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No oil pressure on start up after oil change.

1967coronet

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New 51515 wix filter and 5 new qts of Lucas hot rod 10-40 oil. Opened the door fired it up. Looking under the hood for leaky filter ect.
Lifters start ticking , WTF, zero pressure shut it right down.
I have never had to prime the filters on this engine.
It only sat 10 minutes with no oil in it.
Any of you guys ever get a bad wix filter or one that won't self prime ?

I'd love to screw the old wix filter back on and fire it but I'm chicken sht.
Gonna pull the distributor and check the pump drive.
 
Had one leak on me doing the Wife's 67 Forumla S.. but I have NEVER primed a filter or pump in my life.

This did happen to Dave with a Fram though in the past year or so..
 
Getting ready to head back out and pull the filter and see if there is oil in it.
 
YES I've had a bad Wix 51515, no oil pressure, car was fine with a different filter.

I never fill filters, done thousands of oil changes. No need, waste of time and maybe spilling oil.

And where do you fill it, right down the center hole? That's when the clean oil comes out, not where the oil goes in.
 
But what if you only put clean oil in the filter ??
 
All it does is saturate the filter so oil comes through faster on start up if anything. Why not!?
 
Well thanks for the replies, I can say this is a 1st.
Pulled the new wix it was not primed .
Pulled the distributor, drive shaft is fine.
Dropped the distributor back in , dumped the oil out of the used napa 1515 screwed it on , Pulled the coil wire and cranked for a few seen the gauge wiggle, put the coil wire on , fired it up and right up to 60lbs.
Whew...... ,
1st time I've ever had a filter not self prime.
I shut it right off, and will grab a new filter tomarrow.
The old filter only had 1500 miles on it give or take. So I will prob skip 5 new qts. & just add 1
 
I've never had that happen on a filter change. Pump lost prime somehow. I almost always use Wix 51515, too.
 
When I was a teenager working at a gas station,we had a Cadillac do that.
 
I've never had that happen on a filter change. Pump lost prime somehow. I almost always use Wix 51515, too.
Same here, ethire wix or napa/wix.
Oil was real hot, I took a 14 mile cruise before I drained it.
 
This 440 is a good engine / pump ect.
Runs 35 lbs hot idle and 60 at speed.
Well I can add this to the never say never list.
 
Kind of shocking news, my friend. Never heard of such...but will keep an eye out now for sure.
I do tend to put some oil in a new filter before installing (of course, can't do that very much because
of the horizontal filter mounting).
(BTW, the FSM doesn't mention anything about filling/partially filling the filter before installing).
Happy you got it figured out. :thumbsup:
 
Well thanks for the replies, I can say this is a 1st.
Pulled the new wix it was not primed .
Pulled the distributor, drive shaft is fine.
Dropped the distributor back in , dumped the oil out of the used napa 1515 screwed it on , Pulled the coil wire and cranked for a few seen the gauge wiggle, put the coil wire on , fired it up and right up to 60lbs.
Whew...... ,
1st time I've ever had a filter not self prime.
I shut it right off, and will grab a new filter tomarrow.
The old filter only had 1500 miles on it give or take. So I will prob skip 5 new qts. & just add 1
According to the service manual you only need to change the filter every other oil change so every 8000 miles.

Noone ever does it though...
 
Kind of shocking news, my friend. Never heard of such...but will keep an eye out now for sure.
I do tend to put some oil in a new filter before installing (of course, can't do that very much because
of the horizontal filter mounting).
(BTW, the FSM doesn't mention anything about filling/partially filling the filter before installing).
Happy you got it figured out. :thumbsup:
I know Ed, crazy for sure, eye balling that wix everything looks normal as compared to the used napa/wix.
I did give plenty of time on the warm engine for the new oil to make the trip to the pan.
Car was sitting back to level on the floor ect.
Can't explain it.
Will see tomarrow eve with the next new filter lol.
Have a good night.
 
Kind of shocking news, my friend. Never heard of such...but will keep an eye out now for sure.
I do tend to put some oil in a new filter before installing (of course, can't do that very much because
of the horizontal filter mounting).
(BTW, the FSM doesn't mention anything about filling/partially filling the filter before installing).
Happy you got it figured out. :thumbsup:
:lol:that was record time for me on a distributor out and back in , chalk marks included .
 
I'm not sure if it was Nick's garage or Frieburger, but the filling of the oil filter helps create the vacuum to get the oil pump up to pressure (sort of the same effect of packing the pump with Vaseline). I just changed oil yesterday and put about 1/3 a quart in the oil filter and let it sit on the bench while I grease the zerks. The paper element soaks up the oil and nothing drips out while installing the filter. The oil pressure jumped to 65 within 2 seconds of firing.

IMG_20250525_141527578.jpg
 
As dadsbee mentioned, this happened to me last year. 3 different Fram PH8 would not prime. One of my buddies who is a racer dropped in and said to get rid of the Fram, and use a Wix. I did this, and, Boom, 75 lbs. cold. I had used Fram for 40 years with no troubles, but no more.
 
Factory service manuals, trade schools, factory training classes, never read or heard any say to fill the oil filter. Put it on and go, times a wastin! And they warranty these engines.

Will it hurt anything, probably not. Is it necessary? NOPE!
 
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