Oil pump priming. Vaseline needed?

rumblefish360 said
Completely UN - necessary!

Take your drill and oil pump priming rod, insert and spin. Have a friend turn the crank to get oil everywhere! Your done.

Vasoline? That guy has got to be kidding us!

If your oil pump, old or new, needs Vasoline to help create suction, then the pump is bad. Once the vasoline gets dispersed into the engine (that can’t be good!) what will you do once the oil pump is cleared of it? Take off the pump and re apply vasoline for the spring start up? Non sense! Total nonsense!

RustyRatRod said
IMO, both Vasoline and Lubriplate are both too thick. I have seen Lubriplate stop an oil pump from picking up prime, first hand. Vasoline is even thicker. Prime the oil pump with what it was intended to pump. MOTOR OIL.

Now, I would endorse disassembling the pump, which you should do anyway to check and correct clearances, and putting a THIN FILM of Vasoline as an initial lubricant. There would be nothing wrong with THAT. But to prime it totally with Vasoline.......eh......no.

rumblefish360 said
Sorry Bob. I’ll have to agree on disagreeing.
I have always, only used an oil priming rod and and drill with zero issues over the last 25 years.

I see zero reasons to introduce foreign material or odd oil into the system. If the oil pump doesn’t pump up with decent pressure, there is a problem with ether the oil pump or within the engine. So it then is ether a missing oil galley plug, blocked oil passage or a bad pump.

A lot of trans pumps are gear rotor style and it is highly recommended to pack them with assembly grease when assembling.
Personally I never pack them full because I believe it puts a huge strain on the driving parts of the pump, but just a good coat on the gears so air doesn't get around them on the first fireup.