I have a 1959 Century Boat with a Ford 312. Been sitting a long time. I got it started without a lot of difficulty and it actually runs pretty good without  any fine tuning yet.

PROBLEM.............I have the valve covers off and can see oil flowing out of the return tube on the left side rocker assembly but none on the right. I have drained the oil, refilled with new oil and Sea Foam to loosen things up, but no progress. I even removed the rocker assembly and cranked the motor, with no oil flowing from the head. 

Non functioning oil press guage, so no idea what the oil pressure is doing. I was considering getting a screw in mechanical type oil pess gauge until I figure this out. Any brand or model suggestions?  

Thank you

1959 Century Resorter 16' 312 Ford w/velvet drive trans

Remove the right rocker shaft assembly.Crank the motor with the coilo wire off so it wont start.is there any oil flowing from the oil feed passage in the head?If there is than the rocker shaft itself is likely plugged with crud.You can dissasemble it and knock the 2 plugs out of the ends to clean out the inside of the shaft and the little oil squirtholes in each of the rocker arms.This is a very common problem with motors that were not maintained.If you have no oil from the oil passage the passage from the camshaft  to head may be plugged.You can try filling the passage with pennetrating oil or varsol and let it soak and see if the blockage cleans up.The last possibility is that the oil flow from the camshaft has been cut off due to bearing deteroration.This is also very common and usually only affects one side due to engine rotation direction.Unfortunetly the repair involves tearing down the motor and replacing the cam bearings.Also a good idea to have the oil groove in the camshaft machined deeper to about .034 or so.The factory groove was too shallow from the start.Hope this info is helpful.There are lots of topics on this subject if you do a search using the "search" box at the top of page.

  

No oil coming from the head with rocker assembly removed.

So I guess I will try the penetrating oil in the feed hole and hope for the best.

I did not know what words to use in my search, so I just asked the question. I will try a seach now that I know this is common.

Thank you very much.

1959 Century Resorter 16' 312 Ford w/velvet drive trans

The other fix for plugged passage that others have tried is to bolt a plate over the oil passage with a grease fitting tapped into it and force grease with a grease gun down the passage.The pressure will somtimes unplug it.Hopefully someone will list some of the topics previous so you can click on and read.It is probably the second most common problem after rear main oil seal leaks.

  

Sounds like you need to verify the oil pressure at this point.  Is ‘sludge’ evident on the top side of the engine?  If so, you might get lucky in clearing the oil gallery and re-establishing the oil flow.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I have remedied a few by installing solvent (lacquer thinner, carb cleaner or anything thing that will thin the sludge) in the feed hole and put high pressure air to it, keep filling and blowing until you hear the air finally blow through the cam bearing. You can then fill the block with diesel/kerocene, remove the distributor and turn oil pump with a drill to flush oil system, drain and repeat a few times. Fill with oil then prime again. Its not the best thing to loosen sludge from and old engine but it may get your oil system flowing again.

55 Vicky & customline

58 Rack Dump, 55 F350 yard truck, 57 F100

59 & 61 P 400's, 58 F100 custom cab, 69 F100, 79 F150, 82 F600 ramp truck, 90 mustang conv 7 up, 94 Mustang, Should I continue?

I was always afraid of filling a engine with diesel, or other solvent. My concern is that it could loosen so much sludge, that even after changing the filter, and having new oil into the engine, something could get plugged.

My friend Maycon did this to a '94 SS-10 Chevy mini truck he bought used, and at first it was normal, but a few days after, on a wighway some 50 kilometers from his home (and lucky him, just 2 kilometer from my house), the oil pressure got to zero, and he perked the truck. He called me, and I towed the Chevy with my Galaxie to a Chevy dealer in my neighborhood. At the shop, the guys found the mesh of the oil pump to be blocked with lots of sludge particles. The oil filter was alredy at bypess mode.

My other concern is if the diesel, or solvent can damage some oil seal.

I don't know, maybe I'm afraid for nothing, but every time someone says it's going to do this, I have a bad feeling.

Túlio Lazzaroni "FORD", Florianópolis SC Brasil.

'74 Ford Galaxie 500 292 V8

'82 Ford Galaxie Landau 302 V8

'98 Chevrolet S10 4.3 V6

'01 Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec

I like the high pressure air idea. I will try that on Friday. Is it obvious how to spin up the oil pump once the distributor is removed? I have done this on small block gm motors, is it basicly the same set up?

I will also get a oil pressure gauge to verify oil pressure.

Since it is a boat, I have a  lot of room to work. Does the camshaft removal and repair of the bearing need a machine shop, or can I replace the cam bearing with the motor in the boat?

Or is the next step head removal?

Thanks for all the ideas, this is an awsome site. I was refered here from the Ford Truck Enthusiasts site.

I will post any results.

1959 Century Resorter 16' 312 Ford w/velvet drive trans

Tesserra,

Changing cam bearings CAN be done without removing the engine; BUT, it can also be extremely difficult, and is not recommended.

If not done exactly right, even a single lifter dropping will force you to pull the engine anyway.

16 regular clothes-pins are used to hold the lifters UP all the way, in order to clear all cam lobes for cam removal; then, there is the issue of clearance for length-of-cam removal; plus additional clearance for the bearing insert tooling; and, the fact that you most likely will need to remove crank and pistons anyway (for working clearance on cam bearing replacement).

Easiest way is to remove engine, mount on fixture, turn "upside-down", and work on it with ease.

Regards,   JLB

55 Ford Crown Victoria Steel Top

I just went through a similar choice. Using the clothes pins ( the procedure is in the Ford Service Manual) is possible for replacing a cam in the vehicle if you are very careful. The lifters have to be held completely up to allow clearance. But....removing/installing cam bearing involves the cam bearing tool being driven by hammering which can loosen or pop off a clothes pin, dropping a lifter. This can be extremely frustrating and time consuming. I agree that the best solution is to get the motor turned upside down, with the crankshaft removed. I ended up removing the pistons and rods as well.

57 Black Tbird 312/auto