I am restoring a 66 Riviera that has sat idle for 25+ years. It runs beautifully, but the oil gauge doesn't register any oil pressure - none. I put a new sender unit on and still no pressure, hooked up an external gauge - no oil pressure, connected ohm meter and got a quick blip of resistance then nothing. What should I try next? Jaytee
put a manual gauge on. It will show true pressure and they are cheap to buy. BTW, I started a nailhead that sat for about 25 years too. I made sure to drain and fill the oil before I started it HOWEVER, when I pulled the oil pan I found that the old oil had turned to jello in the bottom of the pan. You may want to pull the pan to make sure your pan os clean.
I deleted my original post, as this is a nail head question, and I don't want to give incorrect information. How is the oil filter? Fairly new? Correct part number and full of oil? Maybe remove it, turn it upside down and make sure that fairly clean and free running oil comes out of it? I hope this helps.
First of all, DONT START AN ENGINE WITH NO OIL PRESSURE.......... Disconnect the wire or something to kill the ignition As with any sleeping beauty awakening, it has to be done gently, inspect for why the car was parked up in the first place, then the basics, has water, has oil, has clean fuel. Put some oil down the cylinders and turn it over by hand. What did the oil look and smell like, what did the dipstick look like, any rust on it? Take a breather off, what colour is the oil under it and also the rocker gear you can see, is it all black or is the oil silver/grey? Leave the breather off for now, you will want to look in there. Drain the oil and look at it as it comes out, watch for water, it will come first if theres a lot in the sump, watch for lumps, it will indicate a heavy build up in the sump and especially, watch for metal, will look like sparkles in the oil. Assuming all is good, change the oil filter and refill the oil (can be worth cutting the filer open to inspect it for metal ect) If you can, you can use a remote starter here (a button or whatever) or a helper, crank the engine (with the coil wire off) and watch for the oil light to go off or oil gauge to start to move (helper watches here) while you stare down the breather hole and watch for lots of oil to start moving about. If you cant see the oil, take a rocker cover off and look again, still no oil, sump off and its repair time. Here are a couple of pics of my sleeping beauty and why the car was parked up (I got this engine to run before I pulled it apart) Note the almost blocked oil screen and the shattered piston
Thanks all, Here is the skinny on this beautiful 66 white Riviera with 86k miles on it. Its a smog equipped California car that was last registered in 1992 that was put in storage rather than sell it while moving around the country. The car belongs to a friend and I am helping to put it back into driving condition. Someone else started it up, needed to have the brakes completely rebuilt and then delivered it to us on a transport. When it arrived it ran beautifully. The first thing I did was have an oil & lube job done on it. Took it for a little spin and then the fuel pump failed requiring new pump and lines.Had the power steering gear box rebuilt to stop it from leaking. Began checking over the vehicle and began fixing things that didn't work. Replaced relays so the disappearing lights would work. Took the power antenna apart and cleaned it - now it works .Repaired the horn relay. Nothing on the the dash board worked except the gas gauge. Assumed the other gauges were faulty sender units - have replaced sender units. Cleaned & oiled the clock-that works, cleaned the radio & terminals - it works, Cleaned and greased the heater/ AC unit fixed broken cables and replaced vacuum hoses (waiting for engine running properly before testing this). Now onto the engine and no oil pressure. Since I have a new sender and an external gauge and still no oil pressure I am hoping it is only a blocked screen pick up problem.(the oil breather screen was totally blocked). As a first easy step I am taking Philbequick's recommendation and putting diesel fuel in the oil pan and letting it soak for a week to see if it will clear out any gunk in the screen. By the way, when I drained out the oil that had only 70 miles on it , it was filthy. I dragged a magnet through the oil and found no metal.
I go along with cutting open the filter. Perhaps this is obvious, but don't use a hacksaw. If you don't have a filter cutter, take it to any aircraft mechanic; if he/she doesn't have access to one, tell any friends that own aircraft to avoid that shop. I If you believe that the oil pump pickup screen is plugged, you need to pull the pan and have a looksee before you attempt to start it again. You don't want to attempt to start the engine again until you are positive that you have oil pressure or you might well turn a beautiful engine into a $300 core. Call Tom.
Thanks John for the warning. Here is my dilemma, I don't have the facilities to work under the car much. I can raise it up enough to take the pan off but that's about it. I need to get it to a local garage to do that kind of stuff. I am going to wait until Monday and see what the diesel oil brings out. You still think I need to open the filter even though the oil was black after only 70 miles on it and no metal found in it? More importantly, WHAT IF I DO FIND SOMETHING IN IT?
Could be the oil "Jelled" up in the pan from sitting so long. Diesel fuel may or may not break it down. Before doing ANY MORE running tests, pull the distributor & crank over the oil pump with a drill to check for oil pressure rather than running the engine & damaging an otherwise good engine. Just my thoughts. Tom T.
Thanks Tom, Once I drain the diesel and put new oil in i will follow your recommendation. May give you a call Monday with results from diesel
HOORAY ! thanks to the diesel fuel & Tom i now have oil pressure. I left 3 quarts of diesel fuel in the oil pan for a week - when I drained it it was black -ran a magnet through it, got nothing, ran it through a paper towel - got nothing. Ran some diesel fuel to wash out the pan bottom -it came out black also. Put some oil in and made up a drill bit tool to turn the pump, Hooked up a manual oil gauge and got good oil pressure when I used the drill to turn the pump. Made I big mistake when I removed the distributor - I didn't mark the position of anything! Tom spent a lot of his time and walked me through the process of getting distributor put in correctly. Thanks again Tom
Your WELCOME John, was my pleasure. GUARANTEED the oil was jelly. I would warm it up & do an oil & filter change again. Will still probably be black. Drive it for 50 miles & do it gain while still hot. If it jellied in the pan it also turned to jelly in other places. I would do the 50 miles & repeat until the oil drains clean. We may just saved another from a disaster. Tom T.
While you're running oil thru the engine to further clean it replace 2 quarts of the oil with trans fluid, that will help with cleaning the inside further because of transmission's cleaning properties. Just make sure you use thicker oil when thinning it with trans fluid and make sure to add extra ZDDP for cam protection each time you change the oil. GL Derek
be sure to clean out the rocker arm shafts..... there is a lot of crud inside most of them....:Smarty:
Thanks to all of you for responses with terrific advice that I deeply appreciate. I can't wait until I get this sleeping beauty purring like a kitten and take her to some of the numerous car shows that are held in this area each week-end from fall to summer. I know it will be a very popular attraction because just while at the gas station I get 4-5 highly excited commentators who know about the "wildcat" engine.
