Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

Just to throw some more gasoline on the fire. I recall a Packard press release of about the same time. It was printed in a reputable car magazine. Packard reported that their new OHV V8, in tests on their own high speed track, was capable of running over 100 MPH for 100,000 miles or more. While their old straight eight at similar speeds, had a life of 18,000 miles.

Let's consider what happened with production Packard V8s WRT engine oiling issues in a little further detail.

In January 1955, in response to complaints of squeaking rocker levers, Packard warned Zones that a horizontal oil passage in the head was not drilled deep enough to connect to an opening for the rocker pedestal screw. (Sounds like a short-lived, production-related teething problem.)

Articles and bulletins issued in the months that followed appear to deal with matters of oil consumption and flow control: educating dealer as to what is "normal"; eliminating/plugging holes in the rocker shafts that open toward pushrods, only to return them later (albeit slightly smaller in diameter); adding oil deflectors on all intake valve stems; installing new type oil rings for the pistons. Additional valve spring baffles were later introduced to keep any excess oil off the intake valve stems.

There were a couple references to sticking valves, but - except for advising of a change in valve stem finish - Packard had been through that years earlier with their inline engines. Use of inhibitor oils was strongly recommended in both cases.

While there was also a problem of premature wear at the pushrod end of rocker levers, this was due to a faulty hardening process. Parts on the shelf were recalled by the warehouse and rechecked; those that passed were reissued under a new P/N.

Now, things start to get interesting after a bulletin sent to Zones in July 1955, which advised of a redesigned tappet with greater oil reserve to alleviate complaints of noisy tappets at cold start. (Sounds simple enough, yet...)

Complaints of noise from these new design tappets, but only after the engine gets hot, were first acknowledged to dealers in January 1956. In addition to verifying oil grade and inspecting for dirt under the tappet check valve, dealers were advised to check oil gallery pressure at a specific point and install a modified camshaft thrust plate and spacer to raise it, if needed. Then, replace main bearing shells, as needed, to achieve a minimum 0.001" clearance.

However, the first mention of any problem with the oil pump itself came in March 1956. Continuing with the complaint of noisy tappets at highway speeds after oil gets hot, dealers were advised to check for a sticking oil pump pressure relief valve. The concern was for low gallery pressure at idle, AND aeration in the gallery at higher speeds, but warning that a crankcase over-full by more than one pint can also cause aeration. (Decades later, some owners have found relief by over-filling by no more than half a quart.)

In May 1956, after a confidential field trial involving plugging the relief valve bore, a new pump design was announced for production, with a sump tube kit for field service of previous models - each aimed at preventing air from being introduced into the pump. The second design camshaft thrust plate and spacer and main bearing replacement was also reiterated.

This last release was also copied by Studebaker to its own dealers WRT the 56J Golden Hawk, which used the Packard V8. What's interesting is that the 56J version of the pump did not have the piggy-backed vac pump, but a flat bottom plate. (To me, that erodes some support for the PI modification.)

Looking at all this again, it seems like the first hint of an oil pump problem came on the heels of the implementation of the new lifters with their greater reserve. Perhaps this was some sort of tipping point. If so, then no such problem with the pump could have been encountered in the endurance run.

Yes rusty i would agree 100% with your post about the V8 and streight 8 tests performed by PMCC.

The only thing i would question which is not clear from your post is whether or not the streight 8 was run at 100 mph too altho i assume that it was.

I will further assume that at the 18K mile mark that the streight 8 had failed due to catostrophic internal engine failure such a crank or rod breakage. Best case piston rings worn completely out to paper thin thickness. Off the top of my head the stroke of the 54 8's is in the 4-3/8" range. No way could the rings last at those speeds. I'm surprised they got 18K miles out of them at 100 mph. Well maybe, if they were running an extremely long axle ratio in the neighborhood of 2.80 to 3.0 or less or an overdrive.

BH, excellent recap of the V8 oiling issues. Notice the wording of the SC regarding the piston rings and that it was a fairly late SC????
The ring SC indicates without explanantion that "rings were installed upside down". I contend after having studied the SC's and STB's that any oil consumpion issues with the V8 were strictly ring related and that all of the other band-aid fixes prior to the ring SC were strictly to placate the dealer and customer and of no consequence to reduce oil consumption by any even insignificant amount.

Keith -

The new type oil rings that I had cited were actually announced in May 1955.

However, I forgot about the upside-down compression rings - noted in an article from February 1956. Of course, we know from experience with other V8s that chrome rings were slow to seat, but back in the 1980s, I once found an oil consumption problem in a V8 truck motor in a new Dodge truck where all the gaps in the rings had beeen lined up!

Some of the things Packard implemented WRT to oil consumption complaints may have been overkill - perhaps due to their lack of expereince with OHV motors.

Even today, sometimes too much emphasis is placed on simply satisifying the customer rather than properly diagnosing the problem, which inlcudes verfiying the condition, PRIOR to attmepting any repair.

At the other end of the extreme, modern manufacturers tend to dismiss things as "normal operation" just because similarly-equipped vehicles of same year/make/model exhibit the same condition. That's nothing but a cop-out.

Top speed of the 52 Patrician or 400 straight eight was reported by Tom McCahill to be 101 or 102 MPH. He drove a new car on Packard's test track when he made this test.

So the top speed of the last straight eights would be above 100 MPH and possibly 105 or so for the 54 212HP models.

They must have been comparing engine life at high speeds. I am sure a straight eight Packard would go for 100,000 miles at normal hiway speeds but as you point out, on a long stroke motor piston speed goes through the roof and ring and piston wear are greatly accelerated at such high speeds while rods and rod bearings take a pounding.

The short stroke V8 experienced lower piston speeds and less bottom end stress at high speeds while the heavy complicated pushrod valve train would be pushed to its limits.

The 25K 105 mph test that PMCC conducted is a great test and i'm most glad they conducted it.

Wear characteristics or other analysis of the engine is to-date only interesting details. What the test REALY PROVES is that the Packard V8 is every bit capable of delivering any and all modern day service/performance expectations of a passenger car engine except maybe gas mileage.

I'm fully confident that any oil consumption problems and even fuel mileage could be brought into an acceptable level with a little bit of work and a lot of research.

THose that have Packard V8's and are not experienceing any more than 1 qt of oil consumption on 1000 miles i would be interested in knowing what kind/brand of piston rings are in their engines.

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Brian,

With all due respect to your writing skills and insight, even a full sentence (or two) quoted out of context is easily misleading, What I think PV8 might have been missing in my reply to him was that his repeated capitalization of the word SUSTAINED sent the message that others, including myself, had failed to recognize the different characteristics of engine wear that would be expected under conditions of everyday driving as opposed to track driving. In both cases, you have to read most of both posts to understand my intended irony (although it's true we don't get much of that around here).

Sniping aside,

It's good to remember the average speed during the run, including stops, was over 104 MPH, which means that the car was started, stopped, and brought up to speed many times (how many would be nice to know) and had to have had a very high average track speed, It also had to be accelerated from a stop at a punishing rate--probably full throttle every time. All this makes the run even more impressive. I wish the stops had been timed so average track speed could be established, but if it looks like that information just isn't out there.

I do believe that Packard was being very smart in making this particular demonstration at that particular time in automotive history. Turnpikes were coming into the picture, and road speeds everywhere were climbing. The 25,000 mile run made the point that if you bought a Packard, it could endure these increasing speeds through the years, which as PV8 pointed out, it has done up to the present day!

Not that there weren't other cars of that era that could claim to be "turnpike cruisers" (as Mercury tagged one of their late 50's models) but they didn't have the numbers that Packard did to back it up. It's too bad that Packard never had the kind of advertising budget to plug this feat effectively. The PR department obviously had to do most of the legwork. Free ink is nice, but ads can reach a lot more consumers, and present a lot more drama.

The 25,000 mile Patrician did go on tour, and I remember reading (wish I was able to remember where) a personal anecdote from a current Packard buff who said that as about a youngster saw the Patrician on display and decided that he would have a Packard some day, and no other car.

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Do you know what stretch of US-19 this was? That sounds scary as hell honestly, I haven't driven the whole thing but isn't all of it in the vicinity of PGH pretty hilly, windy, or both? For what it's worth, one time I got my 400 up to half that speed on US-19.