Welcome to my brain. It’s messy. It’s interesting. And it’s all connected if you stick around long enough. "Believe Nothing: no matter who said it, even if I have said it, except it agree with your own reason and common sense. Siddhartha Guatamo, the Buddha.

Isolated and not

The Bandaid is holding. a couple small dribbles through the RTV, but not that copious hemorage that I was seeing.

But somewhere, i’m using oil. Even though she wasn’t puking oil all over the highway, when I returned from my banking run at the town up the road, I was down 1/4 quart again. Granted, I also did 60 miles round trip, which is 4 times what I did yesterday when she puked out 1/4 quart,,, (very likely rings gummed up. I will run a quart of trans fluid through her the last day before I do the oil change. Not a complete cure, but it does help remove the ICK of nasty oil residues.)

And I noted ‘low oil pressure’ at idles after she warms up. Not ZERO, but damned low, and low enough to trip the ‘check gauges’ light. A small blip of the throttle and it goes up and the light goes out. That could be due to the fact that I am running 5w30,,, whereas, with the age and milage of this engine, 10w30 might be more appropo.

She does get another oil change soon, and I will try the 10w30 then. (and the way she is drinking the stuff, I won’t have any 5w left by then,,,)

It could also be the fact that I did not replace the oil pump guts, after they had been exposed to all those particles. They are just pressed powdered metal from my research: they wear fast when abused. I could spend a premium and get milled units to replace them,,,, Still in “observation mode” and the oil pressure doesn’t drop so low that I worry to much. SO far,,, (Note: I won’t have the pan gasket in hand until tuesday or so. If need be, I can order new pump guts and have them here about the same time it will be for the first oil change, then do all of it at the same time. (gotta drop the oilpan to change the pan gasket,,, gotta drop the pan to change the pump guts, Do it all at once, and be done, right?)

It could be that the oil bypass is partially plugged open from that same gunk. I am sure that old filter was plugged solid and kicked in the bypass.

Fact is, It could be several things, a combination of all of them, or some variation of combinations,,,

It could also be that new sending unit is out of calibration, as I do recall the old unit was reading MUCH higher. AND, I never hear the lifters tapping for lack of pressure.

Without putting a gauge on it, (one of those shop tools I do not have as yet) I can only go by what the gauge in the dash reads. Not ideal, but better than pure guess work.

gonna leave out early tomorrow,,,wants to spend some time with my bruddabyanuddermudda before the party mode really kicks in. (sometimes, we beat the rest of the krew to that goal,,, ) so, post or no post, don’t worry too much about the ol Dio on this end. Lots of stuff on me mind that needs vented loose, and may require a liberal dose of Liquid filter cleaning (getting pie-eyed) to let me let it all out. My filters have been running full strength of late to keep the peace in certain situations,,, They need loosened up a bit, I’m sure.

But, Wanna take Bloo with me, and see what sort of ‘oil usage’ she is pulling in normal operation. And I loaded up on stuff to renew the bandaid if needed: Just in case,,, Fingers crossed I just spent money for no reason.

L,L,L,L,L!

(, ‘)

4 responses

  1. Steven III's avatar
    Steven III

    Try Seafoam, get a couple of cans.

    Works wonders .Instructions on can tells you how, will loosen rings and clean out crud if dumped in oil BEFORE changing-don’t run it too long! Can be sucked int the intake thru the brake booster vac. hose while running. cleans out valves and upper intake done that way , smokes like hell though!

    Liked by 2 people

    January 3, 2026 at 12:18 am

    • You just brought back a memory to this old wrench. We didn’t have sea-foam but we used to do this thing with transfluid and water. Mix the water/fluid to a pink milkshake mixture, then force it into the intakes by vacuum hose. Smoked like a freight-train for a few minutes until the car was running so rough it couldn’t keep going. Let it sit for an hour then fire it up and run it ‘hot’ till it stopped smoking. Did the same thing, de-carboned the upper engine and intakes.

      Liked by 1 person

      January 3, 2026 at 7:20 am

  2. Spud's avatar
    Spud

    IMPO there is no such thing as a mechanic in a can.

    Only proper clearances fresh parts in working order are cures. So far as lubricants are concerned I always ran 2050 in my sb chevys. Since most typical stock Chevy oil pumps had shit for pressure at idle and such small oil passages which were subject to clog.

    catch 22 eh ? Mechanic in a can becomes necessary in tired old sludged up motors to clear the oil passages out ,, but thins the oil too much for maintaining that one molecule of oil thickness between journals and bearings.

    Like

    January 4, 2026 at 6:21 am

    • And thats why I will only run the trans fluid for the last 100 miles or so before an oil change. I agree, don’t like additives (mechanic in a can) but if it could work, try it. Might save a ya tear-down and give ya an extra couple years of usag before needing that teardown. In this case, I’m guessing gummy parts, and that they could be washed clean, so, give it a shot.

      Liked by 1 person

      January 4, 2026 at 7:18 am