The Stovebolt Forums Forums The Shop Area The Engine Shop 350 pre-lube trouble

Working on the 350 engine out of my 71 K1500. The history is I wiped a lobe off the cam a few months ago. It was #7 exhaust. Anyway, I finally got around to pulling the motor to replace the cam. New cam, timing chain, lifters, push rods and gaskets.

I got to the point that I wanted to run the oil pump with a drill to pre-lube everything. The motor is still on the stand, with the intake manifold off yet. The "odd" side pushrods bubbled and got oil, but I cant get oil to come out the push rods on the "even" side. I ran the oil pump for probably 15 minutes. Am I missing something? My next thought was to pull the pushrods and lifters out of that side to make sure they were getting oil from the block, but I haven't got that far yet.

Any other wisdom?

Thanks
Jon

If a distributor housing isn't installed, the lifter oil gallery down one side won't receive any pressure. No oil to the rocker arms on that cylinder bank is the result. I use a junk distributor with the teeth ground off the gear as a priming tool to prevent that problem.
Jerry

You're chasing normal operation. Good on you for noticing the side to side difference, but you've primed it as far as you can by just turning the pump. Go ahead and install the intake and distributor and cycle the engine with the starter to confirm oil on both sides, then prime the carb and fire it off.

Thanks HRL and Hink. Appreciate your wisdom!

Jon

Another thing that I do before firing the engine is dribble some oil in on the heads around where the pushrods are, that way you're being proactive and going DOWN with oil, instead of waiting for fresh oil to come UP.

Fire that baby up! It can take it! I just did the same last August

I'v got an old distributor (87 - '95 TBI) w/ the gear removed, stick it in the hole & spin it with a drill. Doesn't hurt to rotate the engine some to get oil to all the rod bearings.

Thanks guys. Sounds like my easiest option is to leave spark plugs out and carb off and crank it with the starter once its in the truck. Most likely a weekend project!

Jon

If you're running a new cam and lifters, don't overdo it on the cranking. You'll wipe all the assembly lube off the cam, and end up with a few damaged lobes. Just start the thing, and as soon as you see oil pressure, rev it up to 2K RPM or so and keep it there for 20 minutes or so. It helps if you have the ignition timing set right and the valves pre-adjusted so you don't have to tinker with it instead of just running the engine. Use a big box fan or a squirrel cage blower in front of the radiator to prevent overheating during the break in run.
Jerry

I'm with HRL, easiest & best are not the same.