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I hope that your problem is truly resolved. Some of the best people on this site contributed and I am impressed as usual.

I have an update on my situation, turns out my initial optimism wasn't justified, and I'm still facing the issue. The engine was put back in the car and after and extended run it still has the issue, a real bummer. The thinking now is the case is cracked and when hot enough will allow the oil to leak.

Part of the reason to post this is as information that may benefit someone in a similar straights, at the back of the case the casting has a pathway from the rear main bearing the the point the oil pressure drives the instrument on the panel, the thinking is that the aluminum is cracked and when hot will open up and lose oil, a lot of oil. this was inspected, looked at it myself, nothing was apparent, but the car still loses the oil. Cracks in aluminum can be tough to locate.

I was skeptical when we had it out that that was my issue, the radiator was not attached to the engine, as a result the engine never got hot enough to fail, a garden hose was used to provide cooling water for a test.

In November before the engine was pulled I found a fellow who was selling a '34 engine without the accessories and I went and bought it.

The '35s engine previously had been overhauled, so it has all new internal parts, main bearings, crank, inserts, pistons etc, so the thinking is to move all this stuff on to the the 34 case.

I'd be interested any thought from anyone here on what may make sense at this point and any issues that may be encountered trying to do what I'm describing, at this point we haven't yet started to work the situation what I'm planning on is a follows:

- Buy some oil dye and run the car with that, the aluminum at the back of the case when the engine was pulled was very clean looking no hint of a leak, but I'm told that this is normal because the metal used back in the day cleaned up like this, can any one confirm that? I'm just not comfortable with guess work on what is causing the leak.

- Does the oil die work, have you seen it used with a situation like I'm facing?

- Will there be issues with a case from the 34 being used with all the other pieces from the '35. I'm wondering if moving the bearing blocks from one case to another would work and be in tolerance for the crank, or would the parts need to be redone (ouch!)

- would appreciate any thoughts on pitfalls with the engine work I may not know about, education seems expensive If I'm headed off in the wrong direction please tell me!

I'm wondering if moving the bearing blocks from one case to another would work and be in tolerance for the crank, or would the parts need to be redone (ouch!)

Sorry to hear your problem isn't solved. I have nothing to add to that but concerning the above question you posed:

Main bearing caps aren't generally interchangeable between blocks without some remaching work; if it turns out that they are it's pure coincidence. If you use the caps from one engine on another, the crank should be removed, aluminum crankcase still attached to the cast iron bores, caps attached, and resized and line-honed to insure they have proper diameter and a correct and common centerline. Pretty exacting work though there are still some shops that do it with some regularity.

Dear ClassicCrusier:

Wow, that sure is an expensive investigation!

The oil level float would leak with the motor sitting and be readily detected via dripping on the floor.

If you are certain the rear main slinger is okay, and the oil pan gasket has the drain hole in it, and the dowls are in place, I guess you have to move on. At least you indicate that you are certain the leak is not inside the bell housing.

Packard crankcases will rupture in the presence of too much oil pressure, but those leaks are usually internal and your oil pressure would be rotten. So I would rule that one out.

Here is another possibility - I have run into store bought gaskets where the oil drain holes in the valve chamber were in the wrong place. You wouldn't notice it unless you spend a lot of time with Packards.

I would try removing the valve covers and checking the drain holes to make sure they are not blocked off. You can see them in the castings. This will cause leaking only when the motor is running.

Next, the dye method is a very good approach and can be done at any garage that has a black light. However, this massive an oil leak should be readily visible unless oil is being burned. Perhaps you should have somebody drive behind you and see if there is any smoking. Or take the car to a place that has a dyno and put the thing under load.
On a dyno it will dump a quart of oil in under 30 minutes -That's huge.

If this case came to me I might try the following:

a) Go to a place that services diesel trucks and buy a few gallons of their waste oil. Used diesel oil is super black.

b) Clean the motor really well with prep sol top and bottom.

c) Drain your clean oil and put the diesel stuff in. Don't worry, it's not going to damage anything for this test.

d) Buy some white wallpaper, bedsheets, tarpaulin, whatever and lay it out under the car.

e) Now run the motor at high idle and watch for the black oil.

Clean up will take some time, but it is easier than taking the motor out.

Finally, moving parts from one motor to another is not a good idea. Packard motors were pretty much hand built and I have noticed that original cars that have never had the crank removed always have less vibration than rebuilt motors. Thus, I think you should stick with what you have.

Hope this helps.

Have u checked the Vacuum Diaphragm on the fuel pump. When these go bad the engine vac. will suck the oil out of the crank case.

Im thinking maybe u have 2 or 3 small leaks at the rear and its looking like one big one and the large loose of oil is coming from via. vacuum. A drop of oil of the floor can look like a qt.

I agree with PacakardBarry.

I was thinking about that too, but I have never experienced one that was sucking oil. On the Senior Eights the fuel pump is not direclty exposed to splash. Although, if the squirt holes on the rods are installed on the wrong side (they should face the camshaft) perhaps a good flow could make it to the pump. And given the vacuum pump is on the bottom I guess it could fill up with oil

It's easy to test this just disconnect the line and put tape over the motor side.

Given this car is using a quart of oil every 15 minutes at 45-50 mph there is something big going on. I think even if the diaphram was taken completely out it wouldn't suck out that much oil.

Tim - had this vac/fuel pump thing happen on my 1100 about 20 year back. Cant remember how much it was burning but it was enough to get my attn. It never showed anything coming out of the tailpipe.