engine oil priming after rebuild

[autoholic]

I recently completely rebuilt a 1.6D N/A, turbo'd it and just installed it into a Samurai.
I have a few questions and need some advice:

All machine work was done at a reputable machine shop: bored 1MM, Piston to cyl clearance just oiver 1.5  thou. crank, cam, int shaft polished, block decked a couple thou, head milled a few thou, new guides, valve job (valves are 3+ thou deeper since seats were machined and, I'm using a 3 notch gasket, it turns over fine and the guys at the machine shop said it's all good so I hope it is).

Rebuilt IP with 1.9 camplate, governor mod and rebuilt 135 bar injectors for now. IP timed at about 1.05MM

I attached a drill to the oil pump to prime it up before starting.
I have oil to turbo and oil coming out of the turbo drain when pressure builds- which seems normal to me.

I cannot get oil out of the back of the head though, where the oil psi gauge fitting is. Seems to me that all the galleys should fill quickly and easily before meeting resistance of passing through bearing oil clearance? Does the engine need to be spinning to get oil up there easier? I tried plugging the turbo drain temporarily to see if it made a difference getting oil up there, I even used my mity vac to try sucking from the port on head while spinning the pump.
it has the GTI/Tdi oil cooler and a regular Rabbit oil filter ( which I will change shortly after first start) I guess tonight I'll look at another block/head I have and try to determine what the problem may be. I am 99% sure that the headgasket is installed right, I don't know if that would have an effect, but I know on other motors it can. I did not use assembly lube, I used 15W40 oil instead.

I plan on running an EGT gauge and will have adjustable boost control, If I monitor all vitals, will I be OK with the turbo on the NA??

any other comments or advice on what I did here?

I really want to get this thing started this weekend, I have spent forever on this project since time and money have been very limited, I am on Month 6!

I did alot of other stuff to this thing to: suspension, diffs, brakes, lines, winch, bumpers, body , tires, clutch, driveshafts, front end, etc. This is a full time off roader I am trying to make street legal. pretty rough looking, but its solid and I cannot wait to get it back in the woods!!!!. :?

[Vincent Waldon]

Well you're a wise wise man to have taken these extra steps prior to firing her up... would have been a shame to drive down the road and toast a cam saddle 500 miles from now.

Yup you should have oil pressure... so something is probably blocking an oil passage to (or in) the head.  

I've heard of this happening with an overabundance of the grease style of assembly lube (but not your problem), and a defective head gasket with a missing passage could do it as well.

Does oil dribble out of the pressure gauge port ??  Defective sender ??

[autoholic]

Thanks for the reply.
Nope, not even a drip. The oil pump does meet resistance, to the point where my makeshift oil pump drive attachement slips in the drill (at which point a seemingly normal amount of oil comes out of turbo oil drain) but nothing from that port at back of head, even with the fitting out. I'm spinning the oil pump CW.
I was very careful about the headgasket installation, but now I just don't know. I did not use any grease or assy lube, I used 15W40 since I read of problems using the assy lube.

[Vincent Waldon]

Yeah, reread your post looking for clues and noticed that you didn't use greasy assembly lube... my bad.

Is this a known good head that worked before, or something new to you that could have had a blockage ?

[autoholic]

I guess its off with her head tonight. one step forward,two steps back!

[autoholic]

The head is a mystery, I brought the machine shop several heads and finally this one was the one they wanted to work with since it had no cracks between valves (almost), of course I paid to have all the others cleaned and inspected.
These heads are getting hard to find in decent shape, I could have bought a new one for the money I spent on rebuilding this one.

I guess I'll pull it tonight to better understand whats going on. Hopefully its not the passage in the block, but I just do not see how it could be. Everything was dipped and cleaned, I'm now leaning towards a bad mistake in installing Headgasket. Atleast the exhaust is not connected and there is no coolant in it.
]
Thanks again

[autoholic]

Is it even possible to install the gasket upside down? I thought it would not even line up right like that, and I can sware I had "oben" facing up. Oh well, I'll look into it when I get home.

[Vincent Waldon]

Sadly the gasket can go upside down pretty easily... here's a pic from a previous thread where sharp-eyes Andrew noticed a picture of a headgasket upside down:




Not saying that's your problem (and you certainly sound like you were being careful) and I'm not even sure it blocks an "into the head" passage if it did (although everything else looks like a return to me).. someone else here probably knows for sure.

[zukgod1]

If the gasket is on upside down the area where the "notches" are will be on the left side of the oil return hump. If the gasket is on correctly that spot will be on the right side of the hump.


Fixed it, I had it backwards

[myke_w]

you may try blowing compressed air through the galleys, see where it comes out. I'm not sure how deep the oil pressure switch galley on the head is, but if theres a primary galley for the lifters and cam journals that bleeds off into the galley where the switch reads from then perhaps no oil shows up in the switch galley until the lifters are going up and down? All speculation as I've never really examined it.

[burn_your_money]

If the gasket is on upside down the area where the "notches" are will be on the right side of the oil return hump. If the gasket is on correctly that spot will be on the left side of the hump.

Definitly do this before pulling the head

[Vincent Waldon]

Found the thread with the picture of the headgasket upside down:

http://www.vwdiesel.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=14607&highlight=headgasket+upside

Five or so posts down...

[zukgod1]

Good find Vince.

I had actually listed it backwards a couple posts up.. :oops:

[autoholic]

Yup, it was upside down!!!  DOHHH!
Yea, I noticed the notches were on the wrong side and then pulled the head last night, what a bone head move, please go easy on me folks!

I had the head just sitting on the block on the stand for a long time, on and off as I did various things, I know I originally installed the gasket "Oben" side up, but some how I turned it over and did not catch it.

I sure am tempted in re-using the gasket, but I was told that the right thing to do is get a new one so I guess I'll have to drive the 30 miles to pick up a new one (and of course I just was down there yesterday).

Atleast I caught it, would have been a disaster to ruin that head!

Thanks for the responses everyone, I'll keep you posted!

[Vincent Waldon]

Nah.... like I said... you're brilliant,  because you took the time to check for oil pressure *before* firing it up !   :wink: