David Brady wrote:
> I'm attempting to start my motor for the first time and I thought I'd
> connect my oil pressure gage, remove the spark plugs, and crank
> the motor over until it developed oil pressure. Well I cranked
> for 5 minutes with 15s crank times alternated by 1 minute wait
> periods, and I fail to get any oil pressure. I removed the gage
> thinking maybe the line needed to be bled but there is no oil coming
> from the line. I removed the oil filter and its bone dry. I then
> removed the pressure relief valve and cranked and nothing
> comes out. What gives? Isn't it reasonable to expect oil pressure
> at start motor crank speeds? I seem to remember before the
> motor was overhauled I could get oil pressure simply by
> cranking the starter.
>
> David Brady
> TR250
David,
I once encountered a similar problem on a TR-6 motor that had sat for some time.
Started it up after about two years storage and no oil pressure. I knew it had
good
oil pressure when parked, and couldn't imagine what would have broken while the
car
was sitting. After pulling the distributor and confirming that the pump drive
was not
sheared, etc. I concluded that the pump simply wasn't priming for some reason.
I removed the pressure relief plug, spring, and plunger, and used an oil gun to
pump
oil into the main oil gallery. Since the relief is just above the pump, I
figured
that the pumped in oil would also work its way down into the pump to fill the
cavity.
Replaced the spring, plunger, plug, etc. and started it again. Worked fine and
never
had the problem after that for about 10,000 miles. I sold the car, and to this
day I
think it is still working fine.
Good luck!
Regards,
Brian Schlorff '61 TR-4 '64 TR-4 '72 TR-6 '79 Spit
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