i took my '68 crown on my first short road trip with
it this weekend, and after probably two hours of
smooth cruising at 80 on the highway, i glanced down
and noticed my oil pressure gauge had dropped from the
middle to the left-most end of the 'acceptable' bar.
after getting off the highway, and driving in city
traffic, the gauge continued to stay in the same spot,
and not hearing any clatter i figured the sending unit
was probably shot. unfortunately though, when i
started the car this morning it seemed to clatter for
a few seconds, and then the gauge returned to the same
spot at the left end of the line. the car sounded
fine, and i drove it back home, but i went to restart
it this evening after letting it cool down, the gauge
didn't even make it to the bottom bar and the valve
clatter was awful, so i shut her off. the oil level's
fine, and it doesn't smell like gas. [i doubt i would
have gotten fifteen to the gallon on the trip back if
it was running rich enough to cause a problem with oil
thinning.]
the car has 52k on the original motor, but hasn't been
driven all that much in the last ten years. it's
probably been about 300 miles now since i changed the
oil before i left [with straight 30 weight castrol.]
the man i bought it from had changed the oil with
10w30 right after i bought it, but it turned black
within 250 miles and i changed it to something that
wasn't as thin.
i'm still rather new to the fine points of the mopar
big block, so i'm not really sure where the weak
points in the oiling system are. how hard is it to
kill an oil pump on a 440, say by giving the car a
good workout after it sat unused for a while? also,
on the off chance something is clogging the pickup,
how much of a nightmare is it to get the oil pan off
with the engine still in the car?
hoping it's not overhaul time,
--jason
jason reizner
chicago
68 crown hardtop
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