LT1 Oil Priming Question
LT1 Oil Priming Question Just had my LT1 rebuilt by a professional engine shop. Was in the process of prep'ing the motor for installation. My concern is, I can not get oil to pump up through the lifters in to the right bank of the valve train. Within a few minutes, the left side had oil visably flowing through each roller rocker. Reading other treads here on LS1Tech, it could be that the assembly lube is blocking the flow of oil, and will do so until the motor is brought up to temperature. I used GM roller lifters, cleaned & soaked them in oil prior to handing them over to my assembler. I'm concerned though, why would one bank fill, while the other bank is bone dry. Any thoughts? Last thing I want to do is trash a fresh 383 motor and the thousands of dollars I just invested.
Last edited by JL_94z28; May 7, 2011 at 10:13 PM.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: May 2010
Posts: 333
Likes: 1
From: Arkansas
I bet you could start your car up and it would be ok, but why rush and take a chance... have you rotated the engine since you have primed it? is it level? oil level good? pushrods seated on lifters in the proper manner? pushrods clean from debris? What weight oil do you have in? All these things might in a long shot effect the right bank but I doubt it. I'm sure someone on here knows exactly what to do, they always do. Don't worry.
pull one lifter at a time on the right bank and see if there is oil flowing through the galley, if so you should be good once the assembly lube heats up and breaks down. if there is no oil flowing through the galley then you have blockage in the block or a missing plug...
if you dont know what to look for when looking for oil in the galley there should be a flow of oil coming form the back of the motor to the front. check out my post below from a few days back, i had problems priming my motor.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/lt1-lt4-m...umping-up.html
if you dont know what to look for when looking for oil in the galley there should be a flow of oil coming form the back of the motor to the front. check out my post below from a few days back, i had problems priming my motor.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/lt1-lt4-m...umping-up.html
Thanks for sharing your post. I'll pull lifters from the right bank to see what we get. I have a mechanical guage that I can measure the pressure while the motor is still sitting on a cradle. What psi should it read? Using a new Millings performance oil pump, high volume, high pressure, the stock pick up tube & stock pan are being used.
Rotate the crank while priming,prime for at least 5 minutes.Wait are you using a high volume pump? What cam are you running? Just a word of caution,get a stock oil pump or you will probably loose the cam gear/oil drive
TECH Apprentice
Joined: May 2009
Posts: 323
Likes: 2
From: NW AR
Rotating it while/after it has been primed is good. Sometimes it takes a long time, an uncomfortably long time to get oil up to the rockers. Lifters restrict oil, pushrods restrict oil, and depending on the design some of the rockers will block the oil feed part of the time. What kind of filter do you have, are you bypassing oil? Also like mentioned earlier you can check the progression of the oil through the engine through the lifter feed. Also look down the pushrods and see if they are clogged.
I always prime the **** out of my engines with an old distributor shaft and a drill, but sometimes it takes a while to get oil all the way up top.
Also you can take oil pressure from just above the oil filter boss or from the back intake manifold rail.
I always prime the **** out of my engines with an old distributor shaft and a drill, but sometimes it takes a while to get oil all the way up top.
Also you can take oil pressure from just above the oil filter boss or from the back intake manifold rail.
Thanks for all the postings to this thread. Let me answer some of the questions from above. I'm running a CompCam XFI292 camshaft. I've went to a solid one piece oil drive shaft and replaced the gear drive with a CompCam composite set up per Comp engineerings recommendation. We are using a set of new GM stock roller lifters, a Bosch Oil Filter (no bi-pass), 10W/30 Castrol convensional oil (for the break in period), and a new two piece set of Comp Push rods.
Last night when we were trying to prime the motor, two different times, we turned the crank over 1 revolution. We also tried to spin the push rods to ensure they were seated properly. This may may be a case of not giving it enough priming time. We called it quits after 30 minutes. Just seemed odd that the left bank built up after just a few minutes & the right side didn't build up at all. We did use a 110v power drill & a priming tool. This site gave us a lot of good tips to get going.
Last night when we were trying to prime the motor, two different times, we turned the crank over 1 revolution. We also tried to spin the push rods to ensure they were seated properly. This may may be a case of not giving it enough priming time. We called it quits after 30 minutes. Just seemed odd that the left bank built up after just a few minutes & the right side didn't build up at all. We did use a 110v power drill & a priming tool. This site gave us a lot of good tips to get going.
Last edited by JL_94z28; May 8, 2011 at 08:49 PM.
Trending Topics
Okay, if anyone out there is still following this thread, I've finally got to the bottom of my problem. There is actually a specific priming tool made, that will push oil to both sides of the block. I was using the Moroso 62200 tool, which we've used on a few old school SBC's. That particular tool does not include a collar. By not having a collar, the oil will not pressurize through the passenger side lifter bank. For $19.00 - Jegs sells a ProForm tool that solved my problem! Here's a link to the tool. It fits a lot of different applications as well. Thanks to all those who posted here.
http://www.jegs.com/i/Proform/778/66896/10002/-1
http://www.jegs.com/i/Proform/778/66896/10002/-1
LS1 Tech Stories
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
Gas Monkey Built a 6-Wheel Ferrari Testarossa With a Corvette LT4 Engine
Verdad Gallardo
7 Most Reliable High-Performance Engines GM Has Ever Built
Verdad Gallardo
Amazing '71 Camaro Restomod Is Modern Muscle Car Under the Skin
Verdad Gallardo
6 Common C5 Corvette Failures and What's Involved In Repairing Them
Pouria Savadkouei
Retro Modern Bandit Pontiac Trans AM Comes With Burt Reynolds' Autograph
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Greatest Cadillac V Series Performance Models Ever, Ranked
Pouria Savadkouei
Top 10 Most Powerful Chevy Trucks Ever Made!
Hennessey's New Supercharged Silverado ZR2 Has 700 HP
Verdad Gallardo
Coachbuilt N2A Anteros Is an LS2-Powered C6 Corvette In Italian Clothes
Verdad Gallardo
Teching In
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
From: Maryland
Late comer trying to prime 96 C4 LT1 Hope someone is following this otherwise I'll post a new thread.
I have a 96 vette that has that distributor hole capped off at the block. (Which implies I have the intake manifold off) If I take off the capping assembly it has a helical gear that comes out with it and exposes the oil pump shaft. Not sure what the helical gear does but cranking with drill only gets me a lot of oil gushing up through the hole the gear came out of.
I'm using a OEM 27060 priming tool from Advanced Auto. It has a collar but obviously isn't the right tool for this application since it does nothing to build pressure.
Can anyone tell me how to prime an LT1 that doesn't have a conventional distributor? It's got one of those blasted OptiSparks on front of engine.
I have a 96 vette that has that distributor hole capped off at the block. (Which implies I have the intake manifold off) If I take off the capping assembly it has a helical gear that comes out with it and exposes the oil pump shaft. Not sure what the helical gear does but cranking with drill only gets me a lot of oil gushing up through the hole the gear came out of.
I'm using a OEM 27060 priming tool from Advanced Auto. It has a collar but obviously isn't the right tool for this application since it does nothing to build pressure.
Can anyone tell me how to prime an LT1 that doesn't have a conventional distributor? It's got one of those blasted OptiSparks on front of engine.
TECH Veteran
Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 4,985
Likes: 112
I have used a standard prime SBC tool on a drill. Before you put the oil pump drive shaft and gear on
If you are re-using the stock oil pump drive shaft I would buy a ARP or Miloden solid one. The plastic collar on the stock one gets old and brittle and can crack on re-install
Many people just pull the fuel injector fuse and coil wire when motor is in car and just crank with starter until oil pressure shows
also on the oil pump drive gear top of motor...be very careful on tightening that small hold down bolt or you will crack the plastic top on the gear drive....
If you are re-using the stock oil pump drive shaft I would buy a ARP or Miloden solid one. The plastic collar on the stock one gets old and brittle and can crack on re-install
Many people just pull the fuel injector fuse and coil wire when motor is in car and just crank with starter until oil pressure shows
also on the oil pump drive gear top of motor...be very careful on tightening that small hold down bolt or you will crack the plastic top on the gear drive....
