Lazy man's way to prime an oil pump.
Remove the spark plug(s), so the engine will spin faster, and will not start. Then run the starter motor and hope the oil pump 'catches'. Sometimes this works. Some times it does not. I did this once to my Nissan truck which has two sets of plugs per cylinder. With one set removed it still sucked in enough gas for the other set to ignite. The flames are then shot out open holes with the pistions helping. Scary, but the special effects are kinda cool.
You can also remove the oil filter and cover with the same theory that it makes the priming easier for the oil pump. When the oil comes gushing out, you're primed. The oil is always fed from the pump to the filter and then from the filter to the rest of the engine.
I forgot, you can back fill the pump from the oil filter if all else fails. Just remove the filter and find the casting passage that leads from the pump (usually the 'outside' one) squirt oil in until it backs up. At this point you can spin the engine backwards with a wrench to suck the oil into the pump; gravity might help too.
Last edited by RtwHopeful; 17 Aug 2008 at 23:16.
Reason: Forgot the last tip.
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