Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

at any sign of a problem, i will definately take action, but untill then,....

so what was the faulty component? or was there more than one?

The faulty component is the pump body itself, but it's a combination of a lot of things. First off, the pump's capacity is inadequate for the volume of oil needed by the engine. This, and a possible mis-alignment of the pump shaft causes wear of the top of the oil pump body, which allows air into the pump, causing more wear. Eventually, the pump sucks so much air that it foams the oil, causing the lifter noise. This in turn, causes premature wear to all bearing surfaces, and eventually if unchecked will cause engine failure. I have two 374 V8 engines that have shown catastrophic rod bearing failure, one with just a bad bearing, down to the steel backing, and the other one tossed the rod through the side of the block. Incidentally, NEITHER of my 320's showed ANY kind of bearing wear. BUT, they both had the AMC oil pump on them, which do not have the vac pump. I honestly think that the vac pump causes a lot of it, but it's a combination of all these things, plus bypass oil filtering, will eventually wear out an engine fast if it suffers any of these ailments. Curiously, several people claim NO problems whatsoever, so either they're just lucky, or Packard got those engines/oil pumps right the first time. It's like Russian Roulette with these engines, some get good ones, and some don't. All I can say about this is if you have an oiling problem, forget about a modified stock oil pump, and get the Olds conversion. What's Kanter's motto? "Do it once and do it RIGHT!". I have to agree with that here.

Hi, Eric,

Quote:just couldn't help yourself:>)

thnx, jack vines

No, it hurt not too!

TurboPackman wrote:
Quote:

For once I can 100% agree with Eric. Usually I only agree 50%.

Craig

I had Bob Aller rebuild my second generation pump.I just took it out on a 50 mile Highway run .My oil pressure is great and the lifter noise is gone.I guess there is another alternative.

I'm not at the point in my rebuild that I'm looking at my oiling system. But are later models less prone to this problem? Mainly late 56. Or did packard not catch this before the takeover.

Probably less prone. Meaning more miles of service before SYMPTOMS show up. The problem with BOTH early and late pumps is premature wear at the shaft especialy down near the gear.

Is the pump currently removed from your car???? Do u plan to disassenble the pump???

At this point no, the oiling system is about the only thing not leaking on this car so I don't plan on touching it untill I have to. My odometer reads 86xxx miles or so so it's good to know I still possibly have a while of service left in it.

Mounted a pulley to the distributor shaft at the yellow arrrow in the pic. Also mounted a 1/2 hp 110v electric motor (not shown in pic) to the unit to drive the distributo for oil pump testing.

PRoBLEM: I need some way to regulate the speed of the motor. Tried a sewing machine controller but of course that burned up, not heavy enuf for 1/2 hp. Any ideas???
Preferably something CHEAP.

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