Priming the Oil Pump

[heliox]

Hi,
does anyone give me any ideas as to why im having problems priming the oil pump on my TVR Griffith V8.

I had to remove the pump to sort out a problem with the pressure relief valve which was stuck open and after 3 attempts to prime it using vaseline it still wont prime up. Could the Mobil 1 fully synthetic be too thin,05/40w? or do I need to go the drill method?

any help appreciated,

regards h

[tcpc]

go for the drill, i can all most get 1bar off pressure this way

Tony

[heliox]

thanks,

do I need to set up no 1 at tdc etc first or can i just mark it for removal since im not turning the engine over?

cheers h

[tcpc]

yes, just mark it before you take it out, and when it is all most all the way out make a note off where the rota arm is as well, well this is how i do it and i havn't had any problems.


tony

[heliox]

thanks again Tony,

regards..h

[tcpc]

did you get it sorted

Tony

[heliox]

Yes Tony,

I think the cold weather solidified the vaseline a little bit and choked up the filter flow.

With a new filter on it primed great first time with the drill quite quickly and now shows better pressure than before with an uprated new spring.

It was removing the distributor that i was a little uncertain about as i've not done it for years but its all back together and growling nicely again,thanks for the advice.

h

[Fish]

Folks I'm about to put my V8 back together on the Landrover never heard of the drill method before only the vaseline(which does seem a bit hit or miss).

I assume you connect to the oil pump through the distributer hole. How do you getthe drill to connect to the oil pump blade type thing?>?

Help much appreciated.

[GavinPearson]

Fish said:

Folks I'm about to put my V8 back together on the Landrover never heard of the drill method before only the vaseline(which does seem a bit hit or miss). I assume you connect to the oil pump through the distributer hole. How do you getthe drill to connect to the oil pump blade type thing?>? Help much appreciated.

In all honesty I wouldn't bother. When I was at Jaguar we assembled engines using SAE 90 oil. It won't drain off so the amount of damage you will do is nil.

It's worth filling the oil filter before you fit it.

IMHO run in using a DIESEL oil, these are very high detergent and wash all the rubbish away, then drain and use normal oil thereafter.

[Mrs Fish]

James here:

Like the deisel idea but if your pump isn't primrd and its a non priming pump surely it will never prime itself?

Thus you have to prime it somehow...

[wedg1e]

Mrs Fish said:

James here: Like the deisel idea but if your pump isn't primrd and its a non priming pump surely it will never prime itself? Thus you have to prime it somehow...

What I did (cos I'm a northern cheapskate ) was to obtain a length of 8mm studding (about a foot) and hacksaw a slot in one end. Then I welded a nut flush to the cut end and turned it down on the lathe until the nut was rounded off (you could use a file, I suppose...). Then I covered all but about 1.5" of the other end with heatshrink. (The nut helps to keep the studding on the oil pump drive whilst it's spinning, the heatshrink gives you a last line of defence so that the studding doesn't scrape alloy off the block if you slip).
Pull the distributor out, stick the uncovered end of the studding in an electric drill and apply the slotted/ nutted end to the top of the oil pump shaft that you can see down the distributor orifice. Make sure the drill is spinning clockwise as you view the oil pump and bring up the revs. You can hear/ feel the drill come under load as the oil starts circulating, and the pressure gauge (if fitted) should get up to a Bar or so quite easily. For absolute confirmation, leave one of the rocker covers off and wait until the oil starts oozing around the rocker gear.

Ian

[fish]

Cheers for that

[shpub]

Fish said:

Folks I'm about to put my V8 back together on the Landrover never heard of the drill method before only the vaseline(which does seem a bit hit or miss).

Only works on the pre-serp engines. Serp engines have a totally different pump design and many are distributorless.