auburnseeker

Buy one of the cheap infrared noncontact thermometers, they will take a lot of guesswork out of things and are a very important tool when buying a car. Gauges back then are far from accurate. With the thermometer you can see your radiator temperature top to bottom to make sure the antifreeze is cooling enough before re entering the block at the bottom. I think around 20 degrees is what a healthy one usually reads. I understand this doesn't necessarily address the coolant push off, but it will help you get a good handle on the health of the system. It will also let you see if there are any hot spots in the engine. Good luck. I had a 48 Caddy that did the same thing, but eventually getting a correct thermostat in it and drilling the bypass hole in the stat cured it.

That was really an irresponsible thing for any mechanic to conclude or say without being able to give any evidence to back it up. That's like going to the ER and telling the first doctor you see you don't feel quite right. Then that doctor tells you without any tests that you are going to need a new heart, then the second doctor sees you listens to your heart does a few tests then says you have heart burn and just need some medicine to help you with heart burn or were just having a panic attack. Main bearings in a car are about as serious as it gets short of a rod hanging out of the block. That requires basically a full rebuild. Thus the reason for me strongly questioning the diagnosis the two mechanics were giving you.

What about the bearings being shot?

So we go from 2 bad main bearings to a ballast resistor being the problem, which as Joe mentioned, should have nothing to do with the starter. The starter circuit should have been visually checked at the first shop first thing. Wow. Time for a new shop. If they get it running, with this fix, now that you are kind of committed to that, get it out of there and never take it back. When diagnosing always start with the very basic things. After everything checks out, go a little deeper, then a little deeper. I'm referring to diagnosing by the way, not your wallet, which they seem to be excavating pretty hard. Good luck and let us know how you make out. You can probably google about the trannies and get your answer. My cars is a 3 speed stick, so I can't help you there.

I don't see the wait time signs posted like at Disney. You know 30 minutes from this point.

My starter might also need some new bushings as well, that will cause the armature to drag a bit as it racks in the worn bushings. I have a few others. I should probably freshen one up and put it in. As with a lot of these old cars, things wear out of tolerance over the years. Putting everything back within spec will make them perform like they should and a new car did back in the day. I never got the time to investigate it too much as it get very little use, and my more daily drivers get more attention.

I wish you had a video of it cranking. As mentioned, My Olds Doesn't zing over like a new Toyota either, but never fails to start.

I just discussed this with my friend and he said, pretty much what I was thinking, after reviewing the thread, that the only way the starter would be dragging because of a bearing failure, would be a catastrophic one in which the oil would have noticeable metal in it from the babbit on the bearings. Pretty much what I went over already. He said so far they haven't done squat for diagnosing, just parts changing in hopes it would fix the problem. 4 weeks in the shop, is sounding like fill in work or they don't know what they are doing. Most guys would want it out of their shop asap. Old cars, tend to get shoved to the back of regular shops because they prefer the plug and play cars that all you need to do is read the code as to what to replace.

The link to it running is the last thing in the original post. The little blue hi lighted IMG.

In the photo of the engine you posted I don't see the factory Ground cable (strap) so they have a different ground cable of some sort. I would look to see what that is grounded to. It should be grounded to the engine.

If they changed, charged or checked the battery, they should have cleaned the terminals. If so, I would look at the cables to make sure they look good and not corroded or damaged and look at the connections at the engine. The original ground lead was a heavy mesh cable that bolted to the top of the intake manifold right by the battery. 12 volt isn't as fussy as 6 volt, but you still need good sized (gauge) cables to minimize resistance. The slower and slower turn over, almost seems more related to a bad connection that's barely providing the amperage. Though often they just stop and you get either the click or nothing at all until you rectify the problem wit the connection. What did mechanic number 2 say about the starter he was going to test? Did he take it out and bench test it? I'm still intrigued with the squealing sound from the bearings. Seems more like the sound from the piggy bank they are trying to sneak away with.

The main bearing just sounds off the wall to me. I passed this thread onto my friend who was a field engineer for Cadillac and the mechanical end of a national championship drag racing team. He's really sharp, to get his take on it. If he dropped the pan, he had access to the bearing caps and should have pulled them to show you they were scored or been able to plastigauge them to show you they had excessive wear. Usually you don't drop the pan for an oil change. Maybe he just meant he dropped the oil, which is a common phrase. If he did indeed drop the pan and the bearings were bad, there would be no need to put the pan back on and refill it with oil, regular and mystery oil. (usually mystery oil is used as a super lubricant and is thinner than the oil. It's usually used to free up stuck or sticky parts, and often more in the valve train, the top end of the engine) You would have left it off to show the customer how you came to your conclusion that the bearings were bad. Being it thins the oil some, that would be the last thing to use with bad bearings. You would need to run the engine a lot if it only had a little gas in the oil to damage the bearings. It would need quite a bit to dilute the oil to the point of it damaging the bearings and again that's over time not instantly. The oil would have to feel kind of thin to the touch, especially being cold. The darkish color is fine if it wasn't metallic or gray looking. Probably better than fresh oil as some age to the oil, means it wasn't freshly changed to hide a problem. If you don't have the oil filter on your car, then the oil will be darker than you are used to as the contaminants in the engine are suspended in the oil. The add on filter, filtered those out. Not a bad idea if you get it straightened out to add the filter. The oil is most likely also a non detergent oil. Without knowing how clean the engine is inside (the upper end) you will want to stick with a non detergent as you don't want to free up years of deposits. If the mechanic did have the pan off, he also should have showed you if it was caked up with sludge or clean. Lots of red flags here for me, but then again I only play a mechanic on line. I just want to make sure you are not getting taken for a job that doesn't need to be done. These are good powerful engines that lasted for years with regular care. I don[t think they have any real "known problems as the design was around since 1949 in the 303. Your 324 is the last year of this engine. (only phased out because of the race for more cubic inches and that 303 got pushed to 315 then again to 324 where at that point they just needed a bigger engine to get any more performance in HP race.)

I don't have my car handy in the garage here at the house, but there are indicator lights instead of gauges for the oil pressure, Generator, and two for the temperature. A red one for hot and a green one for cold. When you turn the ignition on but don't try to start the car, they all light up. As soon as it starts, I believe when cold, all go out except the green cold one, and under normal circumstances, the generator (GEN) flickers a bit or may come on, until you rev the engine at all, then it goes out as it starts charging. With the Conversion to an alternator something may be messed up, so it won't go out. If the oil light never came on before starting then you will have no idea if the engine had any real oil pressure. (this is far from fool proof as a mechanical gauge is much more accurate than the lights, but they would give you an idea to start with. ) If when it was running the light went out at idle, then I would be very suspect of a bearing issue. Bad main or crank bearings affect oil pressure and that is the first indication of worn bearings. Again I only play a mechanic on line and not in real life but I have done a few valve jobs and a complete engine rebuild on my 36 Chrysler Convertible, so I'm not quite fresh off the boat, plus I have a 56 olds 88 Hardtop in storage right now that I have driven off an on for the last 20 years. Besides gas in the oil, how much was it overfull? was there any gray matter or a metallic sheen to it? That would be the bearing matter in the oil? How did the oil look in general? These have an accessory full flow Oil filter and the filter could be pulled and checked as well, but not all engines were equipped with them. I would go with Carbking's Suggestion and find out the real Car mechanics in the area to see what they think. What part of Florida are you in? Surprised a guy from FL bought a car from NY. Usually we are always shipping them in from FL to NY.

These cars are 12 volt from the factory, the only conversion is the Alterantor in place of the generator. That just facilitates charging at idle, where a generator doesn't unless you have the idle really cranked up. Even with gas in the oil from trying to start it, you would have to have a lot for the little running you did, to wash the bearings out and damage them. Did the oil light on the dash come on when it was running? Did it come on when you went to start it, but then go out once it started the first time? I'm still really skeptical of this diagnosis. Squealing bearings???

A bad crank bearing is not going to make it start hard or not at all, unless it lost oil pressure and basically seized. You need to see the oil pressure with it running to determine if you have bad bearings. That engine sounded fine to me, although a lower idle would have been nice to hear it better. Otherwise you would have to drop the pan and remove the bearing caps to check the bearings. I'm the furthest thing from a pro at this, but if it "needs a bearing". you usually need to pull the engine and crank and have the whole thing resurfaced, then install all new matched bearings. Did Mechanic #2 know mechanic one said it needed a new bearing? Was it ever mentioned in conversation? Hopefully a real mechanic will chime in to confirm or deny my thoughts. How did it crank when you got it? How did it crank when you tried to start it but it wouldn't start? We need some more info here.

That one above was relisted with a buy it now or best offer price of 12G.

I just saw this one posted over on Ebay. Seems like a reasonable price to start with. https://www.ebay.com/itm/1921-Dodge-Brothers-Touring-Car/332590646818?hash=item4d6ff28622:g:TpgAAOSwuuRapEpV&vxp=mtr Buy it now or make offer at 12G

I just watched the video. That engine sounds fine to me.

I agree run from Mechanic #1. you wouldn't know it had bad bearings without tearing it apart or possibly with really low oil pressure once it]s running and up to temperature/ hot. (hard to tell on a 56 with stock gauges as it only has idiot lights for the temp and Oil) Not sure how they wired it, but I see 2 original wires taped off laying there and the 2 new Alternator wires. loosely run up to the firewall. Looks like a less than professional conversion. I would highly suspect the problem be with the conversions and related wiring. Possibly even the ignition switch, but that will take actual diagnosing, not guessing, to see where you do and don't have power. I have a 56 Olds 88 2 door hardtop that I have had for nearly 20 years and it gets exercised a few times a year. It cranks kind of slow as well, especially when compared to modern vehicles. It's all that compression in that Olds rocket, that it's trying to turn over. In all seriousness if the timing is off it will cause it to not want to crank right as well. I think that's the problem with mine, but never get around to actually checking it, as it always starts and that's with a mechanical 20 something year old fuel pump. Of course a little dash of fuel down the carb after the longer slumbers, helps it light right off. I prefer getting stuff back within OEM specs, rather than re engineering it. Good luck.

Ebay is definitely a tough market to figure. Just when you think you know what sells and start paying more to buy that type of stuff, the bottom drops out. Lets hope it keeps I I only need to make another 100G to sort of finish off my garage and another couple of 100 top actually buy some cars to put in it. You are right though, the three mobsters in the room take all my lunch money and leave me with a few pennies for candy. The postal increases are really hammering my sales as a lot of my stuff sells for 3 to 5 dollars. It's close to $10 the people are paying for the items, but my take is less than half. I only do auctions though, so the break out items, make it worth while.

I've got a chance to get quite a pile of Barn board from a huge barn they are tearing down, though it really should be saved, but the organization that owns the property thinks hiring someone to tear the building down and cart it way in a dumpster is the best way to dispose of it. (I'm sure they could have sold it standing to one of those companies that tears them down and harvests the good material or disassembles it and reassembles it somewhere else. What a shame. It's 3 stories I believe and even has a 500 gallon wood water tank in the rafters. Not only is the outside all barn boards, the inside is all sheathed as well with up to 18 inch wide 100 year old boards. I figured, maybe I can use what I need, sell the rest and help fund some of the project. We'll see. Problem is the time to go tear it down as well. It's near my Father's. He is going to go look it over good and see what he thinks. He has a 1 ton dump truck and a nice heavy open car hauler so moving the material won't be a problem.

I probably should. I'll pick a rainy or down day and try to get one going. I can show the finishing on the existing garage that was here when I bought this place a few years ago (pretty much an unfinished shell) Then the ground up build of the new one. Too much work too little time and definitely not enough money. I sell full time on eBay, so its hard to forecast a budget when sales are like Mr toad's wild ride. I was doing well sales wise, spent 10G for my windows, which I had saved up in a short time, then the sales after that have been terrible, so I about had to rob from Peter to pay Paul to cover the monthly bills, which fluctuate drastically as well, based on your sales. Kind of a vicious cycle. I've also found out, that often when you dump allot on the market to try to make a few extra bucks, the stuff never seems to command a premium, when you just chug along , you tend up having the best sales. I list 30 items or more a night 7 days a week. Sometimes I spend a whole day invoicing Large orders and never even get out to the garage. I haven't taken a day off since Christmas. I keep thinking I should, but then realize those garage needs aren't funding themselves and winter is the better time to list than summer. Time to get back to work.

I look at the gruelingly slow pace finishing off my 28 by 50 with a 10 foot ceiling and the money it takes for all the little things you forget about. (I have over $ 7,000 in insulation) Then I look out the window at my 60 by 72 foot shell with a 16 foot ceiling, that still needs a floor, in floor heating, electrical insulation, I still have to install the 18 windows I have coming in a week(6 of which I have to split into 2 windows and build frames for) , 4 doors and build a set of nice folding doors for the main door which is framed at 14 foot tall by 16 foot wide. My friend tells me he feels exhausted just telling him what I need to do. LOL Of course my problem is I wanted something that looked nice on a budget (hard to balance) so it didn't distract from the house we have. It's a lot easier to build a small stylish building than a really big one, but everyone I talked to, said build it as big as I possibly could the first time. Looks like I'll never have enough money top add on to it anyways. I'm happy with what I have so far though and nothing spent the winter out in the snowbank. Of course having to work (though I'm self employed). still throws a wrench in what I can get done. I'm watching the kids tonight so I can't be out in the garage.

I would buy off here, especially from certain members because of their track record. Just seems every time Something nice comes along, I don't have the funds. I've had inquiry and even a visit or two from Forum members for cars I have had for sale, I just never had a sale materialize. Good exposure for the price, and you never know. Tom posts some truly wonderful cars on here. The type I would expect to see when I scan the classifieds on this site.

I was thinking the same thing. I actually started getting work done on my 28 x 50. I finally got all the foam up on the back inside section so I can finish wainscoting on it. I figured at the pace I work, Mr Earl should be about finishing his up, as he seems to get a lot more done than I.