Prime a new oil pump?

[jerry598]

Read somewhere that a new oil pump needs to be taken apart and filled with oil to ensure a good prime. Any truth to that?

[john8662]

There might be some truth to it, but you don't have to, and I wouldn't recommend tearing a new one apart to do so.

You'll prime the new pump manually once the engine is together and in the chassis with all the oil cooler and turbo lines connected. The easiest way is to get a socket that fits on the stalk, using an extenstion taped to the socket, you can rig a drill to rotate the oil pump drive while it's in the engine. You'll leave out, or remove at the time of need the oil pump drive at the back of the engine to prime.

[DmaxMaverick]

John offers good advice. I add a pre-install prime. Upturn the pump and pour oil into the tube. Turn it by hand until you have oil present at the output. Done. It's lubed (you didn't have to take it apart, and the result is the same). Sometimes, the pump can take a while to prime when dry, and this helps a little. With unknown mfg QA these days, assume the pump is as dry as the Sahara. Definitely do the drill prime once installed, preferably right before the first run (install the pump drive or vac pump as late as possible, and prime just before). The first start will be much easier, as the lifters will have oil ready to go, and most of the air pushed out.

[Robyn]

Here is how I do it on almost all V type engines.

I dump a small amount of oil into the oil pump delivery port (where it bolts to the block) then turn the pump by hand to lube the gears well.

Now there is no real pre Prime on the pump itself. The issue is to just get some oil into the gears. From this point the pump will work fine.

Now On the 6.2/6.5 engine I have an old vacuum pump/ oil pump drive that I machined the teeth off the gear at the bottom and welded a nut onto the top of the shaft.

This tool fills the oil distribution groove in the block and allows the pump to be turned just as it is in real time running of the engine and for oil to go to all the places it needs to go.

I run the oil pump in the engine before it ever goes into the chassis.
Jumper the oil cooler lines with a pair of barbed fittings and some heavy fuel hose for this.

I run the pump with a drill motor unitil I have oil coming out all the rockers at the top then button it up.

Turning the crank every so often allows the valve train to be in various places and helps get oil to all the lifters/roclers etc.

Once the "Prime" is done then the regular oil pump drive can be installed.

Once in the chassis and ready to go. I remove the Oil pump drive one last time, install my prime tool and spin it to fill the cooler and lines.

Reinstall the pump drive and all is set for a normal startup.

This technique ensures minimal run time before normal oil delivery and pressure is reached.

Starting a fresh engine with the system dry will allow for a very long "Dry run time" and during this time, oil to the various engine bearings can be sketchy at best.


Its an easy task to dig up an old vacuum pump assembly from a 6.2 and remove the pump "POD" and then either machine the gear teeth off or grind them off.

Just be sure things are clean and free of crud before using.


Best


Robyn

[SmithvilleD]

To visualize what Robyn's describing, there's a pic of a similar tool, to what Robyn describes in my album.

I made mine from an old rpm sensor drive used on some of the automatic trans trucks. Couldn't find a 6.2 vac pump drive at the time, but that would be a bit better.