[ROVERNET - UK] P6B oil pump troubles

[Glen Wilson]

On Tuesday 16 May 2006 08:12, Brooks wrote:
> Question.....
>
>  by using the drill method are you not turning the engine over as well ??
> do you need to remove the plugs to alow the engine to turn easier ?
>  What is needed to remove the front of the oil pump...is it much of a job
> to do ?
>
> Thanks for your advice..

Dennis,

If I have it right in my head, there is a gear that drives the distributor 
shaft from the side, and the bottom of the distributor shaft in turn drives 
the oil pump. The "screwdriver" tool goes in right past the gear that drives 
the distributor shaft and drives the oil pump, bypassing the distributor 
drive gear. The engine does not turn over at all, but the oil is pumped 
through the passageways. 

There is a coupling at the end of the drive shaft that fits into the oil pump 
drive shaft. The coupling differs between the SD1 engine and earlier engines. 
It's basically a "male" versus "female" difference. If you were to swap a 
distributor from an SD1 to a 3500S, you would have to drive a little pin out 
and change the little coupling. Very simple procedure.

I ground the plastic handle off of a medium size Sears screwdriver so that all 
that was left was the metal "tang" of the tool. I simply put the screwdriver 
into the chuck of a 1/2-inch drive electric drill and ran it at the max the 
drill put out (which I think was 550 rpm) and it was enough to get the oil 
pressure up into the bottom of the normal range of the oil pressure gauge in 
the instrument panel. The gauge works if the key is in the "on" position. It 
used to take about five seconds for the oil pressure to come up. I believe 
the screwdriver blade fits into the oil pump drive gear on the older 3500S 
engine whereas the SD1 would require something that would engage 
the "screwdriver tip/tab/thingie" that sticks up out of the SD1 oil pump 
drive gear. For the 3500S, I attached a piece of hose over the end of the 
screwdriver tip to keep it in the slot as I ran the drill. 

I think that later model GM V8s had a similar arrangement and that you can buy 
prefab tools at speed shops to do the function of the tool I made.

As usual, I'm sure Kent can provide any specific info you need on this. He's a 
crafty bugger!

Glen