I have a SIII and have the same problem. On start-up, I do not rev the
engine for fear of damaging it. Before, I rebuild my own engines and
never experienced a problem like this. (No cracks about why the engine
needed so many rebuilds, it didn't. I have owned nine Sunbeams over
the years.) But at that time, I lived in an apartment and had someone
else rebuild my engine after the front pulley pin broke and messed up
the crank. Since then, and this has been about 4 years ago, I have
experienced no oil pressure at start up. All the oil drains back down
into the engine when the engine is not running.
Chris Stephenson
Alpine III
Atlanta, GA
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Oil Pressure Build-Up
Author: TEdlund(at)aol.com at Internet
Date: 8/14/96 9:19 AM
Our Series V (B395009965) takes an abnormally long time to build up oil
pressure at start-up. After the engine starts you can hear (I suppose its
the valve train) quite loudly until the pressure builds then it quiets down.
If I started the car several times in the same day the problem doesn't
exist. If the car sits for a day or two between starts the problem reoccurs.
Its as if all the oil drains back into the sump and the whole system needs
to be re-primed.
I used to think that the problem was a bad anti drain back valve in the oil
filter until I tried two other filters (another Fram and a Wix which is on
the car now).
The engine was rebuilt about 2,000 miles ago (by someone else). The oil
pressure (once it builds up) is 55 lbs. when cold and about 40 lbs. when hot.
Did I get three bad oil filters in a row or is there some other reason why
the pressure takes so long to build? Could a bad oil pressure relief valve
cause this? Any advice would be appreciated.
Terry Edlund
San Diego, CA
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