The Jensen Owners' Club

Hi guys
Sorry if this has been asked before just wondering what you guys do on start up with a new oil pump I was going to pack the pump with Vaseline crank it a few times without firing then start it going to have a go this weekend.
Cheers chris

Use a drill driven oil pump primer to turn the pump over with the distributor removed. They only cost $10-$20.

Just wondering why you are changing the oil pump? New engine? Did you take the oil pan down and clean or replace the pick up tube? Unless it gets scored from lack of oil the pump should not need replacing under normal use.

Hi got some valve noise and not being a mechanic and reading up on it I thought it would be worth changing the oil pump I do have a new sump gasket sat in the garage but I’m right in that to get the sump off the 440 you have to unbolt the engine mounts and jack it up a bit on the gearbox to get the clearance.
The engines never been out of the car and I’d love to get it rebuilt as it’s tired but not in a position to at the moment.
Cheers chris

Not very common for these engines to make valve noise. When you take the oil filler cap off and look inside is it clean or full of sludge? Has the timing chain ever been done? These engines came with a plastic coated cam gear and it breaks up and clogs the oil pump pick up before it actually goes bad. Could be your issue here. What kind of oil pressure gauge readings do you get? By the way the engine has never been out of my car either and it still runs great showing about 93,000 miles. I did replace the timing chain set and clean the pickup out though. In regular use back in the day these engines were good for at least 150k and by that time the rest of the car was usually junk!!

Looking inside the filler it’s clean I had the timing gear done by cropredy bridge while I was still in the UK about 12 years ago I’ll take the car for a spin tomorrow to check oil pressure readings