Oil pressure and a paper towel

[SasaniFab]

ok so to begin I want to say yesterday was one of those days every car guy has, the ones that make you wanna give up and sell everything..... Anyways. The problem , besides leaving a paper towel in my turbo, or the brand new radiator leak, when I'm going to prime the engine I'm not getting oil through the feed line. I'm running vp racing 20-50 as per fp turbo recommendations. The engine has been sitting for almost two years, my hypothesis is the thickness of the oil and cold temp? Should I just start the engine? The car ran perfect when I parked it?

 

[bling5tatus]

I would not just start the engine.

*Unplug your injector resistor to disable the injectors at the firewall.
*have a friend visually look in the oil fill cap to see if oil is being put on the cam lobes as the motor is cranked.
*if you're feeding oil from the head banjo, crack that banjo loose and crank the car.... oil should come out there.

If you cannot get oil on the cam lobes or coming out of the banjo then you've got some junk blocking something somewhere.

 

[OGDSM1989]

I know FP says 20-50, and I get your looking to follow recomendations. After doing what Blingstatus says, a simple fix / check is to drain said oil and alot of the newer cars are running a 0-20 even in high performance situations. .... I would drain and refill with some 0-20 and see if oil starts comming throug .... heat the engine a little and move to a 10-40 see what happens and then move to the 20-50 ...it could very well be the cold and if it is the cold then just add a block heater and move on....
Sorry about the turbo ... I ruined a super 16g on my first Starion some 18 years back and since then I am super careful when it comes turbos and anything around those dam compressors .... untill this last weeks and my whole head /turbo / intake / exh mani was stole from garage but thats my own sad story.Good luck

 

[SasaniFab]

Turbo is ok, thank god....it's exhausted the engine immediately. Tmrw I'm gunna reinstall everything and fire the engine up. My other question is if you put oil in the turbo oil inlet and spin the compressor, should the oil run through to the drain or does it require more pressure?

 

[SasaniFab]

Oil is being fed from the oil filter housing

 

[ThunderChild]

Do NOT put 0w20 in the motor. Newer vehicles run 0w20 due to oil passages and bearing clearances being far smaller than our engines. It's an efficient thing. Put 0w20 in yours and it will be bad.

Cranking the car at 3-400 rpm also isn't going to get you a lot of volume. If the turbo was put together with assembly lube, you could start it for a few seconds, then shut it off and check your line again.

Or pull the line off the motor and verify there isn't anything blocking it (debris in the line, blow air through it)

Past that, do you have an oil pressure gauge? I know I don't get squat until the car is running.

Idk if you'll get oil out the drain by gravity feeding it, but you could try. You won't get very good dilution to the bearing without pressure tho so be careful.

 

[SasaniFab]

I removed the lines, there is no blockage. Im just gunna go for it, the same thing happened to my subaru sti when I installed a new oil pump. No pressure until the engine ran for a bit. Im gunna heat the garage for awhile and start the bi***. Ill shut the engine off after a few moments and check the feed lines. I dont have an oil pressure gauge but, all sensors were replaced on the oil filter housing. Im gunna prime the engine without the plugs in this time, maybe that will help.

 

[OGDSM1989]

0-20 wont ruin your engine .... I use 0-20 schaffer 9005 supreme 9000 in all my DD cars ( DSM or not) .. in my more abused engines I use 9001 supreme 9000 5-50 and take advantage of there oil analysis ... showed me that I could go around 7000 miles per oil and had .001 parts of any metal contamination. I have ran Shaffer since I started building and running engines and never had a fatigue failure ever .... clean engines and parts.

 

[SasaniFab]

We will find out tmrw.....I think ill be ok, the engine sat for two years and ran well before it was parked. It has been garaged the entire time, the engine has 90k on it. I didnt touch the oil pump. I really believe the engine just needs to run to build enough pressure. Like I said, im gunna remove the plugs and turn the engine over, maybe the extra speed with assist in building up enough pressure. If that doesnt work im gunna start the bi*** and let it run for 30 seconds see what happens. Wish me luck, tmrw morning is the day of reckoning. Ill be sure to report the aftermath.

 

[OGDSM1989]

Just change the oil befor running and a new filter ... ORiellys or what ever and grab some 10 -30 it should be fine.

 

[ThunderChild]

0-20 wont ruin your engine .... I use 0-20 schaffer 9005 supreme 9000 in all my DD cars ( DSM or not) .. in my more abused engines I use 9001 supreme 9000 5-50 and take advantage of there oil analysis ... showed me that I could go around 7000 miles per oil and had .001 parts of any metal contamination.
I have ran Shaffer since I started building and running engines and never had a fatigue failure ever .... clean engines and parts.

I can respect that and your experiences with what you've used. But frankly I wouldn't put 0w20 in one of these cars. Even with 10w30 in mine oil pressure is lower than I'd like to see (well within spec) and I prefer a higher sheer protection of 20w50. Most other ppl running 4g63/4's are using 10w40-20w50, and most of the oil related failures I've seen and read about come from high loads combined with light weight oil.

But to each their own, id just hate to see a failure on here due to lightweight oil being used.

Anyway, I'm sure the OP's motor will be fine once pump speed increases. Without any previous oil or grease to siphon oil into the pump it will take some rpm to pull oil up.

 

[bling5tatus]

I have always used 20w50 in my car and never had any bearing failures...... but I'm not trying to start no bs here about oil choices. I've never heard of putting an oil that thin in these motors but if you say it works I will take your word for it. I use the thicker oil because it's not a big deal in Texas since it doesn't get super cold here.

In any case, if you "just start your car and go for it to prime the pressure" you're gambling with the health of your motor/turbo. I would do the tests I said above first to ensure you're not going to ruin anything. If you crank it up dry and run it for a few minutes and something does prevent oil from reaching your turbo you'll be looking at a rebuild.

 

[SasaniFab]

Well guys.... Everything went perfectly. Did my usual checks and started the car. Light went away after a few seconds. The car is running rough, stumbling... Haven't got the hang of Dsm link yet

 

[ThunderChild]

good to hear. youll get the hang of it quick.​