Thread: Oil not squirting from rockers w/ over 60 psi on gauge!!!

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Hey fellas, my chevy 400 is not getting much oil up in the rocker area. By this I mean when I take of my valve covers the oil does not squirt from the pushrods or rockers. I've adjusted my valves numerous times before and can get them quiet but they just seem to make noise after I drive it. I do get SOME oil up there but I thought it is suppose to squirt out. I'm wondering what would cause this. I have a high volume oil pump, all new pushrods, new roller rockers. Could my lifters be bad? would that cause the lack of oil in the upper valvetrain? When I push down on the rockers after driving it seems as though my lifters aren't pumping up....
I don't get it... I adjusted my valves correctly w/ no noise and the engine sounding good. I then take a spin and start hearing tapping from the rockers. ( I get up to 75 PSI on the oil gauge.)After taking the car for a spin I remove the valve cover and push down on the rockers and it seems just seems like spring tension from the lifter...what gives??? the engine seems like it's missing too because of the valves not opening and closing properly because of the lifters (I think). I'm running a hyd 292/512 cam. My mechanic seems to think there may be oil restrictors in the engine but i have a Hyd cam. I don't think my engine builder would have done that, although they did make some mistakes on the engine already. Please help I'm at my wits end with this engine.

Denny thanks for the reply....I haven't checked the oil galley plugs because that would involve pulling the damn engine again (correct?) there is the three by the flexplate and some under the timing chain cover (correct?)
I have been able to get them squirting somewhat when adjusting the rockers/ valves but never like i've heard there suppose to. I can't get any answers from my builder anymore- he's actually out of state. What would you do? Could it just be my lifters or maybe a crap oil filter (Fram) that came apart? I really appreciate the replies because I'm about to throw in the towel. I 've never had so much bad luck w/ anything in my life. This engine has been a problem since day 1. Last Feb. 04' is when I got it and I've put less than 200 miles on it because of all the problems I've had.

I get what you mean Denny...but it couldn't be a blocked oil galley or just bad lifters? Also can you get to all the plugs wo/ pulling the engine?

Thanks for the pics Denny. So you would lean toward the front plugs huh? The only way to get to those rear plugs would be to pull the tranny and flexplate too. That sucks. Is there anything else you could think of. How hard would it be to plug a oil galley altogether? Could some RTV plug one up that bad maybe? Have you ever run into this situation?

Makes sense to me. I hope that's my problem. Here we go again. What else could I look for if I find that the front plugs are in there? Sorry so many ???'s I just want to get this right.

Makes sense to me. I hope that's my problem. Here we go again. What else could I look for if I find that the front plugs are in there? Sorry so many ???'s I just want to get this right.

just a thought here but if the front plugs were out oil would flow to the pan but you probably wouldnt have that high oil pressure i agree if rear plugs were out or loose it would be on ground definitely if no external leaks on ground i would tend to believe the oil journal plug under the rear main cap was inadvertently left out not pressurizing the top end of the motor but developing good bottom end pressure reading i wish i had a pic for you but i have seen this happen many times on cars in this area its easy to forget that plug

Thanks coondawg for the reply, I'll check that even though it should be bitch. I'm trying to avoid pulling the engine if I can. Anyone else have any ideas.

Does anyone have a pic of that oil journal hole under the main cap?

they make oil galley plugs for a reason its not to experiment on your motor either take off 1 of your roller rockers look at the ball area and take a stamped style rocker and look at the ball area one has a thru hole the other doesnt

like i said i dont have a pic but i know that the oil pressure sender port beside distributor on back of top if motor is drilled all the way thru to rear main and intersects the channel above the oil filter.. the plug is put in thru the block on the bottom under the rear main and is inserted past the channel to the oil filter. it diverts the oil pressure up to the central oil gallery instead of bleeding most of the oil volume back to the pan.. had a friend who ruined 2 motors thinking he had good oil pressure on guage it must be ok after doing 2nd motor in he took it to a different machine shop who noticed problem right away.. if you have another small block setting around pull the oil pressure sending unit out and insert a skinny screwdriver and take a rough measurement then check your measurement while still in car ... if measurement is different you will know your problem

I pulled the engine today and found that the front plugs under the timing chain were in fact installed correctly-meaning they were all there and staked to prevent being pushed out. I pulled one of the plugs in the rear of the block and found that the too were corrct and without oil restrictors. I didn't have time to pull the oil pan to check the plug underneath the rear main cap-as the lady was on my ass. I'm almost afraid to look under there and find that it too was installed correctly. What else can I look for if I find that that plug is in there? Anyone have any other thoughts...

One way to insure you are getting oil to the lifters is pull one of the front lifters and your distrubutor and get an oil pump priming tool for your drill. Run your oil pump with your drill and look for good oil flow to your lifter down the lifter bore. I friend of mine had one rocker that wouldn't get any oil, we did what I mentioned above and found the lifter to be getting good oil. It turned out the lifter was bad. What kind of lifters do you have, he had edelbrock and I know of another person who had edelbrock and both would pump up or allow oil to flow through the lifter. Wonder if edelbrock has a quility control problem with these lifters?

In Car Craft they have a list of common engine mistakes and that was one of them #9 I believe. But Car Craft stated that syptoms were low oil pressure. My pressure is excellent. We'll find out if that suckers in there.

Well just like I figgered... I pulled the pan off and the rear main cap and that plug is in fact installed. I guess I don't know which way to turn now.
I did manage to pull the drivers side rear oil galley plug and it was not a restrictor like I said. I was unable to get the other two on the rear as they strippped DAMN! but I think it's safe to say that there are no restrictors in there. Should I opt for a new set of lifters? I was thinking of getting a new cam anyway. Any thoughts? Anyone. What else could it be???