I need a new oil pressure relif valve as i keep popping my oil filters but cant find em anywhere i got a buick electra 401 1966 greatful for any help here thanks
There is something else wrong unless the prv spring has been changed out or shimmed someway.....''normal'' should be 20# on a hot idle, and usually 35-40 at speed.... I have seen 55-60 on cold start up....then as the engine warms up, drop down to the above figures.... Enough pressure to blow a filter off is definitly a red flag on a nailhead.... I blew the filter off a BBB once,,, using a experimental Buick oil pump that I got thru KB.....It took blipping the throttle on a cold frosty morning with a pump that idled at 90# to do it..... You have a mechanical problem somewhere ,,, either a plugged passage , blockage, something.... it is a wonder that it did not strip the gears off the cam/distributer..... :eek2::Smarty:
Hmmm happend 3 times every time while cold and i revd up a little bit .. im a dummy so if it aint the valve how do i clear the passages ? Can i just remove the bottom plugg and poor diesel thru the tops and pray it clears ? QUOTE=doc;2199577]There is something else wrong unless the prv spring has been changed out or shimmed someway.....''normal'' should be 20# on a hot idle, and usually 35-40 at speed.... I have seen 55-60 on cold start up....then as the engine warms up, drop down to the above figures.... Enough pressure to blow a filter off is definitly a red flag on a nailhead.... I blew the filter off a BBB once,,, using a experimental Buick oil pump that I got thru KB.....It took blipping the throttle on a cold frosty morning with a pump that idled at 90# to do it..... You have a mechanical problem somewhere ,,, either a plugged passage , blockage, something.... it is a wonder that it did not strip the gears off the cam/distributer..... :eek2::Smarty:[/QUOTE]
Buick recommends SAE 20 or 20W, or 10W20 or 10W30 for the 401 (Temps above 32F farenheit). I am not suggesting that it is the cause, but 10W40 is heavier then necessary, and will hurt high-RPM performance.
Ok wow thought 10-40 was good but SAE 20 is like water should really lower the pressure even if there is a blockage somewhere i'll try run diesel thru engine and hope it clears any blockage then use SAE 20 hopefully it will clear the problem guess i should install a pressure gauge aswell ...
STOP,,, STOP,,, STOP...... WHAT EVER YOU DO,,,,DO NOT RUN DIESEL IN THE CRANKCASE...... YOU WILL 100% destroy your engine..... You have a mechanical problem,,, find it and fix it.... running diesel in it will turn loose a bunch of crud in the lifters, gall the pistons, and destroy all the rod/main/cam bearings and the oil pump......:Brow::Brow:
OK damn im at a loss how to clean the engine then without rebuilding it as i understad if it aint the relife valve or a blocked passage what can it be ? or maybe i should just pop out the relife valve check it over run the sae20 oil and hope it fixes the problem ?..
Well,,, Benny,,, first, first,,,, get a mechanical gage and see what the pressure is, at what rpm,,,, and check if there are any sudden surges,,, ect..... Is the engine making any unusual noises , ect....???? also has any bottom end mechanical work been done lately ???? It could be that the relief valve is sticking in the oil pump for some reason.....making the pressure go out of sight.... Just some thoughts.....and,,,, just for the record, there aint no way to clean a engine internally without rebuilding it.... that is the only thorough way of doing it.... back when I was going thru mechanics school , they addressed the issue and said to flush with straight 10 wt. oil, changing the oil and filter 3 times.... and just letting the engine idle... no revving up at all.... also you can sub 1 qt. of oil with 1 qt. of automatic trans fluid....with the same conditions as above.... atf has a lot of detergent in it.... a lot of times if you have lifters clicking you can put in 1 qt of atf and they will get quiet after just a few minutes of running.....
THanks for all the awnsers first of all ... Iam gonna put in a pressure gauge because i dont have one installed .. I have seen there is a cleaning oil here in sweden u can buy run at idle till car is up in temp then change back to ordinary oil i might try that .... i just bought the car 3 weeks ago so i dont know very much about it yet thats why im asking all theese stupid questions please bare with me .. Is there any gauges you recomend to buy i would like to see temp and pressure atleast...?
When it comes to gauges, you can go from mild to wild on prices....just for ordinary use I use Sunpro.... because when I came along , Sun instrument company was the best.... and stewart warner was just ordinary gauges... :Brow: but either one of those will work,,, shop around, and check them out,,, you will want them in metric anyway , i expect....:grin::grin:
I am curious to know why you think the engine is full of crud? Have you pulled a valve cover to see what it looks like? Is this high-oil pressure something new? As Doc asked, have you had any recent mechanical work done on it? What does the oil that was in the engine look like? Typically, when I run into a sludged-up engine, I clean out what I can get at the best way that I can - without getting a lot of crud down into the internals. Then I put clean HD oil in it and drive the thing on the highway. Make sure it has the proper thermostat (180). Change the oil and filter at short intervals (not more then 1,000 miles) Try real hard not to start the engine unless you are going to allow it to warm up fully, and ideally stay at normal operating temperature for a bit. Be sure that the PCV system is operating properly. I put an arbitrary minimum of 10 miles or 1/2 hour running time on it until I feel that the engine is clean enough. Obviously, you have to get the oil pressure under control first.
Well i popped 3 oil filters in as many weeks alltho that has happend when i started it might be that i havent let it to warm up enough with to thick oil ..?? Otherewise i think it might be pressure relife valve or clogged up ... Only owned the car for 3 weeks and dont know much about nailheads ... I havent done any work on the engine yet , the oil get's black in just a few miles as i popped 3 filters i changed oil 3 times still get black oil tho .. Seeems like the engine been neglected on service and maintenence ...
Well installed the oil pressure gauge today and it pops right in the bottom well over 100psi ...... Any ideas ???ray:
you sure you got a nailhead engine in that car ????.... I have seen big blocks do this but never nailheads.....:Brow:
