Long story short I did quite a bit of engine work on a 87 Delta 88 and now I have the car back together again and the oil pump has stopped working. Is there a way to prime the oil pump without dismantling the car again?

 

Be sure and turn the pump counter clockwise.

 

Go back and read the first post again. He has a 1987 Delta 88. That's FWD with a Buford V6. It doesn't even have a distributor - it's crank trigger with a coil pack. The oil pump is a gearotor design on the crank snout. The only way to prime the motor is to use an external pressure primer through the oil pressure sensor port. Failing that, pull the spark plugs and crank the engine over with the starter until you get oil pressure.

 

Did you remember putting the oil pump driveshaft back in? Its located in and under the distributor. If the driveshaft is there, you can use a 5/16 socket with a long extension (make sure you tape the socket to the extension, you dont want to drop the socket in the engine), and a ratchet or a speed handle and turn counter clockwise until you build up oil pressure. Good luck.

 

Again, go back and look at the year and model... I'd love to see a photo of a distributor for a 1987 Delta 88.

 

You are correct, that is my car, right down to the color paint. This all started when the timing chain went bad. When I replaced the chain I packed the pump with moly based grease and when I put the car back together it worked alright except I had some bent valves. I then pulled the heads and had a valve job done and after completing that job the oil pump stopped working. The car had sat for a couple of weeks with no oil in it at all while this was being done. Now I'm wondering if the oil pump is bad or whether it's enough to prime it. Could a good pump lost it's prime by draining the oil and let it sit for a couple weeks without oil?

 

The pump is driven directly by the crank. I can't see any way for it to "not work" unless you didn't install the key that drives it - and I assume you didn't touch the pump or front cover when you pulled the heads. Since it worked before and you presumably didn't do anything to it, the chances it went "bad" are slim to none. How do you know it "stopped working" now? It will take some time to build oil pressure.

 

Could the pickup be loose or blocked by gear debris?

 

I didn't touch anything to do with the oil pump when I did the heads. The only thing I did was remove the oil pan and wash it. I didn't even touch the pick up screen. It appeared to be clean so I left it alone. I think after it sat for a couple of weeks every bit of oil drained out of the pump.

I started the car for a couple of minutes and there was a lot of valve clatter. I took the cap off the oil fill and looked in with a flash light and there was no oil circulating so I immediately turned it off. Maybe I didn't let it run long enough but I think oil should have started circulating in the couple of minutes I had it on. .

 

OK, so you don't know if there is oil pressure or not. You just know that oil hasn't gotten up the pushrods yet to the rockers. That's not surprising if you had the heads off. Did you oil the rockers and pushrods when you put it back together? Typically you want to pour oil over the rockers before installing the valve covers. Your V6 uses shaft rockers, and the shafts need to fill up with oil to lube the rocker arm pivots. Clattering is either due to lifters that have bled down over time, or due to improperly set valve heights by whoever did the heads.

 

No, I didn't pour oil over the rockers. I did use moly based grease when I assembled everything and greased the rockers and push rods. The lifters were soaked in oil for a few days before I put it back together.

I'm pretty confident the machine shop did a good job with the heads. I've used them before and they have a good reputation.

From where I am do you think it would be a good idea to disable the fuel and ignition and crank the engine to see if I can achieve oil circulation?

 

I would certainly start there. I don't have a lot of experience with gearotor pumps, so I don't know if they will self prime or not. If you do crank the motor to try to achieve prime, pull the spark plugs to minimize the load on the engine. Also, put an oil pressure gauge on the motor, even if only temporarily for priming.

 

I am not sure packing the oil pump with GREASE was a good idea. One thing for sure, it won't "flow" through the oiling system. A slug of grease could clog things up and cause oil NOT to flow.
.....Just my two cents worth.

 

That's a fair point. Petroleum jelly is the preferred lube for packing the oil pump. It dissolves readily in motor oil.

 

I don't remember who but at the time of the timing chain replacement someone here told me to pack the pump with grease to prime it. What I used was the Moly based grease and it worked. At the time the pump primed and worked fine. It's only after I did the valve job issues developed.

 

OK, I did that last night but didn't have an oil pressure gauge. I did note the idiot gauge on the dash and the oil light went out about a second after cranking the engine. Looking in the valve cover now there is at least some oil circulation. One rocker to the left of the hole seems to be getting oil where the one on the right doesn't. Running the car again the clatter is much better however putting a stethoscope on it the valve cover on the front I think sounds normal where the one on the back is a lot louder. I think I need to determine the oil pressure now. What pressure do you think would be acceptable pressure at start up?

 

You should determine the oil pressure w/ a gauge. I'm not an expert on this engine by any means, however I believe the oil pressure gauge will illuminate if the oil pressure drops below ~2.5psi. So, if you're above ~2.5psi, you're getting "some" oil pressure at startup. As Joe suggested, it's going to take a little bit of cranking to build up the oil pressure - which I would suspect should range between a minimum of 30psi - 60psi when cold then drop as the engine warms. There's certainly several variables determining how fast the oil pressure is going to ramp up, oil filter w/ or w/o a drain-back valve/plug, RPM, etc.

 

Car is strange. Every time I run it and shut if off it gets better. The last time the rear row of rockers clattered and I shut it off to put a gauge on the oil. Then when I started it again the clatter for the most part stopped. If I use a stethoscope on it there is a slight difference now between the front and rear rockers but not much. I think the engine is good to go now.

The oil pressure gauge ran at 40 psi at start up when the engine was running faster and then when the idle stabilized ran at 35 psi.

 

I think you're good to go. It does take a finite amount of time for oil to get to the rockers. It's a pretty restricted flow from the lifter through the pushrods to the rocker shaft. All of those volumes need to be filled, and they were empty when you started. Expect the oil pressure to drop as the oil heats up. That's normal.

 

I appreciate the information, It really un-nerved me when I started it up and the rockers made so much racket. Then when it continued to be noisy I was really dreading pulling that timing cover to change the pump. I just did a full engine overhaul on a Chevrolet engine around Christmas and didn't have any problems at all. I sure wasn't expecting problems getting the oil flowing. The Chevrolet had a different type oil pump though.