21 replies to this topic

[Johno]

How long can you leave an engine sitting before needing to prime the oil to start it?

[Shiney005]

I've had it happen in as little as six months. Put a good battery in it, remove the coil lead, and crank while watching oil pressure guage.

[a9x868]

I've had it happen in as little as six months. Put a good battery in it, remove the coil lead, and crank while watching oil pressure guage.

and pull the plugs and lube the bores

[Johno]

I think it’s been about 6 -8 weeks since I started it.

Edited by Johno, 24 October 2023 - 07:31 PM.

[hanra]

Maybe I’ve been lucky. My car sits for 6 months easy without being started, without issue.

[LJ RB30]

Crank it up as is mate. It will be fine.
You can certainly pull the coil lead & crank it till you see pressure as it’s not a bad idea.
I started my 253 that sat for about 2yrs not long ago without doing anything other than check fluids & crank it.
It got time to see oil pressure cose it took a while to pick the fuel up.
Started pretty good I thought 😁 no rattles etc 👍

[Johno]

Yea should be ok, will crank her up.

[yel327]

I like to prime the carby down the bowl breather tube using a sauce bottle. That way it starts up quickly and gets oil pressure fast, rather than cranking away.

[dan097]

ive left my 308 sit for close to 12mths, if it doesnt get oil pressure from cranking it'll get it soon as it fires

[yel327]

I’m not a mechanical engineer, but logic says to me that cranking is only going to oil the bearings? Every old engine I’ve pulled apart has had residual oil on the bearings. It’s flat tappets on the cam that want oil at startup - aren’t they mainly oiled by crank splash/windage? Which you will get bugger all by cranking? Might be too simplistic maybe?
Having said that of all the engine types I’ve owned damn 253/304/308 are the worst in terms of oil pumps losing prime after sitting.

Edited by yel327, 26 October 2023 - 07:38 PM.

[claysummers]

Which is why overfilling a fresh engine is supposed to be a good idea I believe.

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[Uncle Chop Chop]

I haven't started mine in at least six years. Might wait for a few more.

[75 Hatch #25]

I’m at 20 years. I will have to do the valves springs & plan the swap out the inlet manifold at the same time, apart from dumping the old oil is there anything else I should be doing prior to firing the engine considering it hasn’t been started since being rebuilt & the cam is not run in? Feeling nervous 

[yel327]

If you take the inlet off you should be able to see if there is any cam lobe run in grease on the cam. Not sure if you can successfully put that on from above.

 

Also prime the oil pump, which I have always done with lightweight grease. Have used a smear of vaseline before.

[Bruiser]

While your manifold is off and valve springs are getting changed at the same time, why not pull the pushrods and lifters out and give the cam lobes and bottom of the lifters a good coat of assembly lube with a small paint brush down through the lifter bores? Turn the motor over bit by bit until you get right round the lobes.
The Vaseline trick is pretty popular, just enough to cover the pump gears so they seal and create suction on the pickup.
Last time I had my 6 apart I went crazy with an oil can, coated everything I could get at, even thought squirting some down the main bearing gallery through the gauge sender hole couldn’t hurt. All over the top of the lifters, rocker gear and both ends of the pushrods too.
Maybe Clay’s idea of overfilling the oil temporarily might help the crank bearings and cam too by splashing about in the crankcase while it all beds in
At least the 308 guys are here to steer you right.
If the motor is rebuilt and not been started, why is there old oil in it that needs dumping?

[RallyRed]

Some good ideas above.

My only thoughts on overfilling the crankcase - was told never to do it in case the crank splashing around in the too high oil level started to aerate the oil... a bad thing when the bubbled up oil is then pumped into high load areas like bearings, as air wont support any load and offers no lube ability. 

Maybe not too much drama at idle? ...but under load, no good.

[Bruiser]

Makes sense, Col
Geeze, I even pictured filling it right up to fully immerse the crank, then emptying it out again
just to be sure the bearings had some oil on them, or rotating the engine on a stand so the oil rolled around inside
Imagine the mess
damn imagination

[Indy Orange]

frOcks sake ,it’s a red motor ! Start it cold and thrash the bags out of it , can’t kill ‘em.

[yel327]

frOcks sake ,it’s a red motor ! Start it cold and thrash the bags out of it , can’t kill ‘em.

 

Unless its a 253/308! You'll kill the cam and have no oil pressure.

[claysummers]

I was told by Jonny Marshall you need to be extra careful bedding in lifters and cam these days due to quality of available lifters.


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[Rockoz]

Drawing from my old memory bank on this one.

In the 80s my mates garage had a heap of worn out V8 cams that they had changed over a relatively short period.

The castings seemed to be an issue back then.

New blanks seemed to reduce the problem.

But I do remember an article on the Ron Hodgson team about the A9X race cars from a bit earlier.

The cam wear problem was already known around then.

In the article it mentioned that they were grinding a 10 thou flat on the lifters to increase oil flow to the cam.

There was a slight drop in oil pressure doing it, but the cam life benefits outweighed it.

Wonder if that might be a bit of a solution again these days with the issues being faced lately.

 

Cheers

 

Rob

[dron]

Good running in oil if it is the 1st start. (Hi Zinc is a must)

A little oil down the plug holes wont hurt if it has been sitting a long time

I normaly fill through the oil light sender hole with a pump, a lot quicker to get oil pressour that way.

If not crank it with the plugs out untill you get oil pressour.

If it is a V8 remove the oil pump and cote the inside with light grease or as I have often done a small amount of gear oil through the suction port turning the pump to spread it (No need to strip the pump)

If the inlet is off and it is a V8 I would lube the cam with assembly/ cam runnung in lube

Install plugs and start

Idle it as discribed in the cam running in procedure, Instructions should come with the cam if not try google flat tapper cam run in

Then you can get it on the road and break it in before chainging to a normal oil

Edited by dron, 18 November 2023 - 01:56 PM.