Hi, there! Spent a few hours on the forum and otherwise on the Net to figure out what to do, have done a few things adviced, but problem persists: zero oil pressure. So now I turn to all the expertise on the forum to ask for help...
Here's the story: 1966 Austin Healey 3000 MkIII owned by me for the last twelve years. Has always had relatively low oil pressure (but according to posts in this forum, still adequate). Last driven October last year with no problems. Woke the car from its winter hibernation and took it for a spin last week and soon noticed that the oil pressure needle was jumping between zero and 40. Immediately returned home, obviously. Since then I have replaced the oil pressure valve and spring, installed spin-on filter and changed oil to 20-50 viscosity. Unplugged the coil and when cranking the engine, I now only get zero pressure, needle staying put. Checked to see if the filter was installed the wrong way, but I guess not, because the new filter was now filled with new oil. Unscrewed the pipe to the oil pressure gauge and turned the engine again to see if any oil came out, but it didn't. Checked to see if needle was stuck, but it wasn't. Unscrewed the othe end of the same pipe (on the engine side) and still no oil came out of the engine.
Have read that I could remove the rocker cover to look for proof that oil is flowing, but as far as I understand, this should be done with warm engine and I'm afraid of running the engine for that long without being sure that is sufficiently lubricated.
So, here I am, concerned that there might be a serious problem, but cannot understand that this problem has occured "over night" even if "night" here refers to a couple of months.
Any help, suggestions and advice is highly appreciated!
Here's the story: 1966 Austin Healey 3000 MkIII owned by me for the last twelve years. Has always had relatively low oil pressure (but according to posts in this forum, still adequate). Last driven October last year with no problems. Woke the car from its winter hibernation and took it for a spin last week and soon noticed that the oil pressure needle was jumping between zero and 40. Immediately returned home, obviously. Since then I have replaced the oil pressure valve and spring, installed spin-on filter and changed oil to 20-50 viscosity. Unplugged the coil and when cranking the engine, I now only get zero pressure, needle staying put. Checked to see if the filter was installed the wrong way, but I guess not, because the new filter was now filled with new oil. Unscrewed the pipe to the oil pressure gauge and turned the engine again to see if any oil came out, but it didn't. Checked to see if needle was stuck, but it wasn't. Unscrewed the othe end of the same pipe (on the engine side) and still no oil came out of the engine.
Have read that I could remove the rocker cover to look for proof that oil is flowing, but as far as I understand, this should be done with warm engine and I'm afraid of running the engine for that long without being sure that is sufficiently lubricated.
So, here I am, concerned that there might be a serious problem, but cannot understand that this problem has occured "over night" even if "night" here refers to a couple of months.
Any help, suggestions and advice is highly appreciated!