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I was having a conversation with a guy at cars and coffee who had a Camaro. He said that when he installed his rebuilt motor, he primed the oil by trying to start it by pressing the brake and flooring the gas. He said it doesnt inject fuel and disables spark. Has anyone heard of this?
Last edited by Pktrusty; Aug 14, 2023 at 07:55 AM.
I was having a conversation with a guy at cars and coffee who had a Camaro. He said that when he installed his rebuilt motor, he primed the oil by trying to start it by pressing the brake and flooring the gas. He said it doesnt inject fuel and disables spark. Has anyone heard of this?
It just inhibits the injectors…you still have spark…a lot of cars have this “clear flood mode” and has been around for many years…my Toyota 4 Runner doesn’t have it…just remember to keep the pedal to the floor when doing this and if you let your foot off the gas the car will eventually start.
You should remove the spark plugs. It will make it crank to build oil pressure faster. I verified oil pressure before installing the engine. Just incase something was wrong.
Had a friend in the 70's that had a 78 Trans Am. Paid big $$$ to have a 455 HO engine highly modified by a very respected builder. This builder built up the short block and had the heads ported and polished with high end rockers etc...
My friend finished the engine assembly and install.
First start up he noticed oil pressure was extremely low around 3-5 psi. Everyone stood around trying to figure out what was wrong while the engine was still running!!!
Engine was destroyed in less that 5 - 10 minutes. The problem was that the oil galley plug was left out. Builder said that was his responsibility. The engine became a paper weight.
Moral of the story, double check everything and if something does not appear to be correct STOP! And track down the problem.
Since then all involve became very observant of oil pressure.
He had to put the original 400 cid engine back in. Sad,,,,,,,
I got you. I wouldn’t consider him to be a very respected builder if stuff like that happens and he doesn’t own it. I can’t really prime my motor out of the car since it is the dry sump. I have a checklist of items I have and will check planning to startup. A guy I was talking to primed his motor this way and I didn’t realize it was a thing.
At the end of the day, I am not going to tear the engine down to check my builders work. I scoped what I could verifying components. I didn’t feel I needed to but I spend good money and trust but verify.
The galley plug was removed durning the clean out or flush of the block.
This plug was external and obvious. Kind of like, hey the heads aren’t on the engine!
Not the builders fault but the owner who finished the assembly.
The owner was also not ‘smart’ enough to stop running the engine when oil pressure never came up but continued to run it and destroyed it. He owned his mistake. Also he was not what you would consider a competent wrench.
Just turning the engine over isn't much different than just starting it. You need to prime the engine without turning it. Otherwise you stand a chance of messing things up.
Engine Priming
