No Oil Circulation

[earthman]

Just put a 2.3 Ford 4 cyl in the Model A. Driveshaft will be ready tomorrow and it will be ready to roll. Except. There is no oil circulating in the engine. The lifters are clattering.No oil pressure on the gauge. Nothing coming out of the oil pressure outlet. It has a remote oil filter and when i take the filter off the oil pump is pushing oil just fine. Just now replaced the oil filter but it was not the problem.It was working after i installed the remote filter. Can't understand how it can do this with the oil pump working.Thanks

 

[Sniper]

Is the relief stuck open?

 

[earthman]

Don't know what that is Sniper. Where do i find it.

 

[Sniper]

It's right on the oil pump, small plunger with a spring behind it. Most likely held in place with a cotter key. I think I have one either from a 2 liter or possibly a 2.3 out in the shop. Give me a few minutes, and I'll see if it's handy to get at, and I'll get a picture for you.

 

[earthman]

 

[Sniper]

Nope, no such luck. Pistons, rods, intake, dist, and a few other odd pieces but no oil pump. I'll see if I can scare something up on Google and get a picture off there.

If your getting oil flow with the filter off, it would likely be flow with no pressure, that would make sense, as soon as the filter is installed the resistance from the filter would just have the flow exit out the relief and back to the pan if it's stuck in the open position.

 

[earthman]

I will go pull the pump out now. Thanks so much Sniper.

 

[Sniper]

Found a couple of pictures, but not much info. These ones are under a pressed in tin cap that holds the spring and plunger in place. Broken spring or stuck plunger would be my guess.

 

[earthman]

Found a piece of metal in the relief valve cylinder. Hoping that was the problem
cause i'm buying a new pump for sure now anyway Thanks again Sniper.

 

[earthman]

New oil pump. Same thing, flow but no pressure. It's blocked somewhere. Going to take the remote lines off.

 

[Dr Crankenstein]

This might be a dumb question, but how about the pickup? Could it be restricted? Allowing some flow but not enough volume to make pressure?

Ignore me if you replaced it, read this link if you haven't...

http://www.hotrodhigh.ca/2300Oilin.html

 

[Sniper]

Ok, lets rethink this through.[S Oil is present at the filter mounting point, so oil is getting that far. Got to be one of two things going on, blocked passage from the pipe at the filter into the engine, or a massive internal leak. To find out, remove the oil filler cap so the inside of the engine can breath, don't want to blow out a seal somewhere doing this. Gently blow compressed air into the pipe (the one that goes into the center of the filter where the threads are.) One of three things should happen, there will be some resistance, normal. There will be alot of resistance, blockage. There will be alot of air escaping, a big internal leak. If anything other normal shows up, turn the crank a 1/4 turn and try again. If same results, you should have an idea where to go to find the problem.

 

[earthman]

I will try it. Thanks Sniper.

 

[echnidna]

A partially clogged oil-pump pickup gauze could let some oil through but not enough to lubricate the engine. That's been a known problem on the aussie GM v6 fitted to commodores (engine was based on a buick v6)

 

[earthman]

Blew air thru the holes and nothing came out but when i cranked it over with the oil pressure line off i got oil all over everything in the garage and the wall 12 feet away! 50 lbs at idle now! Thanks to you all.
........Happy days are here again!

 

[Sniper]

Well....that should keep the dust down!

 

[DJ3100]

Hey Earthman, where's some update on this upgrade? You got it done yet?

 

[earthman]

Hey Earthman, where's some update on this upgrade? You got it done yet?

Got it done, drove it a short way and destroyed the motor. Haven't touched it in weeks. Taking a break from butting my head against the wall for now. Thanks for asking Dan.

 

[BigIrish]

Oh no! What happened?

 

[earthman]

Oh no! What happened?

Well i was a ways from home when it started clattering again like it did before. I figured it was plugged again and was going to have to come out and be gone thru anyway so i just drove it home. There were millions of these 2.3's produced so i will probably just find a good one somewhere to replace it with.