Im in the middle of a cam/head swap. Along the way I deciced that I would change the timing chain too. I installed the cam and chain and put the cover back on. Then I read about people pinching the o-ring on the pickup tube and they couldnt build oil pressure. So I decided to fill the motor with the heads off and crank it to see if it would build pressure.....problem is that my oil pressure gauge stays maxed out and my odometer screen is completely blank. The starter is engauging though. Is this because I fried something during the swap or because only a few sensors are hooked up??? Need help on this as Im very worried.

 

Can you just pull the bottom of the motor, and see the oil pickup tube? Thats where the oring is.

I know witht he vette you can, BUT he motor has to be removed.

 

Do you have the grounds from the back of the head hooked to a good ground? Also make sure the tall sensor at the back of the valley cover is hooked up. You cant see the o-ring on an F-body without pulling the pan...this USUALLY requires dropping the k member. Some ppl can drop the pan while others cant.

When you did the o-ring, I hope you did not use the bolt to pull the pickup tube up. This is usually how the o-riings get pinched. Push the tube up in, nice and square, then put the bolt in. Hope this helps.

 

sounds like a sensor problen but if the odometer dosent work eithere im gonna go with a ground problem...but dont crank too much with no oil psi reading.never know

 

yeah it was the grounds...I got the display and psi gauge working, but no psi. Im going to remove the front cover and pull the cover off the pump to see if I can see the problem.

 

it should build pressure while cranking am I right?? Is there a way to put the pump back on wrong?

 

It is really hard to get it to build oil pressure with the starter, so it might be fine. I just put the heads on mine and left the front of the motor (water pump etc off) then started the engine for 20 seconds or so and saw great oil pressure. Then I assembled the rest....On a vette its is REALLY a pain to do the timing cover twice once everything is back together.

 

Yes, the pump should be aligned, centered when it goes back on. You can use two .002" feeler gauges either side between the pump body and crank snout, sweep these gauges around the crank snout and keep them 180 degrees apart during this process, this will center it on, with the guages still in place, loctite the uninstalled pump bolts and tighten them down to 18 ft./lbs. to lock the pumps position in place.

 

Well I reinstalled the pump today, still no pressure reading while cranking, but I took off the oil filter, and it was pumping oil out at a pretty decent rate.

 

I dont know, but when i changed my oil pump i unpluged my coil pack wires and primed the oil pump by starting the starter, while i was doing it i saw the oil pressure gauge go up if i rember correctly. But when i first started the engine it took a second our two for the gauge to go up.

 

The flow goes from the pick-up to the pump thru the block and into the filter??? But is seeing oil being pumped out the filter means its at least pumping something. Im just gonna be pissed if I have to pull that **** out again.

 

When I did my cam swap, after I put the oil pump on, valvetrain together, timing cover and water pump still off, spark and fuel disabled, my cluster gauge showed 0 for the whole cranking. I just figured the gauge won't show anything unless the vehicle is actually running.

I put everything back together, started it, had oil pressure, and the gauge worked fine.

Just my experience.

 

Cool, cause Ive been worrying my self to death over this. I dont want to get everything done and then punch the **** out of my car because I couldnt get the pump on right.

 

maybe try start it up after priming the pump, and see if the gauge goes up withing a couple seconds