CHECK THE OIL PRESSURE SENDING UNIT.
This happened to my '65 over 30 years ago. It has a 413, with the sending unit just above the bell housing. I don't know if it is in the same spot on your car.
Its worth a look.
Paul W.
I am slowly replacing the vinyl roof on my 69 LeBaron 2 door and making all of the necessary rust repairs.
I took today off to do some work on it and figured that it would be a good opportunity to take it out for a short drive to get some fresh gas. I paid abot $2/gallon for the gas in it.
The car fired up great witha freshly charged battery and some ether and ran fine. I had set the idle a little low last year, but it was running OK. The oil pressure was lower than I remember it at idle, but did come up with RPM's and was fine while driving. I checked all of the fluids, let the car warm up and then took it for a short drive in my neighborhood. It ran great for not having been driven for about one year. I went back home, checked all of the fluids again and then headed off to the nearest gas station 2 miles away. Put $35 of gas in it and drove home. The car was running great with lots of power. I live at the top of a steep hill and came up the hill in second gear at about 35-40 mph with the engine feeling really good.
I backed the car into my driveway and then into the garage. After I got out of the car I could see several large oil puddles and a very significant oil trail. One of the puddles where I had stopped the car for a few seconds was about 1' x 2'. I was shocked.
I quickly grabbed an oil drain pan and put it under the car. The oil seemed to be coming from the bell housing. I jumped into my trusty Intrepid and retraced the route I had taken to buy gas. I figured that something had probably happened coming up the hill. I traced the oil trail all the way back to the gas station (2 miles) and then could see that the car had been dripping on the way to the gas station. I then traced the trail all the way back to my house. It looks as if the oil started to leak right as I left my house on the trip to the gas station. Leaving the house I did not jump on it, give it a hard shift or anything and the car had been warmed up and driven about one mile before this.
I hope that I have not damaged the engine. I was running synthetic 20/50 weight oil, but I am sure that there is none left since I was able to follow the oil trail for 4 miles. Does anyone have ideas about what happened. The engine did not leak oil or burn oil prior to this and was not over filled
Fred Joslin
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