Progress on fixing up my 86 MGM

[TwiztidRat]

Ok thanks Gadget, I'll get a pic tomorrow when I take the wheel off I'm pretty sure it's the caliper that is the problem with how it was installed.

[TwiztidRat]

Hey guys bumping this because I noticed in the cold weather here when the engine is warmed fully, if the car is idling and you put it in gear the engine light is flickering more. I know the oil pressure is low but should I use a thicker oil for this cold or just ignore it.

[Kodachrome Wolf]

I'd maybe try some 15W-40 or some 20W-50 and see what happens. If it's already that tired, probably ain't much gonna bring it back. Some folks around here drove around for a while with a flickering ENGINE light since a LoPo doesn't know when to quit.

If it was warmer, I'd be curious to see what a straight grade oil would do. Don't see too many people running around running SAE 30 on the regular.

[sly]

I had a 93 F150 like that. 289K miles when I sold it on to a contract laborer. Beat to hell, but still ran fine.

[VicCrownVic]

Dad ran straight 50 weight and motor honey in "my" '87 CV when I was a junior in high school. He sold that car to a friend of his that needed a car a couple years after I drove it when I was put into the '88 Country Squire. No idea what mileage was on the '87 CV.
I run 20w50 in The Scab which likely has 250k+ miles on it. It's a little chatty with lighter 10w40.

Dad said he ran that because of some sort of engine noise which went away with the thick oil.
The Scab is mainly run in nice weather so I'm not sure how it would like the thick oil in cold weather. Although it starts and runs fine when I start it up periodically throughout the winter.

[TwiztidRat]

Yeah I'm not really concerned if the motor was to go, I'm ready for anything with this old girl. Just thought if I was hurting the motor more with running it in this deep freeze weather but if it's not gonna really matter I'm cool with that lol.

[Tiggie]

There’s a cheap way to bandaid this. A high volume oil pump will make it happy for a while if it’s running quiet. As for putting it in... that’s no fun. You have to drop the oil pan which basically means the engine needs to be lifted up/ready to remove. If I went that far, I’d be tempted to just plop in more healthy engine.

Low oil pressure is hurting it and it will ultimately get some rod knock. Could be next week, or in three years. Try that 20w-50 and see if you can get by for a little longer.

[TwiztidRat]

Yeah right now it's not knocking even on cold start. I think this engine still has a few years left before it gets more catastrophic but it does leak oil at the oil pan so I keep an eye on that. You make a good point though Tiggie if the motor has to be lifted at that point I'd just swap a different motor in it at that point but even then I doubt this car will ever see that, it's not in the greatest shape body wise being a MN car all it's life I seen worse, but it wouldn't be practical to sink $2k+ into this car at this point. Drive it and pamper it is what I'm doing till she decides to start knocking on heaven's door

EDIT:

But yeah I will try the thicker oil to at least give it at least more comfort till whenever.

[Mainemantom]

There is always STP. Or do they still make that ? Got to warm that stuff up in the can or you will never get it out when it is cold.

[TwiztidRat]

Yeah at this time I'll just keep running it as is. If the motor starts knocking or sounding like a diesel than maybe I'll try additives but for now just keeping an eye on the oil level cause I know this car leaks it, but thankfully it's a slow leak maybe a half quart low since topping it off in december.