Ok well my dad, his friend & I were trying things and its a no go. I had only started the motor for roughly 30-60 seconds total don't want anything to go bad and now the story begins.

We've tried everything taking the spring and all out of the oil filter adapter, priming the oil pump, blowing 10-15 psi air in the valve covers, anything we could think of. My dads friend said he's never seen an engine not have oil after trying to prime it the various ways we've tried.

Is there anything you guys would suggest? theres no distributor, so thats out of the equation

I guess whats next in line would be to drop the motor which we have in store tomorrow. Other then that everything has gone awesome except for this sudden road block. I know the motor sold to me was good with 19,000 and a warranty on it, 6 months because I was installing it. Could've been 1 year if I told them my dads friend was installing it because he's a michigan certified mechanic.

I just couldn't picture an oil pump going out that fast, but if no one replys with ideas by tomorrow guess we'll find out I'm bummed in a way because I didn't think it'd lead to this and I thought I'd be driving it today.

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-KC
88 5spd 3800 SC Formula
3.25, WCF Headers, 1.9 rockers, 160 t-stat, NGK TR6's, TB spacer, Custom ECM, 50 NX, 100% polly

I'm sure this is not the case, but I'll throw it in anyway.

Was the oilpump new? And did you prime it before install?

I assume you are looking at the rockers through the valve cover for oil flow and not depending on a gauge?

I had a problem getting oil pressure on a 3800 SC. It turned out that the oil pickup tube was too close to the bottom of the pan and was blocking the ability for the pump to pick up any oil. It seems to not be a common problem and I'm not sure how it occurred, but it was a real frustrating experience. We did not discover the cause until after removing the motor and putting another motor in the car. Did you change the pan? Change the pan gasket or anything that relates to the oil? Is the bottom of the pan distorted in any way that it might block the oil pickup tube? I would investigate the pan and pickup tube before pulling the motor out.

To find the problem, we had the timing cover off and applied suction to the passage that leads from the oil pump cavity to the oil pickup screen. We could not get oil to pass through the passage. We loosened the pan bolts to drop the pan about 1/8" to 1/4" and oil came through the passage.

To prime the oil pump on a 3800, the GM manual says to remove the timing cover and pack the oil pump gearset and oil pump cavity with vasiline. It is a pain, but it works. The only problem my motor had was that it could not pull oil due to the oil pickup screen being stuck to the bottom of the pan.

I hope this helps.

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Bill Levin

[This message has been edited by 87GT3800SC5SPD (edited 08-25-2003).]

TK, we did that at first then various other things and still no oil, the oil filter was completely empty so we never stuck a gauge there. My dad explained to his other friend and his friend told him it should have been splashing all over. He said he would've loved to taken an oil bath, but it didn't happen

We haven't touched anything that involves the oil pan/oil pump, just the oil filter adapter. Nothing appears on the oil pan, as I said I'll pass it along.. I hope this is it. I really hate to drop it and find out everything is good then stick the motor back in and be where were at right now.

thanks guys I'll pass this info to my dad and his friend and see what we come up with later today.

What year is this engine? If it's the older style pump on the side of the engine, those have to be packed with vaseline and well packed at that. If it's the gerotor style (pump around the crank), those *normally don't need any priming or packing* although the manual does recommend it. They are far less prone to losing prime or cavitation.

You could remove the crank pulley and remove the pump cover and pack it. That's always fun.

Gerotors rarely go bad and when they do you can hear it grinding badly (unless it's stripped). The older style (meshed gears) can get wear in the gears and the face of the pump but they will usually give some pressure (like 10 psi at idle but stop at about 25-30 PSI.

Stuck regulator valve will usually still give some pressure although looking at the rockers maybe not show much.

Neither pumps are easy to test since they aren't driven by the distributor.

Are you running an external oil filter? If so, switch the lines in case you have the pressure side to the inside of the filter thus forcing the bypass flaps closed. I did that once. No pressure. Reversed the lines and tada!

I don't know if any 3800's were produced without the gerotor pump. I have to assume that is what you have. I think gerotors was one of the changes for the 3800.

You might have to breakdown and pull the pan and check the pickup tube and pull the crank pulley and check the rotor gears.

I've have and had many Buick engines and other that having to pack the older pumps when the gears were removed, I've never had one go bad.

Whatever you do, don't allow the engine to start until you get this fixed. Buicks do not like running with no oil pressure. Trust me. You can crank it with the ignition disconnected until pressure comes up, just don't let it run. You should get pressure within 2 or 3 10 second cranks close together.

Don't get bummed. Work the problem. You'll find it.

[This message has been edited by TK (edited 08-26-2003).]

Update ??

not yet.. took a day off, dads friend forgot we needed a pulley puller for the crank shaft pulley.

I'll have an update tonight

I agree with what TK suggested earlier. "reverse the 2 lines going to the remote filter!"
Sandy

quote Originally posted by cowans: I agree with what TK suggested earlier. "reverse the 2 lines going to the remote filter!" Sandy

Ditto here, I don't do those six bangers but I know that it's easy to get those lines on the wrong way.

Archie

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The LT1 Stinger Build Thread

had no remote oil filter

We got down to it today everything looked brand new.. we used petrolum jelly and got the gears all ready to go.

Should have the motor back in there tomorrow

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I assume you got your car running from some other posts you have made. What was the oil pressure problem?

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Bill Levin