Hi Fellas. New to the forum but have been lurking for awhile. Now that spring is upon us and I have been able to play with my '50 panel without freezing my hands off, some questions have arisen. I took it for its maiden voyage this morning, a round trip of about one mile (ever increasing circles 'til I'm comfy with it) and noticed that on start up the oil pressure gauge moved right up, but at the end of the ride it was way down and I couldn't get it to move by adding some rpm's to the mix. I parked it, popped the hood, pulled the filler cap and looked inside and didn't see a whole lot of oil as I supposed there should be. Restarted the engine and the gauge moved up, looked in the filler hole and didn't see a flow of oil. My question is, if your gauge is suspect, is there any way to tell if oil is going where it should? Thanks in advance. Gordon p.s. Nate, you are the King
I guess we've all been through this with our first 216, worried about oil pressure. I've had several that would be just barely off zero at driving speed but never gave any trouble. It only requires removing two acorn nuts to take off your valvecover (and cussing the gas line that's bolted to the T-stat housing), and then you can run it and see if oil oozes between the rockers. It never flows, just oozes. If the rockers don't squeek your probably OK but, for piece of mind, you can disconnect the oil feeder line to the rocker assembly and see if anything is coming out. On later engines they used a hollow bolt to feed the rockers but yours should have a small tubing with a fitting that takes a 5/16 wrench. Good luck
RE: Low Oil Pressure Like Evan says , these old design engines are very low oil pressure but have a _high_ volume of oil circulating around inside where you cannot see it ~ as long as the rockers look " wet " you're good to go , I'd do a _hot_ oil change after your next drive , it may take several oil changes before it stops coming out like crap or with chunks of gooey sludge in it . _HOT_ when changing the oil is the key . use good quality 10W-40 or whatever oil , it really isn't all that important as any major brand of oil you can buy these days is worlds better than what it was diesigned for . Never , _EVER_ use non-detergent oil nor any single weight over 30 in a 216 engine ! . As long as the oil pressure gauge gets up off the peg , it matters not a whit how far , they didn't have those " Idiot Lights " we all got accustomed to way back then so not to worry . Now go back and test drive it some more ! buy and READ the owner's manual and shop manual , learn how to adjust the brakes then DO IT or have it done , soon , this will make it safer whilst you're learning your truck's ins & outs . -Nate
RE: Low Oil Pressure Hello, Why do you say to never ever use a non-detergent oil in a 216? I've been told just the opposite, that a modern detergent oil is bad for the older 216 engine. Since I figured that there were no detergent oils in use in 1952, it made sense to me to stick with the non-detergent 30wt per the shop manual. Comments? Steve
RE: Oil Thread Oh no ~ here we go again ! O.K. , it's like this : professional mechanics , those who actually do the work , will always tell you to use detergent oils , period . Other people who are unclear on how it all works , are all stuck in the dark ages and claim all sorts of horror stories about using detergent oils in older engine , it's ALL B.S. ~ all of it , I only work on vintage stuff , most of it has been drug out of a barn or ditch , whatever and I always do _HOT_ oil changes using only modern detergent oils and I have never , _EVER_ lost any engines this way !. Yes , I can tell you the specifics of one or two mechnics I know who had a problem but if you take care of it and change the oil , it'll be fine . Really . Modern oils are -so- much improved over the crap that was available when our trucks were built it's silly . Finding non-detergent oils is becoming difficult anyway . Who drives thier old beat to heck truck as a daily driver and shop truck , routinely crossing the Mojave desert fully loaded and / or towing some junker behind it ? me , that's who , not the guys with garage queens that never get any use . Follow the logic and ignore the " Urban Myths " and you'll be O.K. . I will -NOT- engauge in any flame wars so have at it guys . -Nate
