I posted this on the end of a thread in the turbo forum. I thought it might be more appropriate to bump it here:

Ok, so *I think* I figured out why I was getting screwy OP readings on my guage. I think my Oil Pump was going bad the whole time ... b/c now the last 7 to 8 times I've started my car, I've had no, absolutely "0", Oil Pressure. Obviously now I can't drive it.

Here's what I've checked so far:
I took the gauge off, checked for pinches, krimps, what-have-you = fine. I took the oil feed line off the turbo = no oil. I took the oil filter off, no oil in the filter = bone dry. I dropped the oil pan, replaced the oil pickup with a new one and checked the o-ring = still no oil. So, I can't think of anything else but the oil pump. Is there ANYTHING else at all it could be or anything else I didn't check????

That part that sucks is I've only put maybe 20/30 miles on the car since my rebuild and putting the engine back in ... and now I'll have to pull it all apart, replace the oil pump, re-time it and all the other crap that goes along with it that would have been much easier when the engine was out. I hate my car right now ....

Sorry for the rant.

bump

did you prime the pump??

dont tell me you put an old oil pump in after a rebuild

You could have an oil galley stopped up, just a thought.

Originally posted by Uberingram
I will burn you for not searching...then the stabbing.

I got the sonic if you got the boom.

The pump shouldn't need to be primed b/c it was working just fine. I had the car out on the road like twice over the July 4th weekend and it was running fine. I put 20-30 miles on it maybe. Then, I was having trouble with my oil pressure gauge, I figured that out, corrected that, and ever since I've had no oil pressure to all the places I described above.

I bought some Lucas synthetic oil stablizer last night and later on today I am going to try to flush the system with the valve cover off and see what happens. I'm hoping one of the galley's is stopped up with something like mentioned. I'm having a hard time believing the oil pump just went bad like that.

Grain - To answer the question about the oil pump .... no I didn't put a *brand new* oil pump in during the rebuild, but the one I put in only had 10k on it. So, it wasn't spanking new, but new enough IMO. The original had 42k on it.

Just curious .... how would you go about priming the pump anyway?

If you don't prime the pump, you can't get any suction. There's multiple ways to prime it, but from all I've read, here's the easiest way (and how I did it). In short, all you have to do is fill the cogs w/ vaseline. This gives it enough pull to get the oil up into the pump. You could also search for "prime oil pump" on google if you feel the need to research it a little more. There's plenty out there.

Or, if you have other questions you can't easily find answers to, I'm sure somebody here knows the answers.

Originally posted by techboy
Just curious .... how would you go about priming the pump anyway?

cogs?? You are talking about pump that's already installed in an engine and installed in the car right?

You just have to pack the oil pump gears w/ vaseline. if you take the backing plate off the pump, you'll see what I mean. Unfortunately, to do this, it means you have to get the pump off.

Ok, I know what you mean now. It still doesn't make sense to me though that I would have to do that .... I had oil pressure for about 3 days.

you dont HAVE to prime it, just make sure you fill the oil filter with oil before you start it up.

Well, after 5 hours of work this evening (which is not much at all) I was able to repair the oil pump without taking it off, or even the timing belt. And, YES, I said repair. It's a long story, so I won't write it up tonight b/c it's 1AM in PA, but you'll be amazed at what I went through to fix this thing. Honestly, I have no doubts I have a 2GNT first here. More to follow ....

I have neglected to post the follow up to this b/c it ended up only being a temporary fix. So the car is down yet again. But anyway, I'll explain what I did. Maybe it can help some else now or in the future.

This is kinda long.

Unless you know what the oil pump itself looks like and worked with one you'll have no idea what I'm talking about. But here goes. On the back side of the block, on the oil pump, there is a little cap (for lack of a better word). It's a 16mm bolt head. That's what we want to get to. Start by taking off the passenger wheel and the plastic fender well. That will give you acess to the alternator. You want to take that completely off. Once the alternator is off and out of the way, remove the upper and lower alternator brackets. It takes some time, but when you're done you'll have access to that little cap on the top back side of the oil pump. It's just inside a notch on the time belt guard. If you take off the cap inside there is a spring and a collar. That's what you need to get too. Pull the spring out. You'll need a 90 degree pick to get the collar out. This is your moment of truth. If it comes right out and you have no oil pressure, then you need a new pump - sorry. But if it is stuck in the up position, like I found mine to be, that might be your problem.

In my case, after about 20 minutes of fighting I was able to remove the collar that should just pop out. Once I got it out I noticed it was scored all around the outside, and it wouldn't slide back in the oil pump at all. Why? I have no idea, but it told me there was a burr or grit or something in there causing it to jam, and I'm assuming, cause me not to have oil pressure. Anyway, this is the crazy part: I used a dremel with a extension and fished into the oil pump over the back of the valve cover and basically reamed out the inside where the collar is supposed to slide up and down. I then took off my oil filter and flushed the system with some oil to get any junk/shavings out (you need a funnel with a flexiable feed). I put the collar back in and it moved up and down just fine. So, I put the whole thing back together, started her up and had oil pressure. Magic, I fixed it .... or so I thought. Problem it only lasted about a day and then I lost oil pressure again - so now I'm ordering a new oil pump anyway, I tired of screwing around with it. But hey, maybe this process can help someone else with no oil pressure.

If anyone has any ideas as to why that collar maybe getting ceased in the up position like that I'm all ears.