Oil Pressure At Head

[sgeorgejr]

I am looking for some advise.  I just rebuilt my 85 golf diesel 1.6 non turbo.   I bored it out 1mm and put new pistons and bearing in it.   After i started the car, i noticed that the oil light was flashing.   I shut it off after letting it run for about 30 seconds or so.  After doing some tests, i found that there is no oil pressure inside the cylinder head.   I looked and hooked up a gauge to the head sensor, and pulled the valve cover and found it dry.    The block seemed well lubed after pulling the pan.   The oil filter was filled and after pulling the filter housing sensor, i found that oil was pumping up at least that far.   I am wondering if i put something on wrong when assembled the engine that would block oil pressure from getting into the head, or that i just need a new oil pump.   If the head gasket is installed wrong, would that cause this symptom?

any help would be greatly appreciated, especially with $4.00 gas coming.

[maxfax]

That *should* be a mechanical lifter engine, correct?

Oil is fed to the head from the 4th main bearing from the timing belt side of the engine..  The upper half of that bearing should have a hole in it that feeds oil up that port..  If you don't have the proper half of the bearing up in there (without the hole) that would block the oil..    

It is also possible that if you have the HG flipped that passage would be blocked off..  Easy check would be to look for the tab on the HG with the notches that identifies the thickness..   There is a hump in the center of the engine block (standing in front of the car looking at the engine) The tab with the notches should be towards your right (or the driver side of the car)..

[sgeorgejr]

thanks for the reply...can the 4th main bearing be removed with the crank in? 

[Vincent Waldon]

Luckly all the main bearings can be changed with the crank in the car, and yessir the first guess here is that the head gasket went in upside down... here's a picture from a previous thread:

[sgeorgejr]

I looked at the head gasket today, and the notch marking was to the left of the engine. This would cause my problem?   

[rabbitman]

I looked at the head gasket today, and the notch marking was to the left of the engine. This would cause my problem?   

YES!!!!

Look at the picture Vince posted, the arrow is pointing at the oil hole so if the gasket is flipped upside down that hole will be blocked off.

[sgeorgejr]

thanks.....i used the head bolts for about a minute...they can be reused, right?   got a new head gasket and will install.

[rabbitman]

thanks.....i used the head bolts for about a minute...they can be reused, right?   got a new head gasket and will install.

"Used" head bolts usually means they've been torqued. My rabbit's head bolts were about 2 months old when I did a ring job and I reused them, that was about 50,000 miles ago. The HG leaks oil pretty bad but I don't know if that's from reusing them but I would buy studs if I were to do it again.

[belchfire]

Unfortunately, no. Once the head bolts (12mm TTY) have been used, they're done for. Baxter's auto parts had them at a reasonable price. Don't know if you have one near you.

[R.O.R-2.0]

head bolts are a buck a piece.. i wouldnt re-use them for that cheap..