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Oil Pressure Gauge Not Reading

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twas_brillig

Jedi Knight
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Our Bug-Eye has been parked for at least three years; I pulled the engine/transmission last Spring to check out tranny problems and finally reinstalled it yesterday. Fired it up tonight and the oil pressure gauge is reading zero.
I expect that it's a gauge problem (no changes to engine; same filter as years ago; had drained oil prior to pulling and refilled after reinstall; no changes to oil filter) but would appreciate advice. Figure I'll break the oil pressure gauge connection at the block tomorrow and hopefully spray oil all over heck's half acre; maybe pull the valve cover and see if there's indications of oil there (we've also got a AH 3000, and this is a standard check for worn rockers, dunno if it applies to Spridgets).
There's no obvious noise problems, but I haven't heard it run for years so may be mistaken. And I surely do not want to ruin the engine.
Low tonight of about -1C/30F, with 2 to 4 inches of snow forecast. Hoping to drive it over to the car wash tomorrow prior to tucking it away for the rest of the winter. And then back to driving it in the Spring!
 
First thing that I would do is pull off the banjo bolt and squirt some oil (a cup or so) in there to be SURE that the pump is primed and then go from there.
BillM
 
Billm said:
First thing that I would do is pull off the banjo bolt and squirt some oil (a cup or so) in there to be SURE that the pump is primed and then go from there.
BillM
Click to expand...
Agree with Bill on this and I would pull the plugs and crank it until I had oil pressure before I fired it up.
Rut
 
As mentioned, it is common for the A series to lose prime after sitting for a while....not common for a gauge failure.

Kurt.
 
+1 to all of the above.
Gauges don't typically fail while sitting but A-series oil pumps can loose their prime while in storage.
 
My Terry Horler book "restoring sprites and Midgets" talks about the bolt on the left side of the block next to the block coolant drain petcock is for access to prime the oil pump....anybody ever use that?
 
markberry said:
My Terry Horler book "restoring sprites and Midgets" talks about the bolt on the left side of the block next to the block coolant drain petcock is for access to prime the oil pump....anybody ever use that?
Click to expand...

Yes, but its easier to get at the banjo bolt on the other side IMHO.

Kurt.
 
nomad said:
Yes, but its easier to get at the banjo bolt on the other side IMHO.

Kurt.
Click to expand...

... and the oil drains right into the pump (just a couple inches away) via gravity.
 
Oil pressure was good afterall - we broke the connection at the back of the oil pressure gauge and cranked the engine (sans starting) until we got some oil out of the end of the tube, and then reconnected. Pressure gauge read 55 psi when we did start it. Thanks for reading and for comments.
 
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