ill_driver

Hey,
I was jsut talking to one of my friends and he mentioned something to me about pre-oiling the engine. I had never even ehard of it before, but he made it sound like it was a necessity. What is the validity of that? I know it cant be a bad thing to get everything in there coated with oil, but last rebuild I did we didn't do it. (That may very well be why I didnt get more than 15,000 miles on it....) Anyways, I just really dont want to do it because I am lazy and dont want to go buy the tools and have to reset the rocker arms... Anyways any comments would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Karl

joeveto

Priming the system is absolutely critical to engine life. It's not hard and it doesn't require any expensive special tools. Before you drop in the distributor, you have to engage the oil pump shaft. This can be done with a drill and a shaft that's built especially for this. Spin the drill until you can see oil through the rockers. That's it. But make sure it's done. Otherwise, during the engine's most critical start, you're forcing it to do it dry.
:(

LFZ

after a throrough rebuild or new crate...before starting the motor, you should prime the oil pump and make sure you got the filter full of oil..(better to fill up the filter with oil, then put it on the block). :thumbs:

boredsoIstrokedit

That IS probably one of the reasons it didn't last. That or maybe a lack of attention to detail. Being lazy is no excuse. Unless you are rich, even then you still will have to change the engine later, so just buy the shaft (not very expensive) and DO IT. If you don't use the CORRECT shaft, one half of the upper half is not done. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

GTR1999

get an old chevy distributor and cut the top of the shaft off so you can get it in a drill chuck. Remove the dist gear,drop it in with the housing and you have a great primer that will lube the entire motor. You can find them at swap meets for under $20. I use a oil pressure gauge and plumb it into the block where the oil line normally goes to get a reading under the hood.
Gary

rrent

I (like gtr1999) just use an old distributor --- I ground the teeth off of the gear and welded a small smaft to the top......

If you do it with the vavle covers off you can confirm oil to the rockers ---

Fevre

Tavia oil pump primer, $23.50 at summit racing:



I had one that was just a shaft and those do not prime the system as well as the one pictured. It hooks to a drill and it will need to run 5 to 10 minutes until oil is coming out of all 8 pushrods.

Rolling Thunder

:iagree: :yesnod: :yesnod: Looks just like the one that came with my ZZ502 engine.

GDaina

:iagree:

Another place, boneyards, got one for 5 bucks, ground down the gear so the cam is not engagued....works like a champ.

boredsoIstrokedit

Oh, and make sure you spin the engine over by hand in 1/4 turn increments while you are doing it. Cheers. :cheers:

ill_driver

Another pre-oiling question, do I need to back all of the rocker arms off?
Karl

Fevre

If you have hyd lifters I would set the lifters then pre-oil, just did it last weeked on my eng and everything is good so far. Have oil in the hyd lifter can interfer with setting the lifter pre-load.

marshrat99

Another way to pre-oil is to go ahead and install you distributor but DO NOT HOOK UP THE WIRES ! Then crank the motor several turns with the starter. This should be sufficient and assumes you've pre-lubed your bearings. :cheers:

Tom77

At the very least do this! Fill the oil filter before you put in on. Take a clean squirt can full of oil and try to fill the oil galleys through the oil sending unit hole. This will be some protection.

Matt Gruber

every day millions of cars are started NOT pre-lubed.
i pre lube mine to check for leaks and verify oil pressure.
if you pre-lube more than a few seconds it may wash off the cam break-in lube.
As long as the oil filter is full and it is assembled correctly, pre-lube does nothing.
Now, putting a pipe plug in the oil filter bypass, THAT is doing something :cheers:

ill_driver

Thanks for all the feedback!
Two more questions and I think I am ready to go do it. Which direction do I turn the shaft? And in Response to Matt's post - How long should I do it for? Is there an need to worry about washing off the cam lube? Should I do it by hand or power drill? (that was more than two but o well...).
Thanks again,
Karl

Matt Gruber

everyone seems to be missing the purpose ofthe prelube process.
when the block is hot tanked the oil passasges get full of dirt. pipe cleaners help but the only way i've found that gets it all out is a flush with no crank. i put 2 qts of ATF in the pan and run the empty block 5 to 10 minutes with a drill. If you don't believe me, try it and then cut open the oil filter and see all the grit that would be in the bearings otherwise.
Then assemble the CLEAN engine and give it a token 3 seconds to verify oil pressure. :steering:
(clockwise)

Fevre

Guess is $23 and 10 minutes is too high a price then cross your fingers and turn the key.

rob75383

I bought the tavia pre oiler from summit a coule of years ago...
I use it every spring just to make sure...
I just never have done the rotate the crank every so often part. I guess that'll be added to my springtime to-do list.

A couple more things: I do it out of the secure feeling it gives me to see that all the rockers are still getting a decent amount of oil after its hibernation every year, and I leave mine on for a good half hour or so using a bungee cord to hold the trigger and the drill while I do something else.

Now I remember the last time I pulled my oil pan off, the motor was still dripping oil a week later, so I can assume that the parts are pretty well coated (but the nice buffer of oil may not be in place between the bearings where its really needed).
My family's mechanic, who's worked on every single one of my beaters over the years, but has never laid a hand on my vette, just says to unpulg the coil, and turn the engine over with the starter to "pre-lube" the motor. --now you guys see why I didn't let him touch my vette... and no, his name isn't Bubba.

rob75383

I almost forgot.
Practically the best solution to this would be what someone here has done... (was it GKULL maybe???)
They used the moroso 3-quart oil accumulator along with the matching solenoid. You place the switch in the dash or console somewhere, before you turn off the car, you flip the switch to close the solenoid. This locks in the pressure into the accumulator tank. YOu can also externally pressurize the tank with compressed air, I guess.
Before you start your car, you flip the switch, opening the solenoid, and then you get a nice rush of pressurized oil flowing the motor. Then you can start your car without the fear of there not being any oil on the bearings and such.