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

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:toocool:

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:toocool:

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???

I got another question...If I pulled pulled out all my lifters and primed my oil plump w/ my drill. Should I see oil flowing through the 2 lifter oil galleys? do the oil galleys come up from the bottom of the engine between each lifter bore too? or do they just come from the backof the engine and the oil flow from back to front-meaning that oil would have to "SHARE" the flow through the back set of lifters while it makes it way to the front of the engine? I gotta figure this damn thing out. If anyone has any insight let me know please.

Thanks Denny for that image. I might have to bring the damn thing in. I don't know what it could be now. I pulled and tore the engine down. Took the intake off and checked all expanasion plugs and they all were there. Took off all rockers and lifters/pushrods and then primed the oil pump. I get excellent pressure up through the oil pressure sender port behind the distributor.
While priming I could see some oil coming out of the passenger side lifter gallery in the hole right where you would stick your primer and drill down to reach the oil pump Tang. I could see Some oil coming out of the back of the engine out of the rear drivers side expansion plug which I took out. It didn't come firing out though like it does from the port behind the distributor. Should it come firing out like that port behind the distributor? I would think it would. I noticed after pulling my heads off that I couldn't get oil to come out of that rear drivers side oil gallery in the rear of the engine....does this have something to do w/ pressure? It was just coming out prior to pulling the heads.
I also found after pulling my heads that they were not drilled for steam holes-I knew it and my engine builder said they were drilled. What a jackass.
Well one last thing I did was check my oil pump pickup and it was off by 1/2 inch or so...I don't know if this would have affected that. I readjusted it so it is now 1/4 inch off the bottom of the pan. I never checked the oil flow after readjusting the pickup though. Any other insight would be great so I don't have to make a trip to the machine shop.

I am having a similar problem. I have a 1973 350 block with 1993 TBI & HEI. Completly reworked the block. I put a High volume oil pump in. New Cam .452 - 230 and Lifters roller rockers with 1.6 ratio. All new bearings, freeze plugs. It started just pine and said it had 40 psi oil pressure. I haven't even put it in gear yet. Maybe a totla of 4 min running. The first knock I killed it. I pulled the valve cover and I am getting no oil out of the valve covers. I did happen to notice a puddle of oil under the rear of the engine but thought it was the rear main. At a loss please help

I dont see a plug here. 327 must be different

The rear main seal has an orientation. The thick end of the seal goes toward the front of the engine. Heres a pic of what I mean. Remember I have a 327 chevy

what happens if you break a new engine in with syntetic oil?

Same with 20w50?

If you don't have a oil pump primer will the oil pump prime it's self up?

Oil! there is no real reason that u cant break-in an engine
with synthetic oil what weight u you use is up to you

The oil pumps should be primed by using a drill through the distributor hole to prime the pump. However the fact is your oil pump is self priming.... The reason you use the drill and run the oil up into the engine first is to reduce the amount of time your engine turns before the oil is there. Will yak with ya anytime DH

just unhook ur distributor wire roll the engine over till you get pressure at your gage. essembly lube should protect till then

hey thanks for the info. :) I'll let you know how it goes.

ok I got oil coming out of the rockers with the primer. I still only have a max of 40 psi oil pressure with a high volume oil pump. There was some bubbles on the dip stick. Will the oil pressure go up when all the air is out?

when I first start it up, it will show 40 psi then go down from there. All the way down to 0. I don't get it. Everything is new. Could I be starving the engine for oil with the high volume pump?

The oil pick up was welded on when I bought it. It came with a stud kit and hardened shaft. I torqued the oil pump down to spec.

OK the engine is cuming out. I talked to the machine shop where they did my crank and heads. The rear cam bearing might not be all the way up the the cap in the block. This was the first time I ever changed cam bearings so it sounds right.

It was the rear cam bearing. It was about an 1/8 of an inch away from the cam plug.

ok now I am lost. I corrected the rear cam bearing and all the others looked good. I put a stock oil pump on. checked and re lubed the mains. Hooked up the oil pump primer and getting plenty of flow out of the passenger side and next to none out of the driver side. the block has been boiled in castic lye. everything cleaned. what gives?

wont feed both lifter galleries without dist in place if you look down dist hole you will see oil bypassing lifter gallery
:toocool:

OMG I think Cannibal Chicken may have given you the answer. SBC rear cam bearing holes must line up with passages in the block to transfer oil to the lifter galleys. Pull the cam and check it out. On tha old 265's, there was a notch in the rear cam journal that did the job, guys would put in a newer cam and get the same symptoms you describe.