Hey family guess who back , your brother who don't know his way around the forum. I know this is probably in the forum somewhere but here's my case . 73 455 stock overhaul with new cam . All back together from oil pan to carb . Trying to prime I feel oil movement in the pump through my drill and I can smell it in the air and oil pressure gauge moves to only 5 psi. but just can't get it to the top of the engine. After priming I can see oil oozing through the seep hole in the galley plug that oils the distributor gear . Still nothing up top . I put this engine back together myself so I know all galley plugs are in . I made a primer tool from an open end torx socket that fits the oil pump shaft perfect . Picture below . Now I don't know how long I suppose to prime but I only go for a minute to a minute and a half . But this next think could be my issues though , I read that zinc is needed and diesel oil has a nice amount . So I'm using 5qt. Rotella 15w40 diesel oil with a small bottle of zinc additive mixed in for break in reasons , Plus I did go a little overboard with Lucas assembly lube so could all that make it to thick to prime ? Help me family please . Plus is my prime tool ok to use and how long should I prime ? Only option I got is to drain the oil and put regular car oil in it and see if that fixes it . O yea does it matter about camshaft location should it have to be at TDC or will that matter at all ?


The open end torx socket same size as pump shaft

 

This ain't a Chebby. Oldsmobile turns CCW while Chevrolet turns CW.

 

Oil shaft size is 5/16" Turn shaft counter clockwise.. Rotate crank 90* after every 2 minutes of priming to lube every passage. No need to change oil. Make sure you Diesel oil is the heavy zinc version, newer diesel oils have a reduced zinc amount. Check pressure with a different gauge to verify gauge isnt defective. What pump are you using?

 

You need to go longer than two minutes, also like the one post said, counter clockwise. I never had a problem with a Olds, but I have had problems with BB Chevy, took for ever, and you do need to rotate the crank now and then. Also you need a good HD drill, one that is weak and slow can be a problem.

 

Do you have the drill running in the Counter Clock Wise (CCW) direction ? Perhaps turn the crankshaft about 90 degrees every minute or two.

 

Jefe, your assembled engine looks great. I can see you were careful, just by the look of your finished product.

Your prime tool is fine. Pressure should come up in much less than a minute, even if you use a speed wrench instead of a power tool.

When priming, oil should be streaming out the small hole in the distributor gear oiling plug, the fact that it is only oozing is another indication that your oil pressure is low. There is probably an internal leak somewhere--perhaps the plug behind that galley plug is missing. Our brothers will chime in shortly on those possibilities.

Putting in new oil will do nothing to help this problem.

The position of the cam shaft has no effect on priming.

 

Thanks family. The longer prime time and 90 degree rotation helped I'm getting oil now except for Intake rocker on #3 and #4 and #7 Intake or exhaust is not . But I have oil every where else some runs a little fast than others but oil is there . If I take off my Intake manifold will it affect the priming process any . Broke budget but I rather deal with getting new valley pan than new motor. I'm wondering if once I got the Intake off if I can see/fix #3&#4 Intake and #7 intake and exhaust . I pulled them 4 pushrods and seemed to have a nice amount of oil in them. Is there any thing else I should check while I'm in there that could be a simple tell tell sign ?

 

Sometimes it take a long while to get oil flowing through all the rockers with a drill motor.

 

^^^THIS^^^

When I primed my 455 before starting it after rebuilding the heads I only ever got oil from a few rocker arms. I primed it for a good 5-10 minutes and called it good. After starting the engine there was a lifter tick for about a minute that subsided. I don't think you should worry about it, definitely don't shoot yourself in the foot and disassemble the engine again. Just my $.02. Good luck!👍

 

I have never had problems getting 40-50 psi spinning the pump with a cordless drill. If you can’t get at least that much pressure, I’d definitely look into it further.

You never said what the final reading was I agree, sometimes it takes A LONG time to work oil up thru every pushrod

 

What is the rpm of that Impact gun your using? Mine doesn't spin all that fast (No where near as fast as my cordless drill) Could it just be too slow to make good pressure?