No oil to heads....396

[Stew215]

I have a 396 in my 72 and i have no oil pumping to the top of the motor...

well i took the intake and valve covers off to fix a lifter tap. the previous owner didn't tighten one enough and it had enough room to tap a bit.

when i took the intake off i noticed a bronze looking material in the oil around the heads. i figured it was from that lifter so i pulled the lifter out and where the rod sits on the lifter a piece broke off.

I figured the material might have been from the piece of the lifter... so i tried to put the motor back together with a new lifter.. the lobe on the cam looked fine with no wear marks so i thought i would give it a band aid untill i save up money for a complete overhaul

when i put it back together i primed the engine and noticed it was very hard to turn like there was a block in the oil system. Then i decided to take off a value cover again and try to prime it again and i had nothing coming out of the rockers.

I started the motor to see if anything would change and it did not so i quickly shut it off so i would not wear out the parts.

i was wondering if anyone has had this problem or any guesses on what it could be .. i am hoping it is not a spun bearing

-Thanks, Chris

[dwcsr]

Bronze color is bearing material. You may have to look deeper.

[vectorit]

Did the previous owner ever have the motor out to work on it?
Or does it look like it's been in there for a lot of miles?

I personally had this happen when I bought a "Never run, fresh rebuilt" motor, There was no oil coming up to the rockers and there was zero oil pressure.

I ended up taking the motor out, took the oil pan off and found that the oil pump pick up was installed wrong.
Put it back together and life was good again.

If your motor looks like it's got a lot of miles on it, or never been rebuilt, oooor the pan looks like it's been removed. (clean gaskets, and RTV everywhere).
Someone could have tried to fix a rod knock on the cheap, and threw in new bearings of various sizes. Don't laugh... I have personally seen a shop do this.
What could be happening now, is that the crank bearings have eaten away down to the copper. Thus killing the oil pressure to get up top, and that color you are seeing now is bearing material.


Just my thoughts right now...

[Stew215]

The PO did say he rebuild the motor around 2000 miles back. the heads are super clean ! ( maybe because of no oil !) but i am going to drop the pan and look at the pump to see if everything is ok befor i pull the motor out.. i am starting to think he rebuilt this motor him self... and he had verry little knolege of cars when i talked to him

anyone elce have any ideas on what the problem might be befor i go to town ripping it apart. I am thinkning its a spun bearing with the bronze material in the oil and that would explane the lack of oil to the top end too.

[kwmech]

Rear cam bearing, some of the early 396 blocks had to use a grooved cam bearing to supply oil, along with lining it up correctly. Later on they grooved the block instead. (I think that's right)

[Stew215]

that might be it ... from what i understand he said the motor was out of a 65 or 66 impala ss... so it is a late model motor

[vectorit]

Originally Posted by kwmech

Rear cam bearing, some of the early 396 blocks had to use a grooved cam bearing to supply oil, along with lining it up correctly. Later on they grooved the block instead. (I think that's right)

I forgot about that! That is a common mistake.

Is that bronze color actually metalic particals mixed in with the oil? Have you drained the oil to see if it is in the pan? How does the oil smell, does it smell burnt?

If it's not metalic, I've seen where someone got happy with that Permatex head gasket sealer spray - It's bronze colored as well.

[mclairmo]

Also, make sure to use a primer that looks like the the shaft of a distributor as the skinny rod type primer will not allow oil to get to the passenger side head. I used the cheaper primer on my 396 and oil only would come out of the driver's side rockers.

[Stew215]

Im not positive if the bronze material is metal or not. I pulled out the magnet and it was clean, thats why I am stuck on this problem. So i am completely confused with this situation. I will look at the oil pan when i get home to see if there is any problems with the pump or any material in the pan. Is there any simple way to know if this is the bearing or do i need to do some major surgery?

[Stew215]

and i think the primer i am using is from a chevy 502 crate engine.. it came with the engine and it fits the whole just like the distributer

[dwcsr]

If your dropping the pan pull a main and rod and see if they look ok. If he did rebuild and put the wrong cam bearing in and ran it for 2k miles with no oil on top its not going to look good in the pan. He may have honed it out and not washed it after, who know what he may not or may have done.

[Stew215]

i am going to pull the motor and redo everything the right way. I will keep you guys updated on my findings.Thanks for all the help