Hi, ive just about finished my mk2 escort cossie conversion and i cant get oil pressure up when cranking the engine over .. is this a problem or wont i get oil pressure up until the motor has started ?? if so how long does the engine have to run before its got oil pressure up ? (not very long at all i guess)

Ive had the car fire up but i cut the ignition half a sec after as i do not want to risk causing damage.

the engine was running six months ago in another car and all ive done is pulled the top cover off the oil pump and changed the pickup (as it was running an escort/pinto sump and pickup without the oil spray bar previously) i made sure to pour heaps of oil into the pump and pickup and was turning the pump to try to avoid any air locks.

So does it sound as if ive got an airlock in the pump ??
if so how to i prime the pump properly ?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Damion.

 

how are you judging your oil pressure?if its just from the oil pressure light in the dash then the oil pressure switch could be faulty or the bulb coul've gone!iv just finished a fresh rebuild on my engine and it took only a few seconds to get oil pressure(of cranking with injestors disconnected)after you have cranked the engine over try loosening the turbo oil feed pipe and see if any oil squirts out.

 

hi, ive got a light and a mechanical oil gauge. ive also tried disconecting the oil feed to the turbo and no oil comes out

ive now taken out the plugs aswell so the engine can crank over a little faster.. still nothing

 

try taking the distributor out and seeing if the oil pump drive rod is engaged properly.

 

i always prime the oil pump first, by turning the oil pump drive (the long hexagonal shaft).

take the distributor off, and put a deep socket onto the shaft connected to a cordless drill. spin it up at a reasonable rate, and then the pump should prime and be harder to turn.

 

Dont some people semi-pack the pump with grease before hand to prime them when they've been ran dry or are new????

 

I had the exact same symptoms and it turned out that I had put an o ring between the pickup and pump (over the end of the spray bar) and it should not have been there, this caused the pickup not to seal against the pump so the pump struggled to pull oil up as it was pulling air in at the same time.

 

reading things like that,, i really hope ive done mine right

be a right nightmare to have to take it to bits again .

 

yes it was lol still you live and learn

 

Dammit... there was an o ring on the end of the pickup for the oil spray bar when i got it... so that isnt supposed to be there ??!! what a pain ! lol

Thanks,
Damion

 

depends mate.
lol

Ive just put my 4x4 200 block YB back together, with a NEW oil pump
from Cosworth and the o ring Cant go on there.

not sure about 205 2wd blocks though.

 

ive primed up the pump now with the drill and a socket on the hex drive for the oil pump (dizzy removed).. i had the turbo oil feed removed and it spat oil everywhere .. although it wasnt a constant flow of oil it was sort of spurting oil in spits and spatters as if there was still air in there ?

I then put the dizzy back in and cranked the engine over with the plugs out.. and it wouldnt produce oil pressure ? i still had the turbo oil feed removed ..

cheers.

 

you are going through all the same symptons I did mate right to the letter, I will see if I have any pics of the offending area and try to get to the bottom of the problem.

 

a crack in the pickup pipe would also give the same symptoms i think

 

ok i'll go through the mistake I made, i put an o ring that came in the gasket set on the end of the spray bar that joins to the oil pump as indicated in the engine section of the cosworth manual (2wd) unfortunately my car is a 4x4 and the o ring should not have been there and caused the pickup pipe not to seal against the pump (the o ring was holding them apart) now if yours is 2wd then it should have this o ring, however your symptoms are exactly the same as mine and I would suspect that air is getting in somwhere between the pickup and where the pickup joins the pump, or perhaps the pump cover itself.

 

yeah, thats what i was just thinking... the spits and spatters are due to the air that is being sucked up.. i guess the sump will have to come off and i will have to inspect whats going on.

If you could get me some pics up it would be great


Thanks.

 

well you were on the money trevCOSS... i couldnt actually spot anything wrong with it.. but ive put the old oil pump top plate and oil pickup that was on there when i bought the motor.. and hey presto oil pressure on cranking !!

I will have to do some more investigating as to why the oil pump was sucking air for that area.. as i was assured that the pump was a 2wd pump.. fun fun.