Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

I am getting closer to trying to start my "new" patrician and had a couple new questions.

1. What kind of modern oil are people running/recommending? The manual says to use 20W oil in my climate, but that seems really, really thin and I have been told that the specifications have evolved since the 50s (though I can't find documentation on that). Is that still what people recommend? I was expecting 10W-30 or 10W-40 to be more appropriate.

2. What size battery is recommended? The manual doesn't give a CCA rating (I don't think those were a thing back then) and the inline 8 seems like it would be fairly hard to turn.

3. Tangentially related: I know similar vintage Dodge and GM vehicles could be connected to a 12V battery to start and test the engine as long as you disconnected it before the generator tried to chharge it. Is that safe for these engines/electrical systems? Obviously you need to male sure the lights, blower motor, etc are turned off first.

I appreciate any insight.

All these questions are asked and answered over and over on these pages so I'll let someone else answer again on the oil.

For the battery, I always use a Group 2 which should be readily available and be sure you have at least a 0 AWG battery and ground cables but larger 00 AWG is even better. Be sure to note that these cars have a positive ground.

For 12v, do that only if you want to risk breaking the starter housing or damaging the flywheel. That said, I have done it but really one should not do so.

You didn't include the only two relevant pieces of information for this type of question: year and mileage.

10W30 oil if lower mileage, 15W40 if higher. If you have problems with the latter then you need engine work. Off the shelf oil is OK. No extra zinc needed. But you may want to use lead substitute in the gas.

Do not use a 12V battery unless you are also the type to fix broken parts with JB Weld and rust holes with Bondo 😉

Whatever battery fits in the tray is appropriate. They don't need to crank fast to start and a same size battery of today is better than OEM.

1. The oil discussion! :LOL: I have been running Lucas Hot Rod & Classic 10-40 in my 53 Cavalier. I know some guys run even heavier, but I don't believe it's necessary unless you have low oil pressure because of a worn engine. When it comes to oil I think one of the more important things we can do for our cars is to change oil more frequently to get rid of the contaminants. I think it's good practice to change oil in the fall before putting your car into storage, if you put your car into storage.

2. I'm not sure what the CCA's are on my 6 volt battery. Your car should turn over okay, like a 6 volt system does, if you have proper sized battery cables that are in good condition. Having said that, nothing wrong with having more CCA's.

3. Your starter can handle 12v, but not the rest of the system. Personally I wouldn't boost off a 12 volt unless 12 volts are going to the starter only, which can be done. There's a guy on Youtube that shows how to boost a 6 volt car with 12 volts safely. Lots of torque on your starter when using 12 volts. There are people that have busted their 6 volt starter after converting their system to 12 volt.

My apologies on the year. It is an 53 Patrician. Looking at the various manuals for the post-war vehicles, they all appear to call for the same type of oil, so I assumed it would have a standard answer.

What do you use to search the forums? It seemed counter-intuitive that the oil question wouod not be discussed at length, but the search on the right-hand side of the window did not come up with anything useful and the FAQ/Start Here areas did not have any discussion of it that I saw.

Use the Advanced Search at the bottom which seems to find things that the other does not.

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It can handle it, kind of. It'll certainly turn over fast on 12V but over time you'll likely end up breaking off the nose and causing a lot of damage. If you are going to be using 12V you really ought to have the starter rebuilt for 12V.

Honestly just stick with 6V and go through the electrical system to be sure everything is good to go. Good and fat battery cables (as mentioned above) are a must. As are clean connections. When things are sorted the car will start quickly and easily on 6V. Mine starts nearly every time within a second or two, even after sitting for a week or more.

-Kevin

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So people with limited funds who are not building show cars.

To be clear, I am not asking about running it long term. I am talking about firing it up to see if the engine can be made to run without a complete rebuild.

I think that was understood and our advice is that it's a risk. There is incredible torque put onto the starter when trying to start it with 12v, not to mention the force from the Bendix jamming the gear into the flywheel. I can't imagine the need to do such a thing. If you are doing it in order to get the petrol pumped up to the carburetor, better to temporarily add an inline electric pump for the purpose and connect only it to the 12v battery.

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Sounds like you're on the same path as I was when I got my car, which wasn't running when I got it, but the car looked to be in reasonable condition. I was doing everything on the cheap, so to speak, until I knew what I was dealing with.

For example I knew the car's battery cables were undersized and old, but I wasn't going to spend money on new ones just to get it fired up. I used my booster cables and ran them in parallel with the car's battery cables. I knew the fuel tank had junk in it so I just ran a line from a 1 gallon jerry can. Anyway you get the idea. After I got things figured and sorted out I started to replace and rebuild things properly.

I don't have a show car, but it's a nice driver!