Jim,
You neglected to provide the most important piece of information - WHY your
engine lost prime. I don't think most of us on this list will chide you if
you did something dumb, in fact we all have made mistakes when it comes to
our cars. If we knew why your engine lost prime, we may be able to avoid it
in the future on our own cars.
Cheers,
Paul Kile
1974 Factory MGB-GT V-8
-----Original Message-----
From: Jim Stuart [mailto:jimbb88@erols.com]
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 1999 4:31 PM
To: MGV8 list
Subject: priming the oil pump
We won't go into the "whys" of how my engine lost prime, a running
engine, installed with 12,000 miles on it. Suffice to say, I did
something unwise. At least the engine was not running at the time, & at
the shop.
I mention this in the event that for some reason you should need to
prime the oil pump on a 215/Rover engine, & it is not convenient to
remove the oil pump & pack it with petroleum jelly.
All of the following was done with the engine in place.
Step 1 is to empty a grease gun of grease, but retain the cartridge. I
used one of the "mini" lube guns with a flex hose. Step 2 is to spoon in
a good load of Vaseline or equal, give the gun a few pumps to clear the
original lube that remains in the hose. Step 3 is to unscrew the fitting
from the end of the hose & find a flat washer that will go on over the
threads, but not past the crimped end of the hose. On my set up, I
reamed out the center of a 7/16" washer just slightly. Now replace the
fitting on the end of the flex hose. The purpose of the washer is to
make a stop. Step 4 is to remove the bolt that retains the pressure
relief spring, remove the spring, & the cup at the far end of the
passageway. A dental pick worked fine to pull out the cup. a 1" box end
is required to remove the retaining bolt.
Step 5 is to insert the lube gun loaded with Vaseline into the oil
pressure relief passage & pump it several times. The washer will prevent
back flow, & insure you get the end of the fitting far enough into the
passage. I gave it about 8 good pumps. Last step is to replace the cup,
spring, & bolt, & fire up the engine. Pressure should come up within a
few seconds. Its not a bad idea to disconnect the coil & run on the
starter to build pressure.
It took a little head scratching to come up with this, but there was no
way I was going to remove the pump housing & pack the gears. If you have
tapped the housing to install an oil pressure sender, you may be able to
prime the pump from this orifice, but my pump had not been drilled, &
the Vaseline gun took only 5-10 minutes from start to oil pressure.
Hope no one ever needs this tip.
Jim Stuart
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