Finn5033

I dropped a used 350 in my cutlass last week and got it fired up tnite. I don't have any thing hooked up to it yet so I only ran it for about 10-15 sec. I have an oil pressure gauge and am reading good oil pressure. I loosened the compression ftg at the gauge connection and had oil spitting out. Point being the oil pump seems to be working well. I am not getting oil up to the rockers though. I only idled the engine, did not rev it up at all. Do i need to get the radiator hooked up and get some coolant to her and let it run longer and rev it up to get that oil up there? Or do I have a problem? The engine is very clean and the oil is new. Any thoughts would be great. Thank you

MDchanic

Sounds normal to me. Olds motors do not spit oil from the rockers like motors from a certain other division that starts with a "Ch" do. It oozes out slowly.
A few seconds of running won't be enough to get it up and out the top.

- Eric

Lady72nRob71

It took several (5-10) minutes for mine to start oozing! Yes, I was scared, too but it takes a while for the air to purge.
I would not rev it much until oil does show up. Once one starts oozing,t he rest should follow.

Finn5033

Ok that is what I was hoping to hear. I will get the rest buttoned up, pour some oil over the rockers and let it run for a while then. Thanks

Lady72nRob71

Here are my comments when I went through that...
https://classicoldsmobile.com/forums...tml#post325765

5-10 minutes should be enough time.

Tony72Cutlass'S'

That's exactly the time it takes for my valve train to stop being bloody noisy!

I started her up for the first time after the winter, MAN did it sound dirty. I got worried. But 5-6 minutes after idling, she finally quieted down.

rustyroger

I fired up a friends '68 Rambler Rebel 290 engine yesterday after a rebuild (rebore, crank grind, new cam & lifters, the whole works), it took less than a minute for the lifters to go quiet and plenty of (15w-40) oil to get to the valvetrain.
5-6 minutes to pump up lifters sounds a bit long to me.

Roger.

Finn5033

Put the radiator back in so there was coolant to the engine. After running for a couple of minutes the oil started coming to the lifters. Good feeling

Lady72nRob71

Yes! I know that feeling well!

brown7373

Did you prime the engine first? I have not rebuilt an Olds engine, but I think it would be the same as a Pontiac or Ford. I use an old distributor shaft in a 1/2 reversable drill to spin the oil pump shaft and prime the engine before startup. Put a piece of heater hose over the end of the old shaft and extend it past the end of the shaft. That wat it acts like a collar and holds the old distributor shaft in the slot in the oil pump shaft and you can run the pump with the engine off. Again, I assume it is the same for an Olds and runs in reverse.