i highly doubt it is the oil cover o-ring but that could be a contributor. mine blew out and was almost non existent but i still managed to drive the car around for a week since it was my only running car at the time. i pulled apart the front cover and it was ripped in half and had chunks missing, the engine aside from the fact that it had low oil pressure (10PSI at idle) was still in perfect shape.

the cover o-ring missing or damaged will only cause low oil pressure not 0 pressure.

 

i just started my rebuild up the other day. it took a lot of cranking to get the pressure up. After many tries i removed the spark plugs to speed up the cranking speed. It seemed to help. i was worried too, but i just kept cranking. i do have a weak starter so it tends to crank a little slower. So i would say remove the plugs and crank!

 

Remove the black cover off of the cas and watch the gear to see if it is rotating as you crank the engine. That should tell you if the woodruff key is there intact or not.

Prior to starting any rebuild, I take the filter off and pour oil into both the feed hole and the outlet hole until they fill up.....to help prime the oil passages.

Take the filter and loosen it almost all the way. Crank the engine for five to ten seconds. No oil?? Something is broken, Either the woodruff key, chain or the oil pump itself. Look and make sure the smalll screw on the oil pump is there. It's a allen screw. Very small in size. Holds the outer pump rotor in place....if I remember right.

 

Hailers, we're not talking about the eshaft key...we're talking about the tiny, miniature oil pump shaft key.

 

Steve:
I'll definitely call you tomorrow, that'd be sweet if you could find that oil pressure gauge.

Karack:
That's a good point about the o-ring. I was also thinking about this; that if the o-ring wasn't there, sure there'd be a major 'leaking' of oil through that gap or whatever, but definitely not ALL the oil/oil pressure would be lost because of it. Thanks for the insight.

cjbechtel:
Ya, my battery's pretty weak. After I get a new one tonight or tomorrow afternoon I'm going to try some more cranking.

Can anyone else "second the motion" to take out the spark-plugs while cranking to get it to crank faster? Any adverse side-effects?

Hailers:
Is this allen key you speak of in the front cover?

RR:
Thanks for hanging out.

Alright, here's my plan for tomorrow:
-Buy a new battery to get some serious cranking power. I will also have another car jump-starting my new battery for back-up etc.
-Remove spark-plugs to get that extra oomph
^do this in the hopes that I will get oil pushed into my filter (for visible proof of pressure)
-Steve (13bpower) will come over with his pressure gauge so we'll know for sure
-If all else fails we'll remove the front cover to make sure everything is intact (or not)
-If I get this far and can find nothing visibly wrong--I'm going to be stuck...

Thanks for all the help, experience etc.

 

good luck erik, i hope you get it figured out soon and keep us posted on what you find.

as for my previous post about low oil pressure, i woudn't advise driving with 10psi at idle either, it wore out my turbo bearings.

 

It should be getting pressure by now.

When I install a new motor, I pour oil into both the oil lines and fill up the oil cooler with oil. Then take 3/4" rubber heater hose and slide it over oil filter pedastal and pour oil directly into hose, which pre-lubes the bearings, e-shaft and rotors. Excess oil goes down the oil galley in the rear plate, to the rear oil line. Fill oil filter with oil and screw it on. So the whole thing is pre-lubed and ready to go. Only takes a few seconds to get oil pressure. Might want to try that out, otherwise pull the front cover and check the pump.

 

^ I'm just about to get suited up and go at it.

I bought a new battery, cranked 2x for 20 seconds, unscrewed my oil filter and got no signs of oil. So now all that's left is to remove the front cover and have a look. I'll get back to this thread in a bit as soon as I'm done.

 

ahhh... So I'm a little unmotivated right now. I got most of the crap bolted onto the front of the engine out of the way. I figured that I would remove the oil lines going into the front cover and undo the bolts on the front side of the oil pan (under the front cover), BUT I didn't realize I'd have to remove the powersteering and A/C crap too (since it's bolted onto the side of the cover)... lol, I give up for tonight. Hopefully it won't be so rainy tomorrow (I'm kind of on the outside of my garage working into it).

 

dont forget the oil pan bolts too... and the the eshaft bolt....

 

I did this too. Big pain in the *** . Pull the radiator out , for a little more working room . If you used the pan gasket run a razor knife between it and the cover.

 

Your right. That's the culprit. Bound to be. Slippery little devil.