2000 Disco ii 4.0 w/o Secondary Air
After engine swap the new (used) engine started right up but oil light was on. so I shut it down after 10 or 15 seconds. New Rotella 15-40

• First check was the oil pressure sensor. It tested the same as the old one and no oil came out of the hole when I pulled it.
• I flipped my finger on the oil filter and it sounded empty. Unscrewed it and sure enough it was empty. I did not put oil in the filter before. I filled the filter up with oil and reinstalled. Still no pressure.
• Took the oil pressure back out and used a piece of hose and funnel to dump as much oil in there as it would hold. Still no oil pressure.
• Pulled the fuse for the coil and turned the engine over without starting a few times. Still no pressure.
• Pulled the upper oil cooler line on the drivers side used a hand pump and pumped oil into the oil cooler hoping to backfill the system that way. Still no pressure.
• Read for an hour or so on here to get some ideas and I am at a loss. I did not have the oil pump or timing cover off so I never had the opportunity to pack it with vaseline.

What are my next steps?

• I could pull coolant lines to get better access to the oil pressure sensor and pump some oil into that area. But that will take a little while with reassembly to see if it worked I would think that pumping oil in from the top of the oil cooler would have done the same thing.
• Should I take out the oil pressure bypass valve or the oil pressure relief valve? What would I be looking for if I did?
• Should I drain the oil and pull the pan?

Thanks

 

Sounds like the used engine has a worn out oil pump.
Not packing/priming the oil pump on a new engine or rebuild can cause premature wear, as there isn't enough oil where it needs to be on start up, but regardless, it should start to build pressure soon after starting.
Oil pump/timing covers are known to wear out and cause low oil pressure in the 4.0/4.6
You'll have to remove the timing cover to find out, as there isn't much you can do otherwise.

 

Ok. The zero oil in the filter is what made me think that some little valve might be stuck closed somewhere and I was hoping there might be a simple fix to try.
I have looked for a oil flow diagram but cant find one. Would help me wrap my head around the issue if I knew where the oil went in what order.

 

Do you have the Rave Service Manual?
I would check with Army Rover, The Deputy, or Best4x4.
3 of the sites guru's. At least one of them has a link to it in their signature, and they will all know where to download it from. I have it, but don't remember who gave me the link.

 

There is an oil pressure "switch"(ball and spring) in the side of the cover, under one of the threaded caps.

 

Drop the oil pan. Inspect that the oil pickup tube is correctly in the slot to the oil pump.

If yes, then remove it and pour oil into it upside down to verify that it is unclogged such that oil going in one end of the oil pickup tube runs out the other end.

 

I 2 have the RAVE workshop manual. It has been helpful on some things and downright deceptive on others.

I will try this too.

Thinking as I type ... Should I park it so it faces down hill to let gravity get oil to the pump?

I saw in one thread where someone pressurized the system by drilling out a cheap oil filter and used a paint sprayer.

 

Thanks Will try this too.

I will pick up more oil and a new filter on the way home this evening. If there is something I can try before i drain the brand new oil i will try that first. If not I guess I am going to start with oil and drop pan, then move onto front cover and oil pump.

 

With the oil drained and the pan off, it's trivial to install new rod bearings, which is a nice way to begin an engine refresh. If you don't mind loosening the exhaust headers to get to cross bolts, you can also replace the main bearings. You're adding lots of life to your motor at that point. Cam bearings are a different story. They do need casual inspection at this point just to insure that your lack of oil pressure isn't due to walked cam bearings, but if they haven't walked then your oil pump pick up tube or oil pump gears are your problem, all of which can be replaced with the pan dropped, although of course you have to remove the front cover as well for the oil pump gears.

 

I'd certainly drop the pan and inspect the pickup tube & pickup tube O-Ring. I've seen some pretty nasty pickup tube screens before.

Since this a new to you "used" engine was it just removed out of a D2/P38 and then directly installed into your LR or was it torn down, new HG's new upper intake gasket, oil pan gasket, and possibly a new oil pump gear? Just sounds odd that if it was removed from a wrecked D2/P38 you'd think it would be primed already.

Also maybe it's just me, but I've never installed an oil filter dry in my life. I've always filled it with oil then installed it.