The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Oil filter with no outlet

O.k., so i got all of my gauges working and noticed that i had no oil pressure, i mean zero. So my first thought was the oil pump. I removed the top of the oil filter canister (which had no filter in it) and started the truck to see if i could see any oil pumping...none. Then i noticed that there is no outlet line on the bottom of the canister returning to the block, just an inlet to the top of the canister coming from the block with the oil pressure line in it. Just one line in and nothing coming out. I looked on the diagrams and the return on the bottom is not there. Does this make any sense why it would be like this?

It still should have oil pressure. Even if there was no return back to the block ,it should be pumping oil into the canister.Look deeper into the engine. Maybe oil galley plug is out. and Whats the engine?

It's a 235

Where on the engine (or elsewhere) is the oil pressure line connected?

The one line is on the back of the block near the firewall with the oil pressure gauge line coming out of it, from what i can tell this should be the inlet line to the oil filter.

Can youost a pic of your filter housing?

Not sure how to go about posting a pic. It is the factory filter housing bolted to the exhaust manifold with u bolts, Lid on top with bolt in the center, inlet hose on the side towards the top and it appears where the outlet hose coming out of the bottom of the filter housing just has a bolt in it to cap it off. If the oil pump went out did somoene just cap off the outlet and essentially make it a none pressurised oil system like in previous years? I was planning on getting a new oil pump and re-plumbing the filter housing, i was just curious if anyone had seen someone with this kind of setup before.

That cob-job set-up might have resulted from a leaking outflow hose being replaced with a plug in the base of the canister and a plug in the return hole it the block.

This should not hurt anything but it is not filtering oil.

A guess: the outlet fitting in the block is plugged. Take it off and clean out the fitting and check to see if "gunk" is plugging the hole in the block.

Sounds like a good place to start. Here is a pic of the type filter housing on it.

http://www.stovebolt.com/techtips/engines/oil%20filters/31.jpg

I agree with Tim. Check the outlet fitting on the side of the block. It's under the carb and bit to the firewall side. OR your oil gauge line is kinked?

The outlet is on the bottom of your canister and returns to the carb side of the block.

Are you getting oil to your rockers?

Even the splash oiled engines had a oil pump to feed the upper parts, so you need pressure for the rockers to stay lubed. It wasn't much pressure, but it doesn't take much to oil rockers and valve stems.

Joe

It did not appear to be kinked, but i'll check it out when i remove the oil line.

I guess i had better check to make sure it's getting to the rockers also.

How much oil should they be getting? I started it up for a minute and then shut it off and removed the valve cover. They were not swimming in oil, but looked wet, i wiped my finger over them and got oil.

...click...
1954 car 235

i removed the oil line leaving the block to the inlet of the oil filter housing, started it and nothing came out. I stuck the end of a screwdriver in to see if it was clogged and just after entering it hits metal, is that the cam shaft?

Thanks Dads50, i was afraid to run it with the valve cover off not wanting to sling oil everywhere, at least now i should be able to make sure the oil is getting where it needs to be.

You should have no trouble running a short time with the cover off.

Someone should be along shortly to help you diagnose your blockage problem.

If you have a long screw driver to sacrifice you can pull the dist. and with the screw driver (sans the handle) chucked in a drill run the oil pump without running the engine...

Well, running the engine with the valve cover off i don't see any new oil appearing on the rockers. They are what i would call "greasy" if i wipe my finger on them like there has been oil there lately, but definatly no new oil. Still with the oil line with the tee for the oil pressure gauge removed from the block and still no oil coming from the port.

I would not run that engine till you figure out what's going on.

What's the history of your 235?

I really don't know the history. Supposedly the guy drove it 60 mi. to get it to the guy i bought it from, said it ran fine. motor looks in good condition, original. I replaced fuel pump, converted to 12v. Put HEI distrubutor and altinator on it. Swaped the 4:57 diff. with a 4:10, Just rewired the whole truck. Fires right up. Yesterday was it's firt trip longer than down the street and back. Ggot it out on the hiway and went about 12mi. total, seams to be running great, but i had no idea about the potential oil problem at the time.

Here is Big Tonkas Demo on priming with a drill
...Big Tonka Link...

OK, so by HEI you mean the big distributor, correct. I wonder if it is seated in the oil pump. I think you need to pull the distributor and run the oil pump with a drill. If that makes the oil flow then I would think the distributor is the problem. In that case I would pull the pan and have a look at the bearings to see what damage may have been done.

Thanks for all the help guys, i'll let you know what i find out.

When i put the new distributor in i measured how far up on the shaft of the old one that it went in the block and set the retaining ring on the new one at that height and i had to rotate the shaft until it dropped down in the block all the way to where the retaining ring was. I was under the impression that it would not have dropped down in the block unless it was alighned with the oil pump, is that not correct?

That is the way the original one seats. I was just trying to think of all the possibilities. However if you do turn the pump with a drill and oil comes out then you have to figure out what is going on. Personally I don't think it is possible for you to have driven as far as you did with no pressure at all.

I just thought that i had made sure i did it correctly seeing that is the first time i had installed a distributor and i was very apprehensive about it so i ran through all the steps several times to make sure. I just wasn't real thrilled about pulling it back out if i didn't have to, lol. I appriciate all the help, i'm no mechanic. I didn't think it would be running as well as it is with no pressure either, it just doesn't make alot of sense why no oil is coming from the filter line port in the block. I guess it is possible that it isn't pumping much and i'm just not able to see it whith the valve cover removed, but i would think i would see something come out of the filter port. I have a oil pump coming in tomorrow, i guess i'll go ahead and put it on just for peice of mind.

If your engine is a 216 they have a regulator on the left side of the engine, This may be bad. Also the oil line for the rockers runs from that regulator thru the cooling passages to the rockers, I have seen where the line rubs against a push rod and gets a hole rubbed in it.

Mine is a 235.

Normally if you were to take the oil pressure sensor fitting off at the block and start the motor, you would have oil all over the floor in seconds. I have seen where the actual fitting in the block was plugged with gunk and there was no oil or pressure to the gauge.

awell, so far i've romoved the oil pan and it doesn't look that bad. It has about 1/4" of sludge in the bottom most section, i was expecting alot worse. Trying to get the oil pump off (figured sinse i'm down there may as well replace it for peace of mind). The pick up tube does not appear that it is clogged, but won't know for sure till i get it off, everything looks in fairly good condition, would have expected more sludge on everything for it's age. Having a time getting the retaining sleeve set screw for the oil pump out. I'm thinking more and more that maybe i didn't have the distributor down far enough after all, but may as well go through the whole system while i'm at it. Still cant figure out what is blocking the oiul pressure line outlet port.

Got the oil pump out. All looks good. All ine clean as a whistle, pump had oil in it and when i spun it with a screw driver what oil was in it shot out, so i guess it was working, must have been the distributor after all.

Thanks for all the help guys. Got it all put back together and have oil pressure now, all looks good. I'm not sure what did it, The old oil pump seemed to be o.k. (replaced it anyway) and after pulling the distruibutor back out and putting it back in, making sure it was engaging the pump before putting the pan back on, it was down the same depth as before. Never did find a clog on the oil pressure/filter port, but after taking everything apart and putting back together everything is working now as it should. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth i guess, again thank you everyonr for all the tips and help, couldn't have done it without you.

Darren.

Glad it all worked out for you and you did not do any damage. How about posting a few more pictures?

Here are some more pics. She's got a long way to go but she's getting there! http://s1188.photobucket.com/albums/z408/gtreasur/