on the rotors to help it suck up oil. You can fill the galleys but I don't know what good it does, maybe a little.

 

[JLEONARD]

You can always pull the wire off the fuel solenoid and crank it over untill pressure builds. Then reconnect the wire and fire her up.

This is common practise in the marine world after a 6 month winter layover.

Jay

 

[RWWinslow]

This was passed on to me many years ago by a Cummins factory service rep . . if the engine has sat idle for more than 72 hours, then it should be prelubed. Pre-lubing is very simple, pull the fuel solenoid shut-off wire and turn the engine over until oil pressure builds on the gauge. Do not crank the engine for more than 30 seconds straight to avoid overheating the starter motor. I have faithfully followed this practice for 14 years on the same engine and at 400,000 miles, repeated oil analysis for the past 14 years is showing no blowby and no wear metal deposits - so there must be something to it.



I suspect that the residual oil on the bearings and cylinder walls is adequate lubrication until the engine has built up oil pressure (prelubed) by turning over with the starter. The load on the bearings and rings is very low if the engine is not firing. On very large marine diesels this is also a very common practice.