oil light???

[buickwyrm]

The oil light in my 1971 Electra's 455 has been coming on. I had plenty of oil, but I knew it had been awhile since last changed. I changed the oil and filter, but it still is coming in on. The new oil is Vauveline maxlife 10-30, my brother did the change before and may have used Mobile 1 10-40. Any one have ideas, or suggestions? Thank you.

The light comes on some times while driving across town, or when parked ideling after warmed up. It does not come on unitll 5-9 miles of in town driving, usally.

[heidigirl]

my immediate thought, is the pickup is being starved at low engine rpm, but you have provided no details to support any theory.
under what conditions is the light coming on?
acceleration? braking? steady pace? engine rpm?

any information you can offer will be helpful, otherwise we are all just offering uneducated guesses.

[fueler191]

From the sounds of it i would have to agree with heidi, sometimes with the pickup tubes the screens get clogged among other things. I cant remember if that car is a center or a rear sump...i think that was only rivs. But if thats the case your tube is also only 1/2" rather then 5/8", which is aperently very restrictive, when you have done any work to the engine this can affect it even more.

-jeff-

[heidigirl]

at idle, you should have around 10 psi. i don't think the light comes on until the pressure drops off to about 2 psi. i would guess that this is a high mileage engine, so at the very least you might want to switch to a 20-50 weight oil. you could clean the sludge out of the pan, install a fresh oil pump and a real pressure gauge so you can monitor the oil pressure better. you might even want to change the main bearing shells at this point.

[bobc455]

The oil light doesn't mean that your oil level is low, but rather your oil pressure.

It is possible that the engine as just plain "worn out". To get the most life out of the engine, you'll want to switch to 20W50.

Are your lifters clicking? What if you increase the RPM? Does it happen in gear or just in neutral?

-Bob Cunningham

[buick72racer]

just a thought, you could pull the oil pump relief spring cover off
and put 1 or 2 1/4 flat washers in the nut so that the spring sits on the washers and put it back on. this will raise the pressure on the valve which should take care of the problem this is however just a bandaid for the real problem which is either your cam bearings are just plain shot or your oil pump housing is so scored, that after it heats up the clearance get so
big youre pressure goes away. i agree an actual gauge is the best way to tell and is pretty easy to intstall as the port is right under the ac/alt bracket. before i found high volume pumps in the 80's, washers was how
i kept my pressure up so i didnt destroy bearings as fast.

don

[bob k. mando]

I changed the oil and filter, but it still is coming in on.
if you're using a Fram filter, take it off and throw it away. NOW. go get a Wix, Napa or AC Delco filter and try that with 20w-50 oil. if that doesn't solve it, do NOT drive that car any further until you've found out why you don't have pressure.

the second step would be to install a real oil pressure gauge. your idiot light might be malfunctioning ... don't count on it though. the rear mount for the sensor provides a more meaningful number:
http://www.buickperformance.com/Oilmods.htm

after you verify low pressure you're going to have to start tearing things apart. maybe you can fix it by cleaning the pickup, maybe you're going to have to do a total rebuild. we don't have enough info right now.

if you have to tear down make your oil passage mods:
http://www.trishieldperf.com/455_block_mods.htm

http://www.buickperformance.com/oilflow.htm

http://www.buickperformance.com/OilingMods.htm

if you really don't have pressure you can use tools to take the engine apart or you can just let the engine beat itself apart ... because one way or another that thing isn't going to stay in one piece.

before i found high volume pumps in the 80's

high volume oil pumps have been reported as placing far too much stress on the nose of the cam. as you say, space your relief spring and you can have as much pressure as you want.

I cant remember if that car is a center or a rear sump...i think that was only rivs. But if thats the case your tube is also only 1/2" rather then 5/8",
two things here:
ONLY the Riv's and ALL the big block Riv's ( IOW, all Riv's from 67-76 ) had center sump oil pans. all other big block applications are rear sump.
oil pickup diameter is NOT tied to the sump location, it was introduced as a spec change for ALL big block applications in 71 (so you will still find some 1/2" pickups in 71 cars) but it was introduced on the 1970 Stage 1 engines.
http://www.taperformance.com/newpage1.htm

[Nineman]

HI,

I had the same problem with my 455 1975 electra.
The light was coming on with a warm engine, standing still before a traffice light or something.
Then i would have to throttle up, and the light would go off.
I fitted a steel oilpump thrust plate and new gears. Fitted a new pressure release spring and rings. Also 20W50 was used.
This went fine for like 2-3 months and then it started all over again.

So i decided to take the engine apart and do a complete overhaul.
The bearings of the cam and crankshaft were pretty worn out and i think i was loosing to much pressure over there. I had broken piston-rings on 6! cylinders (but that has nothing to do with oilpressure of course).

I am now rebuilding it, and altered the oilpump like described in the book "Buick Perormance Engines".

Also i bought a OIL pressure gauge, and this really cool gadget from TA, which you mount in the oilpump-relieve valve. You can change the pressure by turning a nut on the outside now.

I hope this all works out for me, and i also hope that you won't have to do all this, but only need a thrustplate or something.

Byebye

[buickwyrm]

Since my last message I have have done a little messing around with anohter 455 I have on a stand. I figure I need to drop the oil pan, new pick up tube and a new oil pump, for the 455 in the car. Now my big question is can this all be done with the engine in the car, or do I need to pull the engine? Thank you, for all of you help.

[heidigirl]

you can do this without havig to pull the engine.