Priming engine oil system

[sp_longhorn]

How's the best way to prime the engine oil through the oil pump after a engine rebuild. I've turned engine by hand trying to prime it until i'm blue in the face. Any answers??

 

[jelag]

We used to do this on all our gas engine repair... but the in-house stuff we've done with modern pre-assembly lube has us now just starting them up and running them...

We build a lot of compressors... . for class 8 trucks and we've used the same pre-assembly lube for 20 years I guess... . and we've never had a problem on them either... I'd be interested in what the other guys say to this... . we do a tear down after run in and testing to spot check assembly... we've never noticed any wear...

That's my thought on it any way. .

 

[SHobbs]

Not sure how you can do it with a 3rd gen but, what if you cranked it over a few times without it starting. Pull the relay to the CP3 maybe? Beats turning it by hand if all you want to do is move the oil around a bit.

 

[p-Bar]

Not sure how you can do it with a 3rd gen but, what if you cranked it over a few times without it starting. Pull the relay to the CP3 maybe? Beats turning it by hand if all you want to do is move the oil around a bit.

I agree with JELAG the assembly lube is great stuff and it's better to fire it up and get oil pressure right away

 

[Gasmasher]

Pull relay or fuse where your engine won't start. You may not ever be able to see oil pressure on gauge on your dash I think there is a delay on it. You can screw a manual gauge on top of oil filter housing to see if you are building oil pressure.

 

[mattymac]

unplug the injectors and turn the motor over.



You will get a CEL but it works fine for priming the oiling system.

 

[Shadrach]

unplug the injectors and turn the motor over.



Technically you are still turning the engine over "dry" if you do that. Call me picky but unless you put pressurized oil into the galleries "before" you turn it over all you have is assembly lube on the wear surfaces. Since my truck will not get used much in the winter I am installing an Amsoiler on my 03. I will prefill it before I turn the key for the first time. You could inject oil directly into the oil galleries at the small port just forward of the oil sending unit ( or tee into the sender hole so you would still have your gauge working. ) You would have to keep track of how much oil you injected and then add the rest of the regular amount to the pan before you actually started the engine for the first time. This wouldn't be that easy with the engine in the truck of course. Told you I was picky. Shadrach

 

[Wingate]

Pull the injector wiring and spin it over... Make sure the oil filter was pre-filled so you limit the time it takes to get oil everywhere. By not letting the engine fire, you aren't putting excessive loading on the rod bearings(no combustion process) ... which are the last thing on the bottom end to get oil!!. Short of that, there are engine pre-lubers that look like a portable air tank, only they have a bladder inside and oil goes on one side, air on the other, you plumb it into the oiling system ( ontop of the filter base) and as you charge the air side, it pushes oil into the lube system.

Unless you plan on doing multiple rebuilds, it really cant be justified to buy the preluber ... I'd just fill the filter up, unplug the injectors and spin the engine over... Assuming that it was built using assembly lube.

 

[cerberusiam]

If you used assembly lube your as good as can be. Anything else outside of a pre-oiler is just turning it dry. I doubt it will build much pressure just cranking anyway.



Use good oil that will retain a film and keep it changed is also a plus for infrequent starts.

 

[sp_longhorn]

Thanks for responses. Got it figured out. I took my old oil pump cut the gear off that run against crankshaft and welded a nut to the actual gear that pump oil. Took socket and turned gear with welded nut on it and it primed right up. I feel better about start up now especially since everything was oil free.