The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 235 Oil Pressure Problem

Hi,
I'm having a little bit of confusing problem with the oil pressure on my 59 235. I bought an engine that had been sitting for about 20 years under a work bench without any oil in it. After cleaning the motor and putting some fresh oil in it, I put it in my 48 3100. The engine started ok but didn't appear to have any oil pressure. I dropped the pan and found that the oil pump pick up was filled with sludge. After cleaning the pickup tube and screen, I put the pan back and some fresh oil back in the motor and ran the pump with a drill for about a minute until oil was coming out of the rockers. I made the assumption that the problem was corrected. Wrong! When I put the distributor back in and started it, there is still no oil pressure. I checked the filter and copper line going to head and no oil is flowing to the top end when the engine is running. I pulled the distributor and ran the pump with the drill for about 10 seconds and oil is pumped back up to the filter and head???? Any ideas what's wrong? Is the pump bad? This one has me stumped.

There was an incident like this with one of the most experienced members of the VCCA. It turned out that the distributor was not seated in the oil pump and the oil pump was not being driven.
Did you feel a lot of drag in the drill when you were running the pump? Also, what was the pressure reading when you were driving the pump?

It sounds like it might be the drive gear on the distributor as truckernix says. If you can move the pump with the drill and it moves the oil then it has to be the dist. Is the gear drive on real tight? Maybe its stripped and just doesn't hold under pressure. Thats my best guess. Cecil........

Check and see if the collar that has the slot for the hold down bolt is all the way to the top of the machined area. If it somehow got clamped lower than it should be then the shaft might not be engaging the pump. You can loosen the clamp bolt with a flat blade screwdriver with the distributor in place, hold light downward pressure and roll the engine over. If not all the way down it'll drop when shaft aligns with pump.Way to easy but good luck.

Thanks guys! I did feel a little drag in the pump when I was running the pump with the drill and oil was coming out of the holes in the rocker arms. I'm not sure what the oil pressure gauge was reading. I'll look into collar for the hold down bolt when I get home tonight. I'll keep you guys updated and thanks again for the input.

-Rich

I took the distributor out and pushed the collar on the vacuum advance up and tightened the set screw. After that, I slid the distributor back in and started up the motor and instant oil pressure! Thanks for the help everyone!