paranoid over oil guage readings

[David Pollock]

It is quite possible that your car does not have the correct dipstick,  as I recall, the HYDRIVE had a special filler cap and possibly the dipstick as well.   You will not harm your engine by overfilling the crankcase by two quarts, the worst that would happen is the crankshaft would whip the oil into a froth and the rings would not cope. Exhaust smoke would result.

I did have an afterthought which would explain your problem but is likely to show up really soon if the crank case is over full. That is the oil float , on the oil pickup, has separated from its pipe which is normally below the oil level. If this is floating around loose, it is going to hit the crankshaft any time soon.  If you drain the oil, and fish around with a wire through the plug hole , it will come up against the hole. Removal of the pan is the only way to put it back. Pan gaskets are cheap and the sump probably needs cleaning anyways.
The other individual who has a 40 with erratic oil pressure is going to find that his oil intake, which is a fixed screen is cracked around the pipe and the bell which holds the screen. When this falls off, there will be no oil pressure at all.
Arrange to contact me directly if you need further guidance, I am the tech for 1950 in the Bulletin and have learned most of my lessons in the school of hard knocks. (and hard knocks is what you get if you run with no oil pressure, been there, done dat )   dp

[squirrel]

i checked the oil level, and it was a little low, so i added a quart.  this fixed the problem- for about half a day.  no oil leakage as i can see, no tell tale smoke from the exhaust either.  i'm going to try and diagnose this over the weekend.

[David Pollock]

HyDrive uses engine oil in the torque converter.

  An oil change requires eleven quarts of oil when the converter is drained. There should be a pressure releif valve on the engine oil pump on Hydrive models. Check to see if it has the right oil pump. ( a standard pump has a flat cover, a HYDRIVE pump has a protruberance with a threaded plug with a square head and under this is the pressure relief valve )

Low oil pressure, especially on accelleration is a major problem.  If you did not properly fill the system, or if whoever did the last oil change did not follow the special instructions for HYDRIVE, you could be pumping all the oil in the pan into the torque converter, leaving the engine pan empty and therefore no oil pressure.

My best advice is to check this out BY THE BOOK  right away.  A good field test would be to add a couple of  extra quarts of oil and see if the problem goes away.

[Don St Peter]

I have experienced the same thing on my 40 Ply, especially since I added an oil filter into the system ( it was an option on the 40 ). The consoling factor is that according to the straight 6 engine writeups I've seen the internal components still get oil even if the filter becomes clogged. I was thinking about "tweeking" the very small screw head that is visible when you look straight into the oil press guage inlet in the back. Maybe someone can give us a hand.
Don.

[squirrel]

howdy all.  y'all saved me with the horn hookup help i needed, i hope you can help on this one.

basically, i'm going bonkers staring at my oil guage as i drive.  it's all over the place.  on startup it reads decent pressure (53 cranbrook hydrive) but when i begin to accelerate the needle sometimes pegs at no pressure.  this freaked me out, but there's no audible indications that it's running no pressure (no engine noise, no engine going kablooey, etc).  when the accelerator is released the needle jumps back to normal, and at cruising speeds as well it reads proper pressure. 
this can't be normal, can it?  am i starving the poor motor of oil when i'm accelerating?