Re: TrevorK's 1955 Packard Patrician

Posted by HH56 On 2019/2/19 12:17:59

And another thing on 55 engines is the changes that were made during production to eliminate excess oil going to various other components and starving the lifters -- the rockers and timing chain being the most significant. Those changes were sent to dealers but were more suggestions and not official recall or what Packard called "campaign" type updates.

No idea how judiciously mfgs or dealers notified owners of suggested work back in the day but if a car was remote or not regularly serviced by a dealer, I would doubt even the suggested changes would be known about let alone completed. Without tearing the engine down it would be almost impossible to know if any of the updates were done unless complete records were available. If the engine has not seen some or all of the updates I wonder if even the Olds pump would keep up.

If excess oil is going to say the rockers or timing chain enclosures and then pooling because it could not drain back into the pan quickly -- even if sludge is not present and blocking a passage -- that could cause the pump delivery to be inadequate and lifters would tell the tale.