Does any one have any first hand experience and advice for priming a newly built motor? My new motor is pretty much ready to be started however it's is bone dry aside from assembly lube. Being an inexperienced idiot I didn't prime the oil system before I installed the timing belt assembly.

The machine shop that assembled the lower end insists that the motor be primed prior to starting which makes sense, but they also say that false starting the motor will cause damage.

Is false starting this motor much worse than starting one that has been left to sit without running for a week?

I'm not ready to go out and install an Accusump system just yet. Any ideas?

 

you really should have primed it... the easyist thing to do is pull the plugs off the coils and crank it ill you see oil pressure.. you do have a pressure gauge dont you.. im not really advising this but you can do it..

 

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I'd ask you builder.

 

I use a high end assembly lube in all the engines I do here. If I do the complete build, or most of it, I also fill the oil pump with this lube, thick but runny. I also put some extra here and there like on the thrust bearing. The tops of the valves get a little, rockers get some etc. We never prime an oiling system after that. If everything is right with the car it should start instantly and it will have oil pressure as soon as it does.

David Buschur
www.buschurracing.com

 

Thanks for feedback David. The motor has prelube all over it, both the top and bottom end. It's the cherry red, thick gooey stuff that looks suspiciously like Permatex prelube.

In response to others, I do have an oil pressure gauge and yes, I realize that I should have primed the system. Hindsight's a *****... Really, as long as the motor has sat in this state, I doubt priming would make that much of a difference. Your average 10W-40 would have only served to rinse away the prelube and then drain back out of the bearings. I think as long as the pump will prime I should be okay.