Hey everyone, two months ago I bought a 1956 Town Sedan with a 292. Everything was running pretty well, but I decided to go through and do a tune-up to know where I stood when things were last replaced. The last owner had it for two years working on the car in the garage, but never registered it, so it really only was driven around a parking lot. Everything I did seemed like an improvement, until I changed the oil. Originally, the gauge was reading between 40 and 60 at either idle or driving, but since gets way too low at idle. The idle comes down too low, and the oil pressure drops to around 20. The previous owner kept records of everything he did, and I'm pretty sure the oil pump was recently rebuilt, but I'll have to check.  While looking around other forums, I saw two possibilities of either the oil screen getting clogged after freeing up oil deposits, or that it's sucking air somewhere. But with the pressure being fine before changing the oil, I kind of don't think it would be sucking air. I put in Valvoline VR1 10w-30. Any possible input would be great, thanks.

Something that crossed my mind, maybe the oil weight is too light for the engine. I've seen some people recommend 15w-40, but because I never heard of that until recently, I decided against it. The engine doesn't burn oil, smoke, tick, or knock and apparently has never been rebuilt.

I am not an expert on oil of any kind, but (and there is always one) for that very reason I will NEVER use Valvoline oil. Twice to me (hard learner) and once to a friend. The low oil pressure cure after the installation of Valvoline was to drain it an put something else in. Castrol never caused me this problem and neither has and of the Mobil 1's.The first one was an Austin Healy Sprite which always had 20+ OP idling and it went to ZERO the second was a 454 Chev Pickup that went from 60 to less than 20 and the last was my sons friend after a 500 mile break in changed to Valvoline and the pressure went from 40 to 10. Seriously the fix was different oil brand at least for us ....Good Luck

56 Vic, B'Ville 200 MPH Club Member, So Cal.

Thanks for your input. So as far as you know the 10w30 is probably not the problem, just try another brand? I shortly switched it to Pennzoil after the initial Valvoline, just because it sat for awhile and figured I should change again. It did the same thing, but I never normally use Pennzoil, just wanted something cheap to run for a few miles. I've had good luck with Castrol on my modern engines, so maybe I'll try that in there. I just don't want to jump the gun and start tearing things out when it could be as simple as the oil I'm using. It was literally a huge change as soon as I turned the key that first oil change and the idle was off and the gauge went way down.

What are the odds that the previous owner put in 20W50 or something similar? If it was only driven around a parking lot then there would be no way to let the oil get really hot so that you could see any kind of a real oil pressure drop. If you put in 30 weight oil after that, and the oil pressure does not go back up where it should be, then they may be a sign of significant bearing wear. If that is the case, you may get better oil pressure from a heavier weight oil but it would be a matter of time. I have never had any oil pressure problems from Valvoline, but there is a first time for everything I guess.Why don't you put a bottle of LUCAS oil additive in there? That way you won't waste the oil change you just did.What is the history on the engine?EDIT: "The idle comes down too low, and the oil pressure drops to around 20." What does this mean? Do you mean that after the oil change the idle is different? Oil changes won't affect timing and/or idle characteristics. Did you do anything else AT THE SAME TIME YOU CHANGED THE OIL (I see that you mentioned a tune up and all)? If your idle is coming "down too low" then you probably don't have an oil pressure problem - it would be just that your low rpm's aren't turning that oil pump fast enough for good oil pressure. What is your timing at?

Daniel Jessup

Lancaster, California

aka "The Hot Rod Reverend"
check out the 1955 Ford Fairlane build at www.hotrodreverend.com

I made it a point to not try and cross everything off my list all in one day so I wouldn't end up with problems I couldn't trace back. I only get to work on it on the weekends, so the first week I got a new carburetor base spacer cause the other was pretty beat. it already idled pretty well, but it made a big difference. The next week I did the fuel filter, didn't really change anything. Then I hanged the oil, and it began to have that strange idling. Like I said, seems a little low and the oil pressure was low with it. I didn't do anything else that day to it. Normal when driving. After that I did an ignition tune up, and that didn't effect anything. All plugs looked good and uniform when I took them out. I'm not sure what the idle and timing are at right now, but I'll have a chance to check tomorrow. I tried turning the idle up yesterday manually. It came up a little, but didn't really make much of a difference. I guess I should also check for any possible vaccuum leaks as well. All I really know about the history of the engine is that it's all original, never rebuilt with no known issues with it when I got it. The car hasn't had many owners. It has a 289 intake with a Holley 2100 carburetor. The distributor is original, but retrofitted with an electronic ignition module. thanks.

In your first post, you said it was a 292.  In your last post you said it has a 289 intake.  A 289 intake will not fit a 292.  Which engine do you really have?

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

My mistake. It's a 292, but it has a 2 BBL Holley 2100 on it.

Using a 1" open end wrench on the gland nut on the oil pump will insure that the nut itself is snug which in turn should be eliminating a potential air leak into the oiling system.  Beyond that, I’ll suggest switching to a 10W-40 oil and see if that is an improvement on the low rpm hot oil pressure readings.  I use Valvoline oil without any issues.  Getting back in touch with the previous owner and finding out exactly what oil was in the engine when you got it may give you a better idea on the internal condition of the engine.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

Thanks, seems like a good idea to at least run it by him.