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

Has anyone else had these problems when I bought this 1940 super 8 one of the lifters had gone bad and ruined a lobe on the cam I sent it in and had it reground finished the rebuild of the engine and started driving. I convinced myself that the guy probably drove it without zinc I've had a couple friends who have ruined their camshafts the same way then I took it on a long trip and one of the lifters started ticking so I looked it up and Packard has a fix for this where they take the oil that feeds the valve galley and instead of plumbing it through the filter they put an extra splitter in have it go straight to the valve galley and have a restrictor to the oil filter and that also didn't fix it but when I was testing the new plumbing I had the cap off of the oil filter and I noticed that the oil coming out of the center was mixed with air lots of air so the next time I drove it and it still had a tick I kept thinking that's it so I pulled the pan and the oil pickup tube I figure that's the only place you can pull air into the oil. It's a two piece that floats up and down and had an o-ring in it it was very small so I put a bigger o-ring in it and then I put some silicone caulk around it too and I think it fixed it and now I've emptied the oil filter and started it and watched it for a few seconds and it's pure oil has anyone else had this issue or is this a known issue

The filter element and canister setup as well as the plumbing on the 356 went thru several changes from 40 thru 42 before they finally settled on the partial flow thru the filter with a full pressure and volume feed to the lifter gallery via the pigtail. The "fix" and filtered oil being dropped directly back into the pan was successful and was used on almost all the inline engines thru 54. The first 288/327 blocks in 48-50 models had flow going thru the filter to feed the lifters again which was OK with solid lifters. As hydraulic lifters became optional in that block with the 23rd series, problems became noticeable again so they went back to the earlier fix for all engines 51 and onward.

The screened oil pickup is supposed to float on top of the oil in order to get the cleanest oil after sludge has a chance to settle. I have not heard of that particular air insertion issue but I suppose if wear and looseness has developed in the swivel connection air could be drawn in. With the larger O ring and silicone I would wonder if the floating action is still possible although from the description in the fact book, it sounds as if the swivel portion might be submerged and should not be able to draw air it the pan has the correct amount of oil. Any chance tubing is damaged or loose and air is coming from somewhere else or could it be low on oil? In that regard, any chance the dipstick could be the wrong one or going down too far giving a false reading? Believe your 356 should have the D version dipstick.

With limited driving and modern oils and additives, doubt sludge would be as much of an issue today so if the O ring and silicone solves the problem then even if it doesn't float then probably not going to be a big deal.

Here is a bit on the floating pickup and a chart showing dipstick differences.

Zinc or lack of it in the motor oil should not be an issue in a 1940 car. You may have an oil line plumbing issue.

Maybe it was low on oil after I changed the plumbing. But after I sealed the floating arm better there's no air mixed with the oil in the filter