348er in Switzerland

[Dä Huäbär]

the restauration und the condition of the car is very good , not a spray can rebuilt , except the engine . the preowner restored the car and go only to carshows and meetings with the car on a trailer . for this was the engine ok , he runs and he can drive from the trailer and back . but im a driver and i go in the summermonts to work with my classic cars . on the weekends i go to the mountains or so . i drive many 1000 miles per year with my classics , she are build for this

on the second day when the Impala was in Switzerland , i changed all fluids and filters , chequet the brakes , take a greesejop and changed the fanbelt. after this i hit the road...

 

[409N]

What did engine sound like before and after oil change ? , what oil did you use?

 

[Dä Huäbär]

The engine sound the same after oil change , not like a new one , but ok .
20/W50

 

[409N]

Wrong oil 20w50 ???? why would you put that in it? you might as well put gear oil in it , did it have zinc in new oil ?

 

[Don Jacks]

I'm not a fan of 20w50 in a stock engine either Colin but that's NOT what caused that bearing failure in that engine from what I've seen from the pictures.Zinc or the lack there of will not affect the crank bearings,mostly the cam and lifters.From what I see,the engine most likely saw only short term operation ,and oil contamination due to fuel wash from the carb because of such operation diluted the oil and it was rarely if ever changed.Yes the PO likely knew it and "doctored" the oil before the sale.

 

[409N]

I agree 20W50 did not cause engine failure ,,BUT that 20W50 goo is not the correct oil for a stock 348", if it had no zinc ,,,that goo would eventually cause camshaft lobe failure .
It's not a race car engine .

 

[vin 58]

Welcome to the site. I agree 20w 50 is not right. I have a 58 impala with a stock 348 tripower and after using lucas sae 30 break in oil I switched to Joe Gibbs HR2 10w 30 it has zinc and anti corrosion additives. It says its specially formulated for hot rod and classic engines with flat tappet cams.

 

[dakota tom]

I've used 20w-50 in big block Chevy/ olds/ AMC engines for years with no failures. In 1958 it was straight 30 most of the year and straight 10 or 20 in winter.

 

[dakota tom]

Go back and look at the pictures. This failure is from moisture and coolant in the oil. Blocked oil pump screen.

 

[409N]

Thick racing oil cost horsepower, accelerates wear on start up , 10W30 is all that is required , Why waste $$$ on 20W50 ? That 20w50 oil change only helped the engine problems . Engine was doomed to fail , must have had some abnormal noises on first start up after oil change , likely rattled BIG TIME !

 

[409gang]

Doesn't STP have zinc in it, put a can of that in with an oil change.

 

[427John]

What doomed that engine to failure was the fact that it had some coolant leakage into the crankcase and then sat for an extended time.This very well may have been a competently rebuilt engine that suffered the same things that happens to many of these engines the head gasket seeped coolant into the lifter valley.In most cases the owner notices this and addresses it,or in a case that the car is driven daily with good crankcase ventilation the moisture is driven out as fast or faster than it seeps so the engine stays fairly rust free.But in this scenario the car sits a lot with significant moisture in the engine ,lots of rust forms, gets circulated thru the engine periodically, and eventually plugs the pickup strainer,this would have happened with any oil of any viscosity.This shows the need to pay attention to signs of moisture in the engine and to address it sooner rather than later.This is not the fault of Da Huabar,rather the fault of the PO that let it sit for years with moisture in the engine and not addressing it.

 

[427John]

It is also a good example of why its a good idea to install an oil pressure gage,if it had one from when the engine was new and you had a good baseline oil pressure to compare you can monitor for issues like this.In my opinion the oil pressure lights are only good for telling you your engine was just fatally wounded.

 

[409N]

It pays to inspect the oil being drained from an engine, someone must have seen the antifreeze when oil was drained ?? Whoever started the 348" after oil /filter change must have been DEAF

 

[409N]

All my cars have magnets mounted on the oil pan drain plugs and in the oil filter cannister so you can see what's going on inside your engine . Use all your senses when inspecting your engine . Oil/filter change is the time to be alert to potential engine problems.

 

[Don Jacks]

At this point what's important for him to know is that he has instant access to the techniques that are needed to handle the quirks of these engines,such as cam bearing placement and what he must have in the way of priming tools for the oiling system are right here for the asking.If the guy,as good as he may be on other engines,has any questions,please ask here.We will steer him corrcetly.

 

[dakota tom]

Besides the rear cam bearing issue the other things are distributor orientation and the rear main bearing cap seals that get forgotten.

 

[409N]

All you need to know about engine assembly is in the GM service manuals, reprinted GM service manuals are for sale on ebay ,etc, etc

 

[427John]

It pays to inspect the oil being drained from an engine, someone must have seen the antifreeze when oil was drained ?? Whoever started the 348" after oil /filter change must have been DEAF

Thats not necessarily the case I had an experience with a neighbors pickup he had me take a look at it after they replaced the cylinder head and it was showing little to no oil pressure after warmup.When it was first started it made no noise at all and ran fine after it warmed up it made all kinds of noise and was low on power after narrowing down that it truly was an oil pressure problem and not an overheating issue as he initially thought it was,I pulled the oil pan and found all kinds of silicone rtv strings plugging the pickup strainer,after cleaning it out and cleaning the pan and reinstalling it the truck ran fine and still is 7 or 8 years later.Fortunately for him it was an EFI Ford 300 six and the racket was making the knock sensor pull all the timing out.As much as he ran it trying to figure out what was wrong with it would have killed any other engine.

 

[409N]

300" Ford six's are ALWAYS noisy ,,,LOL