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

The above give you sound advice, Mr. Retired. But about this "coup." Are you under indictment, out on bail, otherwise in a position to enjoy this old two-door automobile?

Meanwhile, your question has been exhaustively answered hundreds of times over the years on this wonderful site. Refer you to the EZ-2-use Search tab on the upper right of the homepage.

The trick is to get elected.

When selecting where to stage your next coup, consider a smaller, tropical nation with an unpopular government and an oversupply of beautiful young women.

Hear, hear!

Jeez!
Omit the e in coupe and Don Rickles shows up 😂.
So much for auto-correct🙄.

I think we could all use a chuckle now and then and I am happy for them even when they are at my own expense!

As for auto-correct, I used to be the editor of Nor Cal Packards PAC region’s newsletter, the Pious Pelican, for many years where I came up with some good ones which, unfortunately, I can’t blame on autocorrect as it did not exist then. For me, it more often than not takes words, uncommon words especially but even common ones due to a keyboard flaw that sometimes skips an occasional keypress, that are otherwise spelled correctly and MIS-spells them into whatever it thought I meant! Case in point is that auto-correct changed Nor Cal into Not Cap which I had to change back twice before it was left alone!

One thing to be considered in choosing an oil would be the condition of the engine. If it has been rebuilt or cleaned and has relatively low mileage since that was done then probably OK to use any oil and several have given their suggestions. If the engine has routinely gone long periods without an oil change or one that is high mileage with an unknown history or was always run with non detergent oil I would be somewhat cautious on using an oil with detergents. If an engine that has a heavy layer of sludge suddenly sees an oil with one of the detergents designed for aggressive cleaning it might cause some sludge to break free and clog an oil passage.

Not sure about previous oil used or existing type in it but it is dirty and needs to be changed.
Up until now it wasn’t driven much.
I’ve put about 400 miles on it this summer and had to add about a quart of 30 weight low detergent oil about every 100 miles or so. Don’t know about the sludge situation but as mentioned it runs great with good oil pressure on the original gauge. I’ve got the original owners manual and a 1937 shop manual and neither one mentioned an oil filter. Penngrade 1 sae 30 seems to have what needs.
Any thoughts?
Thanks

Rickles? More like Steve Allen or Robert Benchley.
These are Packards. Let's have some decorum.

Since the overall condition is unknown I would suggest pulling the pan or a valve cover to check the sludge condition before making any decisions. Others on the forum have often suggested that pulling the oil pan and cleaning out any visible sludge in the pan and on the lower end surfaces be a recommended early on procedure after acquiring any "new or unknown history" car.

Sludge has a tendency to deposit on the surfaces of the lower end and valve chamber or pool in the pan sump. Some photos of recently acquired cars where new owners removed the pan have shown the oil pickup assy being completely surrounded or even submerged in the stuff with only a small channel able to supply circulating oil to the screen.

If running into something like that then a good cleaning of loose stuff should be done followed by using a very light detergent oil along with a more frequent oil change for a time or two. The oil you have been using might work since no problems have surfaced in 400 miles. Conversely, if the pan and lower end or valve chamber is relatively clean then using a quality brand oil similar to those recommended earlier should not be a problem.