Packard Forum Index » V-8 (1955-56)

So I have a 55 patrician, and my oil pressure will drop at red lights. The car starts to shake and when I accelerate the car tends to jump and die. I can easily restart it and get going..could this be a problem with the oil pump? Does anyone make a conversion I could buy? Any help is greatly appreciated!

Not at all uncommon for oil pressure to drop at a traffic light, among the many factors that influence oil pressure is engine speed. To better understand your situation you need some real numbers like actual oil pressure readings in psi at road speed and at stopped at a light. Your engine performance problems may be unrelated to engine oiling.

When is the last time your engine had a good, thorough tune up?

You performance problems are not related to oil pressure. Your car needs a tuneup.

If you are not having any problems with lifter noise then the oil pressure is probably OK.

The sensing unit could be bad.

They do give up.

Thanks for the 3 reply so far. So I have had this car for almost a year but only really driven it for 6 months. I would like to let you guys know I really only got this project to practice upholstery, I haven't done much with engines since a small engines class in high school 15 years ago and I am probably a horrible mechanic. I can probably put an additional oil pressure gauge on the line to get an accurate read on driving vs stoped old pressure. As far as a tune up... I had the oil changed this summer at a place that fixed my torsion suspension problems, they also said they adjusted my idle. What exactly would you guys consider a tune up? Is anyone local to Detroit? Thanks for the help!

I'm not sure what lifter noise really sounds like... maybe I'll try to find it on youtube

I will look up the sensing unit in my shop manual...thank you

Quote:

That sounds like your engine is simply trying to stall at the light, hence, the oil light comes up.
Is it also doing this when cold? Or only after you drive it for a while?
I would first make sure that your hot idle speed is adjusted to specs, and that the engine is not overheating.

The gauges tend to read low. On my 55 400, the oil gauge would read in the middle when cold, about 3/8 when warmed up driving, and nearly nothing at warm idle. Turns out that I'm actually at 10-15 PSI when warm idle, which is normal. And 60 PSI cold.

If you haven't done it already, a tune-up begins with replacing the ignition points, condensor, rotor, cap, plug wires and spark plugs. All these being new and adjusted correctly will go a long way toward keeping it running at idle.

jack vines