Oil Pump?

I have seen a previous post about getting the head gasket the wrong way round blocking the oil hole at the back of the block (nearest the battery on the left if your in the seat) Its a pertrol parafin 1953 by the way.
The new gasket had a holes for this oil way at both ends so I figured it could not be put the wrong way. Which ever way I put it the oil way was open.
Could it be the oil pump? The presure gauge reads between 30-40 which is higher than I got before if it was the pump I would have expected little of no presure.
Is there anything else I should check before changing the oil pump/taking the head off again?
I suppose if I take the head off again I will not be able to reuse the gasket?

Thanks in advance
Mike
PS as a side note on the rocker shaft there is a small stud that screws into the first pedestal it had worked out and was lying in the top the the head should this be tight in the shaft? how do I stop it working loose?

I would suggest that you only remove the valve cover, and loosen/remove the rocker shaft - then crank it over on the starter (ignition off) and see if you get oil appearing via the oilway. That will at least start to pinpoint where the problem may be.

It is unlikely to be the oil pump.

If you have to remove the head, you should replace the head gasket(s)

From your description, it sounds like you have a large-ish lump of crud in the oilway. When you blew air back down the block, the lump moved - this is a good thing. Blowing the lump into the block was a bad thing - as it then got pushed back into the place it last got stuck as soon as the oil started to flow again.

Suggest you blow air in thro the gauge line, and see if you can force this lump up thro the top of the block - it may come out with some force/speed when it comes - so don't look down the hole while you're doing it (ha ha). This will only work if the lump is a bit of old sludgy oil, if it is anything tougher then the next plan would be to pull the camshaft out - that being another point/area where the lump may be sitting (in the camshaft bearing) as that is the next oilway back from the rockers.

Sadly, you may be looking at relative major surgery to get this problem solved - but from what you have said, if you continue to run it, you will end up doing a shedload of damage :(

What puzzles me is how anything other than a lump of old sludgy oil could have got past the filter and the pump - so you may yet be able to persuade it thro the system with compressed air, or you could temporarily tweak the oil pressure relief valve and increase the oil pressure to see if that will shift it - might work better than air.

Be prepared to 'flatten' a few batteries with the oil pressure option, you may need to grind/force this lump for a while before it moves.

Good luck. Sorry if the last paras were a bit rambling - I'm thinking aloud.

It's not a surprise that you can't blow air from the rocker oil passage in the top of the head through to the mail oil gallery. The connection from the oil gallery to the upper part of the head only occurs intermitantly for a few degrees of camshaft rotation.

(Quoting from the Gregory's fine reprint of the Massey Ferguson TE20 - FE35 service and Repair manual):
"A spiral oil groove connects two flats which are machined on the camshaft rear journal in such positions that as the shaft revolves, one approaches the oil inlet drilling from the gallery , while the other approaches a second drilling through the cylinder block and the head to the rear rocker shaft pedistal. MOMENTARILY, during each revolution of the camshaft, both holes are uncovered by the flats and oil under gallery pressure passes along the spiral groove and up to the hollow rocker shaft ...(etc)... "

Thanks to the excellent advice of several of the folks on this message board I recently purchased this manual from the US distributor of Bare-Co tractor parts in Austrailia. I recommend it and them.

Finally, if you want to spin the engine at a reasonable speed with a minimum battery drain, remember to remove the spark plugs.

(thats a lot of two finger typing)

I had a nasty feeling that camshaft removal was the option, but didn't have the heart to say it.

You just need to slowly turn the engine by hand, using the the starting crank handle or a wrench on the front crankshaft pully nut, until the flats on the rear cam bearing are in the right orientation (uncovering the oil passages). At this point the air (or oil) should be able to move all the way from the main oil gallery to the top of the head. (or vice versa)

You might be able to detect the proper cam (and crankshaft) orientation by having someone blow air into the top end of the oil passage (in the head) while you turn the engine over slowly by hand. A change in sound, or a squirt of oil, at the oil pressure gage hole in the main oil gallery would be an indication that the flats on the cam bearing were oriented to the oil passages. At this point the spiral groove in the cam bearing journal connects the two oil passages.

Reasons not to take the cam out:

1 the spiral groove in the cam forms part of the passage. Without the cam in place there is not a direct pressure connection between the passages.

2 the pulling the cam usually involves pulling the lifters which involves pulling the head. If I was going there I wouldn't start from here ;^)

As soon as I have some free time I'll look at a couple of spare engines in my barn. I may be able to figure out where the engine is with respect to TopDeadCenter when the flats line up with the passages.

By the way, was there very thich sludge in this engine or had it sat for a long time before you started working on it?

good luck
Dick

If all else fail, John(UK) is clearly correct, the cam would have to come out to clean the spiral groove.

(foot in mouth)Dick

PS: A couple of approachs that I have found useful in the past for evaluating oil flow when the engine is partially disassembled for inspection or not running are:

either remover the distributor and drive gear and drive the oilpump with a shaft mounted in an electric drillmotor. (useful for priming a new engine) If this is done make sure the direction of rotation is correct.

or alternativly fill a small pressure tank with a gallon or so of oil and use air pressure on the tank to drive the oil through the oil passages via one of the normally plugged holes in the oil gallery.
(this alternative can be used even while the engine has the oil pan removed for inspection.)