No oil pressure on rebuilt 215

[Young olds]

I pulled the adapter off and the gears out. Packed it with grease and reinstalled everything. Primed it with a drill and now have about 35psi. I think I need to play with the clearance now to get the pressure back up to where it was.

[Young olds]

Anyone know why TA says to pack pump with jelly and not grease? I already used grease

[Young olds]

I am going to Order the TA booster plate and shim kit unless someone advises otherwise.

[88v8]

RPI say Vaseline or grease. I think it's generally easier to fill up a hole with Vaseline
Anyway, if it's primed, either was OK.

So what hot oil pressure do you have now?  Around 25-35 at 2500rpm on 20/50 oil, would be ball park.

Ivor

[Special]

Young olds Vaseline has been commonly used for ages to prime oil pumps. It just breaks down and incorporates into the oil and will harm nothing in the engine. As for grease it will do the same but has a much weaker bond/stiction for priming. Vaseline is thicker and tackier.

[Young olds]

I am out of town for work. When I get back I will check over what my oil pressures are now. I do not have 20/50 in it but will put some in.

[88v8]

Lucas make a 20/50 with good zddp level.
https://lucasoil.com/products/hot-rod-high-performance/hot-rod-classic-car-20w-50-motor-oil

The thing about the RV8, it's a volume system rather than a high-pressure system.
Never seen that 70psi you mention. Wonder if your old prv wasn't working.

Ivor

[Young olds]

Last time I ran it I had fresh 20/50 in it and cold start was 65/70 psi and hot was 30, but then I got water in the oil and it was down for almost a year until now. I put some cheap 15/40( with one quart of 30) to "clean" out the oil passages. When I get home I will drain and fill with good 20/50. Wear plate and shim kit are on there way as well.

[BlownMGB-V8]

Good oil pressure begins with tight bearing clearances. Properly set up this engine will easily produce upwards of 10psi/1000rpm running 10w30 oil. If you cannot do that, the first suspect is the bearing clearances. However, many owners run anywhere between 20w50 and straight 50 wt oil as a band-aid and that does work. I've even heard of 60 wt being used, though infrequently.

Read everything you can find on oiling. Search terms such as oil set-up, oiling mods, etc. When you have done that you will have a better idea of the proper way to go about this. And for god's sake, if you are building an engine keep your bearing clearances tight.

Jim

[MGBV8]

Buick oil pump mods.  Some of these mods only apply to the bigger Buick engines.

"I'm rusty on the 215, but the oil pump configuration is somewhat different than the other Buicks. I think you should call TA and discuss it with them, hopefully it is something simple in the oil pump area. For instance, the oil pressure sender port is on the pump cover (not in the block) for the 215, plus I think the regulator passage is different and I think there are two of them??? I also know that you have to drill additional holes in the booster/wear plate if you added that. "

http://www.buickperformanceclub.com/OilingMods.htm

[MGBV8]

These are for the Buick V6 turbo. so should also be applicable to the Buick/Olds/Rover V8s.

http://www.vortexbuicks-etc.com/Oilpump.htm

https://www.turbobuicks.com/forums/buick-v6-turbo-tech/39169-how-build-front-cover-oil-pump.html

[Young olds]

I was able to obtain an acceptable hot oil pressure of 28psi at an 850rpm idle, 180 degree temp.

[88v8]

Acceptable??!
Better than new, I'd have said.

[MGBV8]

Yep, better than mine.

[62Healeyhacker]

Using a power drive to spin the oil pump I can see that oil is getting to the rocker shafts on both heads. However no oil pressure registers and I can see through the translucent oil tube that no oil is coming through the sending unit which is on the right side of the engine. (I am using the metric pump cover to avoid conflict with the Healey frame.)
Nice to know that the rockers are getting oil but what about the cam etc.
The engine starts and runs but I shut it off out of fear of damaging the cam and bearings.
What now? I am using the Healey oil gage.

[302GT]

Did you find oil in the pump after spinning it? if so, maybe the relief valve is leaking, if not there is a leak on the suction side.

[62Healeyhacker]

I unscrewed the relief valve nut. I replaced the washer with a fiber one and compressed the spring and tightened the nut. The engine has not cranked very quickly. Timing light showed only weak spark. The battery date says 09/2016 so I am replacing it today.

[62Healeyhacker]

I have continued to chase the "no oil pressure demon" without success. I have just pulled the new cover I bought from Silver Seal and measured the depth of the pump chamber. My rough measurement is 0.890. I also measured the chamber depth in the old (1961-63) cover which reads 0.875!
  I have never heard of any of these Buick v8 or v6 engines having an altered depth in the pump chamber. This explains why the pump gear is slightly below chamber level whereas originally the gears extended slightly,
This also explains why I have never gotten ANY oil pressure despite checking out all the possibilities you guys have suggested.

Am I the only forum member who has encountered this problem? If you had this problem how did you rectify it? Any thoughts, suggestions are appreciated.

[mgb260]

BuickV8 board mentioned this issue. Gears should stick out slightly. Sand down .015 maybe.

[mstemp]

Jerry,

Please go back to page one of this thread and read what Roger went through. There is a spec for how much the gears should be proud of the cavity. You needed to measure this long ago to pick the thickness of gasket prior to assembly. Sorry you are finding this out the hard way, many different gasket thickness are in the market and material. Thin ones out of a paper like material don't crush much but thicker ones most certainly do making it hard to pick the correct casket. Easiest to assemble it to make sure gears don't bind in the cover, but not loose to give lower or no pressure. Check out the Buick links listed by Carl etc for further help. They give details on the pump and also porting the cover and pump to help flow/ pressure loss.

[MGBV8]

<quote>
 "I have just pulled the new cover I bought from Silver Seal and measured the depth of the pump chamber. My rough measurement is 0.890. I also measured the chamber depth in the old (1961-63) cover which reads 0.875!
I have never heard of any of these Buick v8 or v6 engines having an altered depth in the pump chamber."
 </quote>

Is your new Silver Seal timing cover a Buick 215 cover or a V6 cover?  Did you buy the one that comes with new gears?

Great page with Buick Oiling Mods.

http://www.rowand.net/shop/tech/buickoilingimprovements.htm

[MGBV8]

Double check that you didn't receive a timing cover for hi volume & are using standard pump gears in it.

[TVR_V8]

Hi Jerry,

what happened to the oil pressure problem?  I am struggling with similar symptoms and cannot find a solution. Mybe i can learn from you  

I'm looking forward to an answer,

Michael

[88v8]

What indeed... too often on forums one sees the problems but the OP forgets to post the solution. Been there done that.

Is the pump priming OK? Flow but low pressure?
One thing I never mentioned, if the pump won't prime then all the time it's being rotated with the drill the steel gears are rubbing dry against the alloy cover, and they can wear a nice circular gouge in it.

So a pre-oiler as mentioned by Todd on page 1 is well worth setting up to avoid this.

Ivor

[BlownMGB-V8]

Either take the cover to the shop and have them cut .020" off the mating flange or some very careful work with a belt sander, a micrometer, and a large new fine cut file. Then use the TA shim pack to set end clearance to about .0005" and pack with vasoline before startup. A little porting and polishing helps.

Jim