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A couple of newbie questions

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ynotme2

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Everyone,

I know these maybe stupid questions but for the uninitiated it seems like well.....

1 When you fill up at the gas station will the pump stop when the tank is full? The fuel neck is huge in comaprison to modern cars and I was wondering it that makes a difference.

2. Does the gas gauge always seem to jump around like Antonio Banderas at a salsa dancing contest. I mean this thing looks like it never settled down at all

3. How do I determine if the oil pressure gauge is right? I registered about 22 or so when I am driving. When the car is cold it is about 40 pounds then it drop's as the engine warms up. After 15 or so miles it is about 22 to 25 at driving speed.

4. My mechanic says my od is working fine. Do I just leave the toggle switch with the od on and it will go on by itself when needed? It has been adjusted and so I was wondering if everyone just leaves it on or not when driving around both city and highway.

Thanks

Tony
 
Hi, Tony, Welcome to the forum!!!
I have had had no problems for thirty-some years with gas pumps not clicking off....But then I always hold the thing because I want to make sure it doesn't fall out and scratch the car...
I always switch the OD on/off when I use it. I don't know if it hurts to just leave it on or not. I don't like the idea of it just being "on" though for some reason. Take care!
 
Tony: Take it from someone who has had to replace an overdrive and repair the transmission that you SHOULD NOT leave it on. There is a switch in the overdrive that supposedly turns it off when you select reverse, but it was made by Joe Lucas and therefore is not trustworthy! If you do get into reverse with the overdrive on, it destroys the entire overdrive unit necessitating replacement of the o/d and repairs to the transmission first motion shaft also, like as not. So, do yourself a favor and leave that o/d off when not in use at highway speeds. It sounds like your engine oil pressure is low and you may need to be thinking about reworking that engine sometime in the near future, too. AL Bradley
 
1. The pump should shut off by itself. But as a matter of course you should not leave the pump unattended and hang onto it just so that it doesn't lean over and fall out. The Healey filler wasn't designed for modern fuel pump nozzles.
2.My guage jumps up and down quite a bit. in fact, I have to rap it with my knuckle from time to time because it sticks at the empty spot. Very common to have this problem.
3. Either your oil pressure guage is reading incorrectly or you should have your engine inspected. Healthy oil pressure should read around 50lbs (assuming a 3000 motor) and drop some when at idle. Probably your guage is hinky.
4. Switch overdrive on when you need it and off when you don't. Never engage reverse with overdrive switched on.
Hope the above helps.
Randy '66 BJ8, '66 E-type OTS
 
Hi, Again,
Yes, it is fairly typical that the gas gauge jumps a lot. However, there is supposed to be a "fix" if you add a ground wire to the gas gauge sending unit at the gas tank and a ground wire at the gauge. I haven't gotten around to doing this yet, so I don't know from personal experience that it does fix it. Another interesting thing is that the gas gauge will cloud up due to humidity. This is normal, also. Cya!
 
Thanks everyone for the tips. Is there a way to see if the oil gauge is "hinky"? As it was put?
 
Stever, adding the grounds will assure proper operation of the guage,However, to stop the dancing around will require the addition of a voltage stabilizer to the circuit.-FWIW---Keoke
 
Tony, to verify that the oil pressure gauge is reading correctly, (or hopefully, incorrectly) you need to get a direct reading gauge of known accuracy. Then connect it in place of, or better yet, in parallel with, the cockpit gauge. Just compare the two readings.
I would imagine that if you were to get a new gauge from an industrial supply place, such as Grainger, or McMaster-Carr, it would be close enough for a rough comparison. A good gauge with a traceable accuracy standard, is going to cost a bit.
If we could get Dave Russell to jump in, he may have a better, more cost effective method.
Jeff
 
[ QUOTE ]

3. How do I determine if the oil pressure gauge is right? I registered about 22 or so when I am driving. When the car is cold it is about 40 pounds then it drop's as the engine warms up. After 15 or so miles it is about 22 to 25 at driving speed.
Tony

[/ QUOTE ]
You really didn't give enough information to determine the oil pressure problem. What type of oil are you using, how old is the oil, what is the idling oil pressure when hot?

I can't add much to what Jeff said. 40 psi cold is pretty low. Sometimes the pressure relief valve doesn't fully seat & causes low pressure. I think this problem happens more often than people realize. It gives the same effect as worn engine bearings. Thin oil could cause this problem. A plugged filter that is bypassing could drop the pressure. If you have not done so, replace the filter & fill with 20w-50 oil & try it. You could replace the relief valve plunger & spring with new parts. Any standard gage that a good repair shop uses should give a comparison. Maybe you could "borrow" one somewhere.
D
 
Guys,

Thanks for the tips. Yes the car had a new oil filter and 20-50 weight oil with the last servicing. The pressure is about 20 lbs when hot and idiling. I will buy an additional gauge from grainger and get the rough estimate. I will have to see where this relief valve plunger is and look at it. Can I ask where it is located?
 
Dave,

The link was great. I learned much about the oil system of the bj8. I think I have a couple of ideas to check some things on the car for the "low" oil pressure reading. Thanks again for the great link. I am going to check my pressure spring first. The cheapest of the fixes of course. Have you replaced yours? Do I have to drain the oil system to do this? Or can I do it with a cold engine? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
 
Tony,

A direct quote from another email:

"An interesting story about my four cylinder Healey. Kind of strange but
true.

When I first got it with around 85,000 miles on the lower end, the oil
pressure ran around 55 psi cold, 25 hot idle, & 45 run at 3,000 rpm.

I experimented with shimming the presure relief plunger (herein called
the (valve) spring .160". The pressures were the same, no change. Next I
added a .360" long spacer in place of the .160" spacer. The hot oil
pressures went up to 40 at idle & 60 hot run at 3,000. I expected the
hot run pressure to go up because of the additional spring pressure
raising the pressure relief setting. What I didn't expect was the
increase in idle pressure since 40 is well below the relief blow off
setting of 60. Pressure now never goes below 40 at idle, or above 60
running. Of course cold idle pressure drops from 60 to 40 as the oil
gets hot but It used to drop to 25.

I came to the conclusion that the regulator valve was leaking
(bypassing) all of the time (not fully seating) & causing the low idle
pressure. The additional spring pressure caused the regulator valve to
fully seat & raised the idle pressure which was previously leaking
through the non seating valve. The first try shim of .160" apparently
was not enough additional spring pressure to fully seat the valve. It is
possible that by checking for full valve seating & lapping the valve to
it's seat that the low idle pressure would have been considerably higher
without the spring change. There would be a real hazzard of getting
lapping compound into the oil system though.

On my particular engine, a spring shim of more that .360" would result
in the relief valve not uncovering the bypass port due to spring coil
bind & complete blocking of the regulator, so .360" was the limit but
fortunately just the right amount.

It might be fruitful for you to experiment with the regulator valve
seating & spring pressure."
-----------------------------------------------
No, you don't have to drain the oil system. Cleaning the plunger & tapping it into it's seat with a brass drift might help and the springs DO lose tension with age. If you have any doubts about doing this, you can try a new valve plunger & spring from Moss Motors.
D
 
Dave,

The by pass is located near the oil filter and is on the trianglular piece of metal coming from the engine? Is that the by pass valve nut. It looks like it is going into the engine at an angle?

Thanks
 
Hi ynot:
I just replaced the pressure release spring on my BJ8. It is below where the oil filter connects to the block and slightly forward. On mine it was a 1 1/16 hex nut, the same size as the oil pan plug. My Haynes manual says a 9/16, but mine was larger. The spring comes right out, but I had to fish around with a pencil magnet to get the valve itself out (thanks Keoke). Now here is the interesting thing. The replacement spring was about 1/4 + inch longer than the one I removed. I assumed that the old one had compressed over about 40 years. I put in the new spring and the pressure increased quite a bit. However, a day later I noticed the pressure dropped, not as much as before, but still down from my first test. So I took out the new spring and found that it too had compressed perhaps an 1/8 of an inch. So per Dave Russell I put in a shim. I used a small metal washer between the spring and the hex nut. The pressure increased again. I may add a second washer to try to get the pressure a litttle higher. Of course the question is why the new spring lost a little tension so soon. Maybe just not as high a quality as the original.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi ynot:
On mine it was a 1 1/16 hex nut, the same size as the oil pan plug. My Haynes manual says a 9/16, but mine was larger. .

[/ QUOTE ]
A 9/16 Whitworth wrench is close to a SAE 1 1/16 wrench. The manual likely gives Whitworth sizes which are vastly different from SAE sizes. Whitworth sizes are the diameter of the bolt shank. SAE sizes are the width across the flats on the bolt head. The 1 1/16 SAE is about .050" larger than 9/16 W & will usually substitute. A few Whitworth sizes have a close SAE equivalent but not many.
D
 
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