Great to hear that you have gotten to hear it run.

Cool!

. . . and check for leaks now that it'* run some oil through everything.

Well have a problem and some interesting news.

The Problem - Not sure im getting oil pressure. Ran the motor for about 20 seconds and pulled the oil fill cap off and dont seem to have oil coming out of the push rods when engine is running. Not sure how much would come out but I thought I would at least see a steady flow. My option at this point is to go buy a oil pressure gauge and pipe it in I guess unless you guys have any other ideas. Dummy light is not on and key on test it lights up. Also check wiring diagram and it will cut out the fuel relay if no oil pressure so I may have oil pressure just not to the heads yet.

Another Problem - Engine has I would say 1200 RPM idle. Checked for vacuum line leaks and found one going to the crews control. Dont see any way to adjust the idle via throttle plate or cables. Cables are free and not holding the idle up. Maybe just have to run it longer for it to do a relearn like an OB2 computer after being off so long?

Interesting news - Apparently these cars will run on starting fluid without a computer. Found that my fuel pump was not running and after checking fusees and chasing down the wiring I remember I pulled the computer. Sure enough keyed the car on and no SES light. Put the computer in and the car fired right up even on the 3 year old gas!

Thanks again for the help guys. It was great being able to find people who know these cars and help out. Not many forums out there for these cars anymore.

Did it make any unbecoming noises?

How long did it run?

Cool!

It'* neat to see some still running and someone willing to keep them going.


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Nope no noises just worried as it sat for so long and I would hate to do engine damage to a car that is 30 years old with only 88,000 miles on it over something dumb like not checking oil pressure. Just ordered this .

Car only ran for 20 seconds on gas but I ran it for probably 30-40 seconds on starting fluid a few day ago.

Ah okay.

On that engine, if you take the oil cap off while it is idling (or high-idling) it won't likely sling any oil out through the fill neck. If it isn't getting any oil pressure to the top end it will make bad noises quickly.

For the idle, yes, 1,200RPM is fine for a cold engine. It will settle down over the next minute or two depending on how cold the ambient temperature is. This is how it starts reliably every morning, wakes up the catalytic converter more quickly, and runs more reliably cold if you don't wait (like a nice car owner would) and just slam it in gear and start driving right away.

I'm anxious to hear the results, looks like a handy and nice unit to have around. It would have sounded awful with no oil pressure, but why chance it?

Incidentally, it is a common misconception (or a bad schematic floating around) that low / no oil pressure will shut off the fuel pump on these era cars. The ECM doesn't monitor oil pressure (at least in this era) and will happily keep the fuel pump running until the engine locks up and loses ignition pulses.The corresponding oil pressure switch is only a backup in case the fuel pump relay fails. A relay failure will result in long cranking times to close the oil pressure switch. The Vega was the only old GM that I know of that triggered the fuel pump exclusively off oil pressure. Since it was carbureted (exc. Cosworth), that was easy.

Just noticed your location. Your cars don't look like Michigan cars.

Well I feel a lot better about what im hearing from you guys. I always thought if you didnt have the oil cap on a running car it would flick out oil and have had a few vehicles that I forgot to put the oil cap on and had some oil come out so thats what worried me. Also was reading some yesterday and they say to pack a new oil pump with petroleum jelly and it worried me that it would not prim. The motor didnt make any bad noises but I shut it off until I felt safe to run it. I will still wait to get the pressure tester as its on its way anyways.

It was about 50 deg F so a bit cold out and thats what I was kinda thinking as well that it just needed to warm up. Seemed a bit high like a vacuum leak but couldn't find any other than the one and that didnt change it at all. Maybe once I verify oil pressure if after 2 minutes ill worry about it and that will give me more time to look for any more vacuum leaks as in the 20 seconds it was running I was checking for oil pressure and making sure the throttle cables were good.

Ill have to take a look to see if thats maybe whats happening with the oil pressure switch. I looked like it was feeding the relay power though it but that dont make any since because if that was true you wouldnt get the 2 second fuel pump prim at key on. Im guessing you are aright CorvairGeek.

The Blue car is a one owner car that was probably an old lady who only drove it to church and back. By the looks of it the Blue one has never even been waxed and the under side of the car has no rust. Replaced the fuel filter on it and all the lines were rust free. Crazy nice for its age. The yellow one had an interesting story. I guess the owner died and it sat on a car hoist for 10 year. One of the kids finally took it down and he drove it for 4 years till it quit running on him. Sat for 3 year in his yard and sold it to me. I mostly wanted it for parts but the fun of trying to get it running was too much for me to not want to here it run. If you look at my videos the yellow car sat almost 1 1/2 inches higher. Im guessing thats because it sat on a hoist for 10 years off the susp.

Yours won't sling much out if any. Many cars will, and some have some air pressure in the crankcase that the cap'* absence would defeat, but not yours. I've found it mostly on newer stuff.

Yeah that works well, but unless you had your oil completely drained for a few months or something you shouldn't have to worry about that.

50F will definitely make it high-idle for a bit.

Yeah, CorvairGeek is right. It also makes it so if the fuel pump relay fails while driving you don't stall out, get rear ended, maybe also crushed by a train, die, and then sue the bean counters.

By doing this, a failed fuel pump relay turns a huge problem into "My car takes a long time to start".

I had thought about that as well, and done it on the old pump in Buicks. Yours is the first year of the new gerotor pump (RWD Buick V6s continued with the old design, I think there may be some part number errors propagating with the difference too), which was a big improvement. I don't recall the shop manual mentioning packing the pump for initial start up with this in this design, but I could be wrong. Mine still had some oil in the pump at reassembly, and merely cranking the engine with the fuel pump fuse pulled built significant oil pressure (no distributor shaft to spin and prime with this design either).