IML: RE:Need help from a 318 oil system guru!! Saint Dick perhaps???? Mike??

[Jeff Ingraham <jeff_ingraham@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi 
I will keep this on the iML a little longer in the
hopes it may hep someone else with oil problems in the
future.
First off THANK YOU! 
Once again I find myself indebted to "Saint Dick" whom
I can always turn to for help!  The patron Saint of
Imps!
;-)
A sincere and heartfelt Thank you!
Anyway..

A few more pieces to the puzzle..

It is carburated not EFI.  I believe the rest is stock
although I am not sure what it's life was like before
I bought it way back when.  
It has 119,000 miles fyi.

It is the drivers side that gets no oil while the pass
side was gettig good oil.
I only pulled the drivers head last night but after
finding the rust in the cylinder walls, I think I will
pull the pass side too and clean them up while I am in
the neighborhood.
I know nothing about camshaft bearings or rocker arm
passages.  How do I check the passages for alignment
and or replace  the bearing?  
and the bigger question, how do I check that the oil
situation is fixed before I get it all back together
again? 
I remember hearing of an electric screwdriver to prime
the oil pump.  Is that applicable here either to check
it or to lube things before I goback together?
 I am replacing the fuel pump and water pump and hoses
and belts and plugs and cap/rotor etc. while i am
here.  Anything else I should do while i have it this
torn down??
Sorry If I am asking dumb questions, I know just
enough to be dangerous when it comes to internals on
engines especially 318s.
Thank you!
Jeff


--- Dick Benjamin <dickb@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I've already responded to Jeff privately, but since
> his question was on the
> IML also, I'll copy y'all with what I said, in case
> anyone else is dissecting an LA block:
> 
> >>>Well, this is going to be a bit tough.  I've not
> had an LA block apart
> since about 1997, so I'm not exactly fresh on the
> subject.  The first thing
> I would check is to see that the rocker shaft
> supports on the suspect side
> are assembled correctly.   It is possible that the
> oil passages that come up
> through the support towers are somehow not in the
> right locations, or not aligned properly.
> 
> The head on the right side of the engine gets it's
> oil through the second
> from the rear rocker support tower, as it is
> supplied from the #4 cam
> bearing.  The left side gets its oil from the #2 cam
> bearing, and it comes
> up through the second from the front rocker tower.  
>  I assume the "left"
> side is the driver's side, but look at the other
> side to make sure I don't have them backwards.  
> 
> Anyway the side that isn't getting oil must have the
> wrong tower installed
> in the location with the oil passageway, or else the
> cam bearing has turned in its bore and is blocking
the feed hole.
> 
> Once oil is present in the rocker shaft, it is
> distributed through the shaft
> and down the push rods to the lifters.
> 
> If the cam bearing on the right side were turned,
> the oil warning light
> would be on, since that is in the right side
> gallery.  If you have the
> original EFI computer, then that side must be OK,
> because the CCC will shut
> the engine down immediately if it detects no oil
> pressure.  If the car has been converted, that won't
happen.
> 
> If the cam bearing on the left side were turned,
> you'd have exactly the
> situation you describe, but having the tower in the
> wrong position would also do that.
> 
> As for the oil pump, I can't see how it is involved
> here, assuming you've
> checked the oil pressure with a real gauge.
> 
> As for the surface rust, assuming it will clean up
> easily, I'd try to clean
> it out with some vinegar on a soft scrub (plastic,
> not metal) pot scrubber,
> then spray some WD-40 on it until you can get the
> engine together and
> running. I wouldn't just ignore it, because iron
> oxide is really hard, and
> it will do some damage before it winds up in the oil
> filter sooner or later.
> 
> Good Luck, and let me know what you find out.  It's
> a shame you already
> pulled the head, you probably didn't have to (but
> then you wouldn't have
> known about the rust, I guess.
> 
> Dick Benjamin


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