oil light flickers on my 61 ford falcon when stopping
Asked by phantomlimb Feb 12, 2013 at 06:29 PM about the 1961 Ford Falcon
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
oil light flickers on my 61 ford falcon when stopping, I am planning on replacing the oil pressure switch.
what other possible causes could this be?
2 Answers
A worn engine. Over heating which is thinning the oil and reducing pressure. Low idle RPM. --- These are all possible causes. The 1961 Ford Falcon could have been designed to use 10W30 dino type oil. Today's thinner oils would flow on through the bearings. --- If the car was mine, I would raise the idle RPM's a little and use 10W40 weight oil. There should be a idle air adjustment screw on the base of the carborator.
First idea is that the idle is a bit on the low side. If you have an automatic, your idle in gear should be about 500 rpm. If a manual, it would be about 600. When last were the points and condenser changed? As the gap set correctly on the points set properly, and are they clean? One thing, you don not use the air/fuel mixture screw to adjust the idle. You want the idle as fast as it will go using that adjustment then set the idle using the adjustment screw on the throttle to set the idle at the proper speed.. Many carbureted cars run rich because people use the mixture to set the idle. You also want to be sure that the timing is set properly. I normally do it by ear, and you want the idle as high as possible adjusting the timing, but not having any knock. It takes a little playing around to get it just right. The other thing I would do is to use a zinc additive in the oil. The old engines were designed to have the zinc in the oil that modern oils just don't have. Hope this helps. If you need more information, PM me and I'll go over it with you. Michael.