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HELP! how do you oil prime an ea81 ???

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 12:16 pm
by steptoe
Just hooked up a good battery to my installed freshly rebuilt EA81 and before go any further pulled plugs out and cranked her over to see oil pressure light go out BUT IT AIN'T !!

I have pulled oil filter off and filled it and shoved it back on but still not even pumping let alone pressure and yes I have oil in sump 20w50 valvoline.

thinking of hose attached to filter inlet (pump outlet) fill with oil and blow or trickle it backwards.

oil pump has had a kit through it, internally looked OK but did not check its specs and do not know the history of this pump, it may have come off a runner, can't say ???


Aargh !! :(

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 2:27 pm
by Matatak
take the oil filter off then keep cranking it over till oil spews out.
obiousl have a tray underneath ;)

then put her back on and crank her again. if it goes out then start her up


if it still doesnt.......then look into the pump id say.

(there is other ways to do it to)

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 2:52 pm
by D3V1L
not too sure about ea motors but when priming my wrx motor i took the oil sensor out and pumped a shit load of oil through it then once i started it oil pressures was abundant

dave

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 6:37 pm
by coops
Take the oil pump off and fill it with grease. Just wheel bearing grease should be ok. When I works at a suberu dealer as a mechanic we use to rebuild ea81s on a change over and thats what we did to them all. Some would sit around for months before being sold. We never had a problem getting oil pressure.

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 6:41 pm
by steptoe
I now aware i did not tell you all the detail...on assembly i slightly filled the oil filter so as not to lose it all over the shop when fitting it as it goes on sideways, so today being several days later the oil has soaked into the filter paper and saw none inside. then i try spin over no plugs again without the filter, still nought, then i filled the filter to over-flowing into tray below, cranking still no go

The fix, after study of a spare oil pump (needing attention) and a spare block and the path of oil is :

oil in sump is sucked up the oil pick-up enters the RHS block and into the section of oil pump where you see a window of the rotors and enters the oil filter from the outer hole of the filter mating face, goes through the filter meia and then through the screw on bit (there is a better word for it ???) then off into the oil galleries of the block

I note that 16mm heater hose fits over the screw thread (for trivia purposes only) and the important bit to read is 8mm efi fuel hose fits inside the port the oil is supposed to come up from the sump.

I used a clear hose centre section between two pieces of efi hose and a funnel, shoved the rubber end into the oil outlet port and poured same engine oil in funnel, first just seeing a few air bubbles emerge, more oil , then cranked over by hand with ratchet and 22mm socket on crank and in just a few minutes got more air and more oil - PUMP IS PRIMED !!!

Thanks fer yer comments guys

I did try blow bubbles in sump first then suck with mouth - forget the sucking by mouth

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 6:50 pm
by steptoe
coops, the grease pack idea was there in me head, as was a trick i have seen not work - tow car to servo, block all orifices with footy socks and blow air into PCV hole - I had to laugh quietly as it was me brothers old school mate and he was big and ugly (snigger,snigger)

Gonna use this new found trick on another long stored engine when it comes into service - sort of easy to do

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 7:44 pm
by AlpineRaven
Are we suppose to do that every service?
Cheers
Tristan

Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 9:05 pm
by steptoe
only if you were a perfectionist - may be good practice. I'd say I got the problem cause it was absolutely empty everywhere inside except for the oil in the sump and oil on all bearing and movng parts. when you drain the oil there is always gonna be some lurking in the oil pump. i used to crank the motor over just to pump the last bit out but never had this problem meself before

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 10:36 pm
by Suby Wan Kenobi
I know you have already solved the problem but when rebuilding engines i generally go with coops and liberally supply the oil pump with grease. It can sit around for a long while and still be ready to go without hassle.

Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 11:25 pm
by steptoe
i guess it is the oils ain't oils thing and not really wanting to mix a 'grease' with an oil without consulting the oil makers tech guys. If you mix one type of hi temp wheel bearing grease with another type i am told by said techies that you will root your bearings from the chemical reaction between the two types

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 3:50 am
by tex
you can always spend a little extra and buy some special lubricant thats made for rebuilding engines and you can use it on cam shafts etc until the oil gets there.

Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 10:01 am
by Suby Wan Kenobi
After rebuilding an engine no matter how clean you try and get it you always end up with crap in somewhere so i always use the cheap oil to get the engine running for a few hours then change to a good oil. I replace the filter again as well.