What is good oil pressure for 1928 Chrysler model 52

I appreciate the past answers.

I have run the car for awhile in the garage on jacks. the oil pressure is around 20-30 psi. Is that about normal when the engine is warm.

Thanks for you responses

That would be perfect pressure for that car in my opinion.

There is an old rule of thumb that you want 10 pounds of pressure for every 1000 RPMs. An engine of that age is probably capable of 2000 to 3000 RPMs so it passes that test.

Hi All,

Having owned a model 52 for 35 years your oil pressure is good. Mine would run between 10 to 20 psi. The only time I had bad oil pressure was when I ran the car on 20W50 multigrade, the pressure dropped to below 4psi. an old freind advised DO NOT run multigrade oil on these old engines, I changed to SAE 40 monograde and never had another problem. In really hot conditions consider SAE50, and maybe if really cold perhaps SAE 30. A

Another tip I was given by a New Zealander is DO NOT take the autovac suction pipe to the oilpump as original, because when you run out of fuel in the gastank you will run out of oil pressure, the engine will continue to run until the autovac runs dry and may run your bearings. I tapped into the inlet manifold to avoid this problem.

Best regards

Viv

I think viv w has it back to front. I read on this site recently that the line connecting the oil pump to the 'autovac' should stop the fuel flow if the oil pressure fails. My 1929 Plymouth (which has essentially the same engine as the Chrysler 52) is running on its original 'autovac'. I have run out of fuel on several occasions. When that happens the engine just stops, understandably. I am running the Plymouth on cheap 20/50 and just drove it several hundred miles in a weekend. The speedo turned over 80,000 miles while we were away. The engine's internals are all original as far as I know. It cruises comfortably at 45-50 mph (about 2000 to 2300 rpm) and maintains just under 20 psi when warm. It should be noted though that according to The Standard Catalog, the Plymouth rear end ratio is 4.3:1 where the Chrysler is 4.7:1 so to keep the revs the same it would need to be cruised at less than 45 mph.

Hi again,

I ran out of fuel on several ocassions , no problem except to prime the autovac. The info I got was sent to me by a NZ guy who HAD run his bearings.I followed his advice, maybe he is wrong, but I was not prepared to take the chance. My engine was fully rebuilt, including mains, B/ends and cam bearings, when I started the engine first time it was with 20/50, oil pressure was at best 4lbs, at that point I changes to straight 40 grade oil (from the same maker BP), it solved the oil pressure problem.

The plymouth motor is similar if not the same engine, you say you've run on 20/50 no problem, my car did not like it, maybe different oils?

I have a 1990 Toyota Hilux, when I ran it on Castrol GTX it is quiet, but with Caltex Havoline, same grade, there is a big difference, the Hilux does not like the Caltex oil.

I found the Chrysler 52 tourer would cruise happily at 35-38 miles per hour, at 40-45 it was working hard

Best regards

Viv

Don't use anything except 30 weight non detergent. 45 pounds cold and 35 warm. Speed limits were about 35 mph on a good road.

The cars were well built and were made to travel on poor roads. Treat your car as you would back then. Enjoy the scenery at 35 to 40 mph.

Good luck.

Hi everyone.. and sorry for resurrecting this topic!

I have a 1929 chrysler series 65 (engine silver dome head). When the engine is cold the oil pressure reaches 30. Then gets warmer and reaches 20 and then keeps 10. into idle reaches 5....

I was using a 20w-50...then I changed to 20w-40, and now I´m using a 30W (moderate detergent monograde) and the problem remains....the oil pressure drops when the engine warm.... I´m killing the engine if I don´t do anything....!Someone knows where I can raise the pressure oil? or the the problem is in the oil that I use?. I hear many times that this engines must use non detergent oil...here is the problem?

Thanks everyone!

There is discussion of your question in your topic in the General Discussion forum.

Hi there

Here is the page out of my Chrysler 65 Instruction book regarding type of oil and oil pressure hopefully it helps 

Cheers Ben

Interesting topic. My Series 65 engine is running on straight 40 oil and starts out cold at 40 lbs pressure (assume this is what the relief valve opens at), then the pressure continuously drops as the engine gets hotter and ends up at 8 lbs idle and 15 at lbs at speed after 10+ miles. This is uncomfortable although I have heard that engines of this era are good if any pressure is displayed at idle? My impression is that changing to 20W-50 will raise the hot engine pressure, and I intend to test this out soon.

A bit late to this party, but here is my latest experience.  Drove 1200 miles round trip to Detroit Jul 24 - 30, 2 days out, 2 back in my 1929U Plymouth.  My start-up pressure was about 30 and dropped to about 25 when hot with Shell Rotella 30.

My Kingston vac tank is supplied from the OIL-VAC pump.  Only issue I had was with the internal corks sliding up the shaft.  This allowed gas to be sucked into the oil causing a decrease in oil pressure, naturally.  Never noticed any decrease in pressure when I've run out of gas.

4 hours ago, frank29u said:

A bit late to this party, but here is my latest experience.  Drove 1200 miles round trip to Detroit Jul 24 - 30, 2 days out, 2 back in my 1929U Plymouth.  My start-up pressure was about 30 and dropped to about 25 when hot with Shell Rotella 30.

 

My Kingston vac tank is supplied from the OIL-VAC pump.  Only issue I had was with the internal corks sliding up the shaft.  This allowed gas to be sucked into the oil causing a decrease in oil pressure, naturally.  Never noticed any decrease in pressure when I've run out of gas.

Can I just elaborate on the relationship of oil vac pumps with regards to oil pressure and gas, I think some people may have the wrong end of the stick.

When you have a  vacuum tank with the oil pump being the vacuum source, as opposed to manifold pressure, there is the probability that losing oil pressure will also mean losing vacuum. If you lose vacuum then you lose the ability to draw fuel from the tank, eventually the vac tank will run dry and consequently the engine will quit, how long this will take is debatable.

So in essence, the amount of oil pressure is not influenced in any way by the vac tank, unless of course you have the situation of fuel contaminating the oil.