188d oil pump

[JAMH]

I finished rebuilding my Case 188 diesel engine and I am now in the process of starting it up. I filled the crankcase with oil (5 quarts) and I left the diesel injectors out and have not installed the rocker arm train because I am turning the engine over and want to verify that the oil pump is pumping oil through the system. The engine turns over fairly quickly because there is no compression with the injectors removed. The problem is that after turning the engine over for a couple of minutes there is no oil coming out at the top of the engine. I removed the oil filter and turned the engine over and there is no oil coming out there either. It appears that the oil pump is not pumping any oil. I'm hoping that someone on this forum can help me with what might be the cause.

 

[mEl]

The early 188s oiled the rockers from the center rocker stand and there is a specially marked stud with an A in the center of the bolt head, that is a drilled bolt so oil can come up from the center cam bearing journal. Later 188s oiled from the rear and oil was metered. If you are not running the engine it would probably be safe to loosen the stand up a little and turn it over to verify oil flow. If all is well expect high oil pressure upon cold startup, most run 60-70 PSI so don't be alarmed.

 

[DKase]

New oil pump? Did you prime the pump with oil before installing? Any chance the suction tube could be leaking? Sure the pump is turning? Missing oil line from pump to filter? If all above is OK leave the oil filter off and blow air in the crankcase while cranking. You will have to bolt the valve cover on to get pressure. Expect a mess when the oil comes through the filter line.

 

[JAMH]

Thanks for the good suggestions. After checking most of the things you identified, I decided to drop the pan and pull the pump to inspect it. By pushing and pulling on the gear that is connected to the driven pump gear it seemed that there was quite a bit of end play so the gap between the gears and the cover seems excessive. I had previously inspected the gears and they seemed fine so I reassembled the pump using a new gasket that was supplied in the overhaul kit that I bought. I torqued the 6 bolts that hold the cover on to spec. I think the gasket that was supplied was too thick and therefore resulted in a larger gap between the cover and the gears.

 

[JAMH]

Thanks for the suggestions. With the injectors not in, the engine turns over fairly quickly and
there is no oil even coming to the filter which is right at the discharge of the pump. My next
step is to drop the pan and pull the oil pump for inspection.