Hi all!
It’s been a long time since I’ve had an M Body and I am thrilled to have yet another… Or until about an hour ago.
I bought this 1979 Chrysler LeBaron I found on Offer Up from a guy in Tucson AZ. It was driven until 2020 daily and pretty neglected but the guy seemed to have been doing fairly regular maintenance, oil changes anyway.
It sat for the next 2+ years because of suspension issues and a leaking freeze plug.
I got it for $300 with a clear notarized title because he “lost” the keys.
What a steal! She is sunburnt and was really gross but I got it back home (Mesa 2 hours north) and went crazy with the steam cleaner!
After getting the gross off of the majority of the car I started in on my normal maintenance routine.
Changed the freeze plug and replaced the starter, plugs, wires ect.
Upon start up it was running rough so I checked compression and found somewhat low but fairly even 95-115psi per cylinder.
Bore scope prior to all and before cranking showed more carbon build-up than any I’ve seen. SeaFoam cleaned it right up and it ran really smooth!
Took it for a drive (after straightening the suspension out) and got about 4 blocks and the oil pressure went from 25-30psi at idle 45 driving to 0 and the lifters immediately started ticking and sounded like it was completely out of oil.
No Rod knocking but it definitely wasn’t getting oil to the cam/heads at all.
Checked the oil and it was at the full mark (there was oil more than halfway up the dipstick tube when I first pulled the dipstick out)
I’ve never had anything suddenly loose all oil pressure without punching a hole in the pan… I did not run it hard at all, just a leisurely test run.
Any ideas? It has a mechanical gauge mounted to the steering column that works.
It does have a rear main leak I want to fix so that’s the time to replace the oil pump with a good high volume unit but I’m wondering if anybody has experienced this themselves and what the outcome was.
I drained the oil and changed the filter and saw no indication of bearing/shavings etc.
The car has 81k actual miles and was SO quiet, I was very surprised and excited until the test drive.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Oh yeah, her name is Dirty Grandma!
Thanks I’m advance!
It’s been a long time since I’ve had an M Body and I am thrilled to have yet another… Or until about an hour ago.
I bought this 1979 Chrysler LeBaron I found on Offer Up from a guy in Tucson AZ. It was driven until 2020 daily and pretty neglected but the guy seemed to have been doing fairly regular maintenance, oil changes anyway.
It sat for the next 2+ years because of suspension issues and a leaking freeze plug.
I got it for $300 with a clear notarized title because he “lost” the keys.
What a steal! She is sunburnt and was really gross but I got it back home (Mesa 2 hours north) and went crazy with the steam cleaner!
After getting the gross off of the majority of the car I started in on my normal maintenance routine.
Changed the freeze plug and replaced the starter, plugs, wires ect.
Upon start up it was running rough so I checked compression and found somewhat low but fairly even 95-115psi per cylinder.
Bore scope prior to all and before cranking showed more carbon build-up than any I’ve seen. SeaFoam cleaned it right up and it ran really smooth!
Took it for a drive (after straightening the suspension out) and got about 4 blocks and the oil pressure went from 25-30psi at idle 45 driving to 0 and the lifters immediately started ticking and sounded like it was completely out of oil.
No Rod knocking but it definitely wasn’t getting oil to the cam/heads at all.
Checked the oil and it was at the full mark (there was oil more than halfway up the dipstick tube when I first pulled the dipstick out)
I’ve never had anything suddenly loose all oil pressure without punching a hole in the pan… I did not run it hard at all, just a leisurely test run.
Any ideas? It has a mechanical gauge mounted to the steering column that works.
It does have a rear main leak I want to fix so that’s the time to replace the oil pump with a good high volume unit but I’m wondering if anybody has experienced this themselves and what the outcome was.
I drained the oil and changed the filter and saw no indication of bearing/shavings etc.
The car has 81k actual miles and was SO quiet, I was very surprised and excited until the test drive.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Oh yeah, her name is Dirty Grandma!
Thanks I’m advance!