I'm getting ready to install my oil pump. Reading thru the service manual and it says to pack cavity full of petroleum jelly. Is there an engine grade jelly down at the parts store or can I just go grab the bottle out of the bathroom? Thanks for looking and any response is appreciated.
Just get an oil pump primer and Keep it spinning till the oil comes thru the pushrods. You can use wheel bearing grease like the manual says. But the primer works fine.
Just get an oil pump primer and Keep it spinning till the oil comes thru the pushrods. You can use wheel bearing grease like the manual says. But the primer works fine.
Bearing grease will not dissolve and will cause big issues in the oiling circuit. Usually remotely mounted oil pumps found on old buick v6/8's,etc, needed petroleum jelly packed in the oil pump gears.
Go to walmart and spend $.97 and get a little jar, it will melt in with the oil and life will be good. There is not much room in an oil pump, so it won't take much. It is only so the pump can suck the oil out of the pan first start. Larry
I just did a 304 AMC V8 for a retro CJ7 and I used about half of a little jar of petroleum jelly. Oil pressure was almost instant when I cranked the motor.
I asked about this about 2 weeks ago. someone pointed out how to "Back fill" the oil pump by putting a funnel & hose on where the oil pressure sender is and turning the engine backward. It WORKS !
I ground the gear off an old distributor and spun it with a drill to preoil the engine. Packing the pump with petroleum jelly doesn't get oil to the rest of the engine as fast as preoiling the engine by spinning the oil pump. A dry engine (at least mine) took around 2 minutes with the drill until every pushrod had oil flowing out. That's how I knew my engine was fully lubed. Do you have assembly lube on all the bearing and cam surfaces? If so then you will probably be fine with packing the pump with petroleum jelly.
The reason to use a full distributor is because the distributor has an O-ring that seals a high pressure oil path, which is why it is common for fieros to leak oil from under the distributor. The reason you have to grind the gear off is because otherwise the drill will try to spin the cam and crank as well, and the piece with the gear on it is the piece that meshes with the hexagonal rod to spin the pump, so it is necessary to have it.
I felt really confident after oiling my engine this way, it is pretty much foolproof as far as fully oiling the engine.
