Well i installed my new oil pump the old one was still good it was just sitting in a lot of sludge and wasnt pumping right. But its peace of mine to have a brand new pump). Put the motor back together and cranked it w/o the spark plugs the oil pressure gauge was showing a little over 40 psi but i noticed i'm not getting any oil to the rocker arms i had both valve covers off and i didnt even get a drop. Can someone give me some ideas on what i should do next. Moneys tight so i cant afford to completely rebuild the motor and have it professional cleaned up. Any help is much appreciated.

 

How long did you turn the engine? It will take some time. Do you have oil priming tool? If so I would rather use it instead off keeop turning the motor over. You can use a socket, but tape in on the extention, so it don't fall off. Also distributor turns counter clock wise, so need a reversable drill.

 

I was turning it over for at least a minute or longer, only doing maybe 15 second turns at a time then letting the starter cool for a couple seconds. I'm about to go borrow a drill from one of my buddies and try that and see what happens.

 

Well that did'nt work, almost killed the drill trying to spin the oil pump. It gets about 40 psi and puts a heavy strain on the drill, and its a big heavy duty drill i couldnt believe it it slowed that drill down quick and i still get no oil to the lifters. I'm running out of ideas. Hope someone got something i can try. My friends dad said i should drain the oil and fill with a mix of kerosene and trans fluid and spin the oil pump with a drill to help breakdown any build up or blockage, i havent tried it yet as i dont want to ruin the motor.

 

Yes it is a drain on a drill, you need a good one. Just making sure you went counter clock wise? Also you need to rotate the engine 90 degrees now and then. Also it can take some time.

 

One more thing, you did not remove any oil galley plugs, did you?

 

It was a pretty heavy duty Milwaukee drill with high and low gears very nice peace and even that wasn't enough. Yes i was spinning the shaft counter clockwise, well if i rotate the engine wont i lose my place for the dist. and mess up timing? As far as the oil galley plugs I'm not sure, where would they be located? I haven't done much to the motor except pulling the valve covers and installing a new oil pump with new pan gasket. Do you think i should try what my friends dad said with the kerosene and trans fluid? is it safe? Or should i just pour some seafoam in the motor and drill the oil pump for a while?

 

Yes you are correct, if you move the crank, you will have to find top dead center, to put the distributor back in correctly.

 

An Olds engine does not oil like a chevy engine. With the valve covers off while running you will not see oil spurting any distance from the pushrods/rockers. During operation the oil bleeds from the pushrods to the rockers. The running engine spins the pushrods and this helps move oil up thru them. The lifters also have a pumping type action. My suggestion is to run the engine and leave one valve cover loose. I would bet you get oil up there while running. Spinning the engine with the starter is not enough. With the drill the bottom end gets most of the oil. Douse the rockers with oil before running.

 

My suggestion for you would be to pull the valve covers back off and remove the intake. If your oil pan was filled with sludge, odds are pretty good that the intake valley is also sludged up. Get a good shop vac in there and try to remove all the carbon and sludge build up. Then remove all the push rods and clean them. Make sure they all are clear of debree. Make sure all the oil return holes are clear. Try not to let any of the crap fall to the bottom end. You'll want to drain the oil after you pull the intake, some antifreeze always leaks into the oil when doing an intake job. Remember to blow any coolant out of the intake ports on the heads or you may end up with an engine that is hydro locked. Also look at all the lifters for any that are collapsed. You could try to prime the engine with some thinner oil like 5w20 that should be easier on your drill. You can always use a locking extension instead of tape. You could even prime the engine with the intake and valve covers off. Don't worry about finding TDC that's the easy part. I also would not recomend using the factory turkey tray. Much better gaskets are available and they even make an intake aluminum baffle that will keep the hot oil off your intake.

 

You did put 5 qts. of oil in didn't you?

Make sure the oil filter is the correct one, don't use fram.

If all you did is replace the oil pump, drop the distributor in and start it up and let it run for a minute or two. If you got both valve covers off, drain a quart out of oil out the pan and pour it over the rockers before starting it, if you don't get any oil up top after a minute to 90 seconds of running the engine, turn it off, you got problems.

Just let it idle, don't rev it up.

 

Did you see any sluge under the valve covers?

I'm thinking that the drill isn't going to cut it. I would suggest trying what SBOrule said. That would be the best way to see if you are getting oil up there

 

Thanks for the replys guys. i'm gonna try what you guys said and see whats happens, mostlikely gonna pull the intake and do a cleaning job on the top end, clean up all the pushrods and lifters and other stuff

 

makes a heap of sense to me at least
Certainly be checking the sludge issue apart from just the sump.
mike

 

If you're going to pull the lifters, do them one at a time, as they're 'broken in' to that particular lobe, and mixing them could be disastorous!
Same with ALL the pushrods and rocker arms and pivots.

More than one member here has tried what you're doing, and ended up rebuiding the motor, as the deeper you go, the more you find!!
Good Luck!

 

Well i pulled each pushrod cleaned them inside and out, i spun the oil pump with the pushrods out and can see oil coming out of the little lifters in the engine valley., but still no oil to the rocker arms, and those pushrods are spotless now. and also is the valley pan under the intake manifold considered the intake gasket?

 

Well I'm glad you took my advice. How badly sludged up was the intake valley? The tin "turkey tray" is the factory gasket. Don't reuse that style. I suggest now that you hook up an oil pressure gauge at the sending unit port on the left front of the engine. Spin the pump and read the gauge. You should be able to produce at least ten PSI with the drill. That should be enough to feed the rockers. I don't understand why you say there's oil coming out of the top of the lifters, but nothing going up the push rods to the rockers. Basically the pushrod is like a straw, if you have oil going into the bottom it should be coming out the top. If your oil pressure is lower than 10 PSI, I think you've got a more serious problem. When you had the oil pan off to replace the pump did you pull any caps to inspect the bearings? Oil is going to take the path of least resistance. So if your bearings on the crank are wiped out, all the oil pressure is going right past the bearings. Why did you replace the pump? If you don't have an oil pressure gauge tool you can probably find a cheap used gauge at a swap meet. If you can't find one let me know, I'll send you one. Please keep us posted on your findings.

 

I have a oil pressure gauge hooked up the the motor, it shows 40 psi when i drill the pump, cant drill for long though as it pretty much kills the drill. The intake valley isn't really all that sludgy. When i had the push rods removed i spun the oil pump and could see oil coming out the little hole in the lifter but once i put the push rods back in and try again i get nothing to the rocker arms. since i know i'm getting oil to the crank and everything else, what im about to do is drop the motor in hook everything up, manual lube the rockers start the engine let it run til it builds enough pressure on its own to push the oil to the rockers. Cause obviously the drill i have isnt powerful enough to spin the oil pump. its a 6.4 amp hammer drill and after 10 seconds of drilling the pump it slows down starts to smoke so i dont wanna ruin my friends drill so i dont go much past that. Dont reuse the turkey tray valley pan? Why not, should i just get the regular gaskets and ditch the tray?