Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Okay, so my amp gauge had shorted out and was causing all kinds of problems which I recently remedied by simply by-passing the amp gauge until I can pull it out and have it rebuilt.

With my new coil and switch setup, and since it was a pretty and cool weekend, I took Sophie out for a drive Saturday and we put another 17.6 miles on her. Nobody was out for whatever reason so it let me get her up to 55 and 60 mph for the first time in a while. She doesn't seem happy over 60 because I REALLY need to adjust the valves, they are way out of spec!

Regardless! My oil gauge was giving me some odd readings. I use Lucas 30 weight zinc impregnated oil in the car, this oil only has about 350 miles on it, and I cleaned all the sludge out of the pan and from the pump filter when I changed the oil back in September, inside of the engine is squeaky clean and she was rebuilt completely in 2000. So, the dash gauge usually reads 35-40 pounds at idle and stays between 40 and 50 while she's at any speed over 40 or 45 mph. Last Saturday, the gauge kept going UP while she was at idle, between 45 and 50, and coming down to 40 or 45 when she was at speed. Once she was good and warmed up the guage settled down to showing her at 35-40 at idle, but it took almost to the end of the little drive to do this.

Just thick oil in the cold making the gauge give higher readings? I was just a bit confused why it went up at idle when the motor was colder. Never noticed that happen before. But, on the plus side, so long as the weather stays cool, she's super happy running the roads - just gotta' get those valves set! I swear you need three hands to do them in that car! Thanks!

I had a similar problem with my gauge going up and down very slowly. It was dirt in the oil line partly obstructing the flow. After removing and blowing out the line it returned to normal.