no oil through the pushrods

[heapsy22]

ok so i started on my motor( 84 chevy sbc 350 with a cam intake and carb and a 700R4) about a week ago and i finally got the motor in and i hooked everything up to get it running. i started it with the valve covers on and didnt think much of oil pressure while i was setting my timing and breaking in the cam. well i took off the valve covers to adjust my valves and next thing i know i dont have any oil to the top end of my motor. so i pull the motor out again and pull off the oil pan and i pulled the oil pump and tested that and it was pumping fine. so now i dont know what else would prevent oil from getting to the top end of the motor other than clogged oil passage ways. the only other thing i could see was when i pulled off my oil filter oil came squirting out while the motor was off which tells me that there wes pressure built up and that maybe i somehow got ahold of a defective filter but other than that i have no idea what it could be. what do you guys think? i dont have a guage yet to test it but im getting one here soon

[grimpuppy]

I know a guy that used to much lock-tite on the oil pump bolt when he assembled his motor. It ran into the oil passage and hardened. When he started the motor it blew the oil filter right off. He blew 3 filters off before he decided to tear it back down.

[Scotty_S-15]

Heh, a flood of Locktite, that\'d do it. http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_mad.gif

My thoughts:

* Was the engine just rebuilt?

* If it wasn\'t rebuilt, and it ran OK before, not likely it\'s anything internal, gotta be the lifters. Not likely you\'ve got 16 plugged pushrods.

* When you pulled the pan, did you look at the bearings?

* If the bearings are OK, but no oil up top, then there is either an obstruction to the 2 lifter galleries, or a problem with the lifters themselves.

* I\'m not sure of this, but I think some early blocks (pre-350?) weren\'t grooved behind the rear cam bearing, and relied on a groove in the bearing and the holes being lined up. You\'d need to ask an expert about that.



Side note:

When I was about 18, a buddy build a junkyard motor hybrid 348/409. Starts it up, no oil to ONE head, other was OK. Since it took him 2 years to get that far, he\'s threating to jump off a bridge if he needs to pull the engine again.

........ So we pulled the intake, drilled down into the main gallery, and then the same with the lifter gallery. Tapped them both for 1/8\" pipe and connected the dots with copper tubing. http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif Was I worried about where the drill filings went? http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_eek.gif Sure. We cleaned \'em as best we could and hoped. No problems. http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif Obviously we never found out what the problem actually was. The block was hot-tanked, and I asked him if he rodded out the galleries. His reply was a blank stare....http://www.s10v8.com/images/smilies/icon_razz.gif

[s10carguy]

did you adjust the valves correctly with the right amount of preload? hydraulic lifters should pump lots of oil up there. oil should splash up there as well so it sounds like low oil pressure or something. always check for pressure on a gauge before you fire a new motor.

[heapsy22]

i used very little loctite so i doubt that the loctite issue would be a problem. the motor was just rebuilt and i rebuilt it myself. im 17 but this is not my first block. this is probably my 4th or 5th block so id like to think that my rebuilding skills are in check. i put in a crane cam with new lifters so i dont think its that.or like it was said 16 clogged pushrods..i remember running along another forum or book saying that there is a plug that needs to be installed in the rear main cap. do you guys know anything about that? the motor did run fine as far as i know. i bought it from a friend and he said that it ran fine. so me and my dad who also has alotta experience with sbc are baffled..i have a different filter that im going to put on today and see if that was it, if its not and it is a clogged lifter gallery then what could i do to clean it out?

[ChevyKiD_69]

did you prime it before you even tried to fire it up? it takes a few minutes to get oil up threw the push rods. nick

[stroker1]

Does the block have fresh cam bearings? If so, I would be concerned the cam bearings where not driven in correctly. There is a groove in the cam bearing on the outside diameter of the bearing. When it is driven into the block it must be positioned in line with the oil hole in the block. A friend of mine recently had this trouble with a fresh rebuild. The machine shop screwed up when installing cam bearings.



Stroker1

[jbakers10v8]

got to prime the motor frist i had the same prob got to prime it

[ChevyKiD_69]

you probly have a weak oil pump that is what it sounds like to me. nick

[Scotty_S-15]

Let\'s try this experiment...

Oiling diagrams from an old Chevy Shop Manual.





Lube diagram 1 (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s267/Scotty_S-15/SBCLubediagram-1b.jpg)



Lube Diagram 2 (http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s267/Scotty_S-15/SBCLubediagram-2b.jpg)

[heapsy22]

well it took about 5-10 minutes and i had to tighten some of the rockers down but i now have oil through the pushrods. not all of them but im sure thats just because the cam isnt hitting the pushrods. i honestly think i had a bad filter. i switched the filter and i immediatly saw oil through 1 push rod and then i kept priming and there they came one after another. it just sucked because i had pulled out the motor. but thats ok i realized when i was pulling it out that i needed to clearence some things so maybe it was a good thing. thanks alot guys i appreciate all your help. ill be sure to post some pics

[BewstAdd1ct]

a fresh rebuild should have had a new oil pump anyway.



what kind of filter was it?

[Scotty_S-15]

On 2007-01-23 16:46, heapsy22 wrote:............. i honestly think i had a bad filter. ............

Even if the filter were plugged, etc. there is a bypass feature. So, if the filter were blocked, the pressure is diverted.