Oil Pressure Issue - 4.3

[zealer]

Hey all, I've got an oil pressure problem with my GM 4.3 Vortec (96+). I recently dropped in a used motor into my boat. Hooked it all up and fired her up. Started up fine, good oil pressure, just needed to be timed and idle adjusted. Ran for 10 mins at fast idle then shut down. Went back next day to do timing and I had no oil pressure. Alarm going, gauge at 0. Stuck in a mechanical gauge into the sender port, still read 0psi. Removed motor as distributor and oil pump are not accessible while in boat. With motor on stand and my drill, priming it got normal oil pressure. What gives? Is it possible the distributor wasn't seated on the oil shaft properly? Any and all ideas welcome!

 

[alldodge]

Hey all, I've got an oil pressure problem with my GM 4.3 Vortec (96+). I recently dropped in a used motor into my boat. Hooked it all up and fired her up. Started up fine, good oil pressure, just needed to be timed and idle adjusted. Ran for 10 mins at fast idle then shut down. Went back next day to do timing and I had no oil pressure. Alarm going, gauge at 0. Stuck in a mechanical gauge into the sender port, still read 0psi. Removed motor as distributor and oil pump are not accessible while in boat. With motor on stand and my drill, priming it got normal oil pressure. What gives? Is it possible the distributor wasn't seated on the oil shaft properly? Any and all ideas welcome!

Very possible, but your distributer would probably stick up some. Need to make sure it is fully seated. Manual states to bump the starter while firmly pushing down on the distributer to make sure it engages.

 

[Scott Danforth]

could have broken the tang off the bottom of the oil pump drive on the distributor

 

[Bondo]

Ayuh,...... Can ya pull the distributor in the hull, or are ya pullin' the motor,..??

 

[zealer]

I had to pull the whole motor. Not enough space to pull the distributor up and out, unfortunately for me. A really crappy design IMO. Pretty sure distributor was seated properly, I don't know 100%. My friend was the one who put it in the first time. He also clocked it a bit when starting engine. Maybe it wasn't making good contact. Anyway, today, I put the distributor back in, made sure it was fully seated, and cranked motor over on starer. Voila, oil pressure again. My best guess is that the distributor wasn't making good contact, but again, that's just a guess. Any other input?

 

[jester31]

The pin in the distributor gear is what drives the oil pump, make sure it's not sheared, or broken?

 

[Bt Doctur]

Not quite, the cam turns the gear that is pinned to the shaft, that tells the motor when to fire.If the pin did shear the motor wouldn't run.

 

[Bt Doctur]

Not quite, the cam turns the gear that is pinned to the shaft, that tells the motor when to fire.If the pin did shear the motor wouldn't run.