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Hello new friends - I recently acquired a 1924 Single Eight 143 Touring. I want to change the oil since I'm not sure when that was last done. Just an opinion question for you all who know much more than I do about old cars (this along with a 1929 Chrysler Model 75 Dual Cowl Phaeton is my first foray into the world of antique cars). And no, I'm not going to ask what type of oil to use :) There is a six bolt cover next to the drain plug, which I believe houses some sort of screen/filter. Would it be wise to remove this cover when I change the oil, or am I opening up a can of worms? Would I need a new gasket for that and/or for the oil drain plug? Finally, has anyone been able to come up with a dipstick of sorts for this vehicle? In 1924, they did not have dipsticks, but you could check if you have oil by lifting a lever which then dumps out a small amount of oil to tell you that, yes, you do have oil (I believe Model T's use the same method). I did that once, and now it leaks a little from that valve since I disrupted the seal. I don't want to have to rely on that method to check the oil. My thought is to put a stick in the oil fill opening after I change the oil to see the level and use that as a guide. Has anyone done that? If not, any reason why that wouldn't work? Thanks!!

Sounds like a great car, how about a picture?

The plate next to the drain plug covers the oil pump inlet and it's protective filter screeen and yes, it should periodically removed and the screen cleaned to insure the oil has unrestricted access to the pump inlet. Chances are you'll need a new gasket, easy enough to make or I'm pretty sure Olson's would have it, the same gasket was used for many years.

Based on my experience with later models of that engine I think you'll find that there is a restriction in the base of the oil filler assembly that would make it difficult to check the oil level by inserting a dip stick into the crankcase. Hopefully someone will have a alternative method for you.

I fitted a permanent dipstick to my 1922 Single Six, which has the same oil level setup as your 143. The problem with using a stick in the oil filler is that it will hit the crankshaft. The solution in my case was to braze a copper guide tube, for the dipstick, to the underside of the oil filler, bent so that it avoided the crankshaft.
For the dip stick I used section of 3/32" dia straight spring wire flattened a little, on the oil level end, with a full mark. This was all done when the engine was apart for rebuild.
The difficulty with this solution in your case is bending the guide tube to miss the crankshaft, without having the engine apart. It may be possible to turn the engine by hand and achieve the same result by trial and error.

G"day Packtriots,
to PackardInfo.

I invite you to include your '24 143 Single Eight in PackarInfo's Packard Vehicle Registry.

Photo attached. Thank you for the information!

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  vp8X08lS4EnmWBo113dSv3YE.jpeg (189.27 KB)

This makes sense - thank you! I'll try to give it a go and see if I can make it work. If I'm successful, I'll come back on and let others know how I made it work.

Thank you! I just listed my Packard onto the registry.