Priming oil pump

[matt98eclipse]

I have heard good and bads about priming the oil pump on the first start after a rebuild. What is your guys exsperince with this? What do you guys recommend?

 

[outkastracing]

when i just got done with mine i didnt prime the pump and should have!!!! i had to take the pan off in the car and prime it that way its a pain that way!!! so what ive read is you should use like lithuim grease, or something or leave the front cover off and do it with a drill!!!

 

[sbiggi]

Since I have a external oil cooler, I get the engine in the car and take the timing belt off.
Put a electric drill on the oil pump and prime the whole motor and turbo.
Then put the belt back on.

 

[GreenGSX]

when i just got done with mine i didnt prime the pump and should have!!!! i had to take the pan off in the car and prime it that way its a pain that way!!! so what ive read is you should use like lithuim grease, or something or leave the front cover off and do it with a drill!!!

How do you prime a 4G63 motor by taking the pan off?

You should assemble the short block with assembly lube and pack the oil pump with it too. Before the motor is in the car and the timing belt is on spin the oil pump with a drill. You can spin it until oil comes out of the turbo oil feed on the passenger side of the head. If the oil line is already on the car just loosen the nut and stop spinning the pump when oil comes out.

When everything is back together just pull the MPI fuse and crank the car over a couple of times. Then put the fuse back and start the car.

 

[outkastracing]

what i did is take the pan off then i took the suck up tube off and took and put as much oil as possible in the pump! till it came out the oil filter housing! and it worked!!!!

 

[GreenGSX]

what i did is take the pan off then i took the suck up tube off and took and put as much oil as possible in the pump! till it came out the oil filter housing! and it worked!!!!

What it sounds like you did was just fill the oil filter and although its always good to fill it priming the motor is not just filling the oil filter. Looking at the image below you can see that by spinning the oil pump until you get oil out the turbo oil feed pretty much ensures that you've got oil to everything that matters ie..mains, rods, lifters.

 

[turboAWDfanatic]

I highly recommend priming the oil pump. Every manual I've seen states to do this. So do all the engine builders I've talked to.

If the timing belt is already on, take the fitting from the intake manifold that the brake booster hose attaches to and attach it to the oil filter housing in place of the oil pressure sending unit (the big thing hanging off the bottom). Then buy a $5 hand pump to pump oil from oil bottles and attach the end of the hose to the fitting. Pump the oil in. After a while it will get harder to pump. Keep going until you can see oil coming out of the rocker arm through the oil cap opening.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

You must be logged in to view this image or video.

 

[matt98eclipse]

Thanks for all the great info guys! How about the 420a motor?

 

[architechnik]

Wow, those are some great pics, fanatic. The amount of information that could be derived from those is insurmountable.

 

[turboAWDfanatic]

Wow, those are some great pics, fanatic. The amount of information that could be derived from those is insurmountable.

Sarcasm? *shrug* (hard to tell tone of voice from text) If not...well then thanks! Hope it helps someone out. I posted the pics b/c its easy to confuse the different parts of the oil filter housing. This is a trick that RRE showed me. Only took like five min and it worked like a charm.

BTW, I remember at some point when i was digging around for info on this topic a few months back that somebody said something to the effect that the clearance on the oil pump gears should be tight enough that oil can't pass through them when they aren't moving. I did have to pump pretty hard, but it did prime the pump and get oil throughout the engine, and my oil pump is working fine. I have good oil pressure after a few thousand miles of driving. Any thoughts on this?

 

[architechnik]

For once, I was being serious! Usually we get pics on here that someone took with their phone and you can't even tell what part of the car it's on. Or the picture is from outside with stark contrast and almost invisible regions where the sun is not directly shining. Every picture you posted shows a clean, well maintained area with various reference points in detail.

The pic with the pump attached shows exactly what the entire setup should look like. The only one I'm not sure about is the first pic. It almost looks like the intake mani right by the fuel rail (pcv inlet), but as you describe it's near the firewall end. Why do you suggest using this line instead of getting an equivalent size hose from the store?

 

[Burnett03]

Wow, those are some great pics, fanatic. The amount of information that could be derived from those is insurmountable.

Agreed! I never thought of doing this. Awesome mini-write up.

 

[turboAWDfanatic]

The only one I'm not sure about is the first pic. It almost looks like the intake mani right by the fuel rail (pcv inlet), but as you describe it's near the firewall end. Why do you suggest using this line instead of getting an equivalent size hose from the store?

Oops! Maybe I wasn't descriptive enough! The reason for the first pic is to show the "fitting" that threads into the intake mani. Simply detach the brake booster hose and unscrew the fitting, then thread the fitting into the oil pump housing. This fitting is chosen b/c the thread size (3/8npt...i think) is a match to the oil pressure sending unit. As for the hose, I used some properly sized tubing that I had laying around for various fluid filling/draining purposes.

I'll update the first pic to make more sense.

Thanks for the compliments! Funny thing is, I have about 700 photos of equal quality documenting just about everything I've done to my car. I just never find the time to do write-ups. I made an attempt at doing a blog, but I never kept it up-to-date. You can check it out to see some pics of engine removal/installation though, along w/ a few other things:

Clint's Garage

 

[turboAWDfanatic]

*Pics are updated

 

[architechnik]

I would like to recommend Clint's posts be transferred into the write-up section for the topic. The pictures and description leave nothing to question.

 

[chicagoavenger]

I would like to recommend Clint's posts be transferred into the write-up section for the topic. The pictures and description leave nothing to question.

+1 Clint you may wanna post this in the tech article section.

 

[400HP1GT]

Yu guys on Turners are great at pics and explaination of how to do things. There should be a sticky on priming the engine. I also do the drill on the oil pump method. Primes block and turbocharger. Keep up the good work. Ralph

 

[turboAWDfanatic]

Yu guys on Turners are great at pics and explaination of how to do things. There should be a sticky on priming the engine. I also do the drill on the oil pump method. Primes block and turbocharger. Keep up the good work. Ralph

That reminds me, I forgot to add my final step. I guess I figured it was a given since its standard practice for most people:

Pull the MPI fuse and the fuel pump fuse and all the spark plugs. Crank the engine over until the oil light goes out and you start to see oil pressure on the gauge. This should get oil into all the other necessary places with minimal work/stress being put on the parts. NOTE: Its best to have the spark plugs themselves (not just the wires) pulled out so that there's no compression and it's easy for the crank to turn over.

I'll make an edit to be sure people see this step in the write-up.

 

[Nicks2319]

I would like to recommend Clint's posts be transferred into the write-up section for the topic. The pictures and description leave nothing to question.

 

[turboAWDfanatic]

Alright, I made an official tech article submission. Hopefully it will be up in a few weeks. Thanks for the input!

 

[MidShipCivic]

While the engine is on the stand fill the engine up use an impact on the oil pump gear bolt?

 

[TommyDSM]

Great Thread! I was kinda worried about this issue also. And I already had my engine in my car and did not want to take the timing belt off again. But this was exactly what I needed to know to prime my oil pump with out all the work! Thanks again!

 

[cruisintalonawd]

looking at the picture above about the oiling system and noticed a "oil cooler bypass valve". what the point of that?????

 

[architechnik]

The bypass valve is for when the oil is not up to temp or if there is excessive blockage. You want to make sure that there is sufficient oil pressure to the rest of the engine if there is failure in the oil cooler system.

 

[herms99gst]

I know im bringing up a old thread but should i pack the oil pump with assembly lube while the motor is on the stand?