oil pressure (lack of)
Turbo Mini Forums

After spending hours and hours building and fitting my engine i seem to have done something wrong. I have no oil pressure or oil flow what so ever. there is no oil flowing in the pipe to the turbo or in the oil cooler pipes. Also with everything connected the oil light does not go off after lots of cranking on the starter.

Any ideas before i have to pull the engine out again?

see ur post on miniclassic.

tho when i answered that i never clicked u had an oil cooler, if you can undo the pipe from the top left of the block where it joins onto the cooler, and pour oil down the pipe.. more convienent that haveing a funnel at an angle going into the block :)

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

As above - pour oil in there - and let it drain down (usually takes a good 3-4 minutes before the flow really subsides - ie as the pipe fills right up to the pump). If you wait another 5 minutes, then fill the pipe up again, it will (should) get oil pressure within a few seconds of cranking.

If you are /have been cranking for a long time, you might want to squirt a little oil into the bores.

Another thing that is really obvious in hindsight is to remove the spark plugs so the engine can crank over really quickly!

Lastly, if no joy - make sure you have fitted the oil relief plunger / ball and the spring!!!

D

you did put the oring between the block and box didnt you?

I asked that on miniclassic....

well asked/suggested!!

alex

AlexF

thanks for all the suggestions guys, after spilling lots of oil everywhere and lots of swearing i finally got the block and pump all primed up, and a presto had oil pressure after cranking!!!!

:cool:


Really pleased for you!!!!!!


good stuff, lets see some pics!


alex

AlexF

Bad news boys, after covering a grand total to 8 miles my car is off the road again. (work and back once)

Looks like head gasket failure.

symtoms of smelly steam coming from back of engine around below the manifolds (cant really see) oil full of water and 2 rads full of water gone............

Maybe i wreaked the head gasket as i tried to start the engine with the leads on the cap in the wrong order big backfire etc......

Ill look tomorrow (if my new head is wreaked i will be soooooooooooooo ANGRY)

http://groups.msn.com/turbominis


some old pics of my car and my last (blown up) turbo engine (mine is the green and white one, pics uploaded by me (Daniel))

What head gasket were you using, and what boost?

Team Racing

I bet you feel gutted mate, go and have a few pints and whip the head off in the morning

Team Racing

Its Mini Spares turbo head gasket. (never ever had a prob with these beasts before)

I was set to 4psi but i didnt even spin up the turbo (just built the engine and was running in V gently) no more than 3k revs so far on it.

I have upgraded to ARP head studs/bolts. I torqued up 3 times (getting gradually higher on the torque wrench), but on the second time i think i fucked up and WAY over torqued on all studs(cheap torque wrench), and on the third did um to 45 pounds.

Maybe i compresses the gasket too much on 2nd so third (poss being less) may not have compressed the gasket well.

8 miles between rebuilds has to be a record!!

Have you pulled the head off yet, is it flat?? Where has the gasket gone?

Team Racing

The gasket has prettymuch gone all over the place. I seriously fucked something up when i torqued the head down.

The head and block are flat (thank GOD).

I was using ARP head studs (11stud), i had to torque them 3 times, as i posted elseware i think i over torqued on the 2nd turn, so the third did not compress the gasket fully.

New head gasket is in the post - should be here tues.

do you mean the group A ?80 gasket or the std turbo gaskget (BK450). I use the std turbo one, had problems in the past, but that was my fault. now my bhead is flat now problems, running 18psi at times.
I use to have a cheap torque wrench, then I got better one and go the calibration checked, I found out that my old one was around 20lbls out when I did my head studs!! This is one tool I don't think you can cut corners with. Go and buy or borrow a good one.

Glad your head and block are ok.

Team Racing

what torque did you use...?

did you follow the correct sequence?

did you torque the nuts dry or wet?


alex

AlexF

had exactly the same trouble withthe BK450. also believe it due to me overtorquing.

gasket floating on a film of oil? oil/water bubbling out the front/back of the block!? same issues as me. went through 2 of them b4 i realised the probem. guna go out and buy meself a quality torquewrench..

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

You don't need one torquewrench - you need two!
You should have a biggie for doing the hub / flywheel nuts, and a smaller (60 lb ft or therabouts) for the headstuds and other smaller fixings.

If you've over torqued them, your ARP's are scrap. Sorry, but thats a fact.
You must NEVER, EVER, exceed manufacturers figures - they usually know more about their own componets than any of us do - that's why they give us instructions to follow. ARP's are highly accurate, well toleranced componets, that have a specified torque limit that takes them close, but not past, the yeild limit of the material. Once past this point, they no longer are elastic, and will never give an full, or equally shared, clamping load.

FYI - both Jimster and myself (and others, but can't vouch for them!) use the BK450 and the standard A+ head studs, and neither of us has had a problem which has been attributed to the quality or performance of these.

I often wonder how many times ARP's are used as a 'band-aid' for an existing problem (too high Dynamic CR, warped head/block, lousy engine set-up, etc).

I wouldn't offer this to every Joe, but if you want your torque wrench checking for calibration, drop us a line and i can check it for you so long as you cover the postage.

I have used ARP studs from day one and have been happy with them. I have also used genuine Metro turbo gaskets (silver coloured) with 100 % results. My engine is 1380 which is said to be unreliable when turbocharged.

Anyway, I torque the head in three stages with ARP lube, last sequence at 50 lb ft. I have NOT re-torqued the nuts afterwards. As for overtorquing, I have 7 ARP con rod bolts in perfect nick and one that elongated along the shank of the bolt (partly thanks to excessive torque figure given in vizards yellow book). Having said that, these were second hand items. The guy who had built the engine had reputably torqued the head gasket to 70 lb ft "just to be sure". Most likely the rod bolts had gotten similar treatment. Well, one of the rod bolts felt like rubber band. Anyway, have to say that these bolts are made of exellent material grade.

Jukka