VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1912-1928 1925 Chevy no oil pressure

Hello,new to the forum and never had a car quite this old. I just picked up Magoo,a 1925 coupe that someone cut the roof off of. It was sold as running through a third party as it was part of an estate sale. It runs great but I realized the gauge was stuck at 2 and not moving so I pulled the line to the gauge and its not pumping anything. It has the generator,dist oil pump combo. Could it possibly need to be primed as it looks like it was worked on? Looking online it has dippers on the rods so I assume it at least did not hurt them.Are there are passages from rod journals to mains? Any tricks or tips greatly appreciated. I wont be restarting till this is fixed. It does also seem to have an over heating problem but that will be addressed after this. Looks like I would need to use an online photo host to display pics so will have to do that tomorrow.

With a long period without running the oil pump likely needs to be primed. It is a gear pump that works better when the gears are coated with oil.

Thanx Chipper I will try that along with tightening the lines. I just found a service manual online thay shows the oiling system. Hopefully no damage was done.

When you get oil flowing don't worry about low oil pressure around 2-3 lbs with engine warned up. The pump only puts oil to the gauge and center main bearing. Flow is important; not pressure. All other bearings are splash fed. Use a 10-30 oil for good lubrication.

I poured some oil in through where the gauge is hooked up and it only gave little spits of oil so I guess I will remove the pan next and start from the beginning

While you have the pan off, it is a great time to thoroughly clean out any sludge that you find. Especially in the oil reservoirs that feed oil to the main and cam bearings.

When you get ready to put the oil pan back on, I suggest that you check to make sure that the tangs on the end caps are reaching down far enough into the oil troughs to 'splash' well.

A couple of years ago, I rebuilt the '28 engine that's in my '27 one ton truck, Lurch. Here is a link to the part of the story when I checked the tang depth. Also, read a couple the posts below where I show a technique for forming and holding the curved oil pan gasket in place next to the front and rear main bearing caps. Checking tang depth in oil troughs

Cheers, Dean

Dean thank you for the info and links!!! I have so many questions as this is the oldest car Ive ever had. I will be sure to go through all of them.