Dino Saga 070311 _ Oil Changes

Dino Saga 070311 _ Oil Changes

Have changed oil about every 5,000 miles since I got the car. Filter at same time. Ran Castrol in my Alfas and just stuck with it. Found that 20-50 oil is about right for Santa Barbara. Never gets really cold here but gets pretty hot in the summers. Particularly if you run the mountain roads. Pressure runs about 90 psi above 2,000 rpm. Like to have gauges read mid scale. Still have 40 psi or so at 1,000 rpm idle in the heat. Filter is Fram HP-1 just because it is easy to get at most Auto shops and the quality is reasonable.

I have a slightly modified oil breather system in that the rear oil filler cap and vent are gone. After pulling heads a long time ago I could see no reason for two fillers and a vent line connecting the two. The timing chain gallery in the block goes from bank to bank way above the oil level. Plenty of vent area. Extra filler and hose across distributor just makes access more difficult. Made up a cover to close off cam housing. Should have bought two cast covers when I pulled the AC compressor years later but didn’t think of it. GT Car Parts usually has used ones and I only bought one. Vent from front filler goes across firewall to oil mist separator. The separator vents to the air box per the factory routing but all valves and vacuum lines are gone. There is not much air flow possible in or out of the separator unless there is a considerable pressure difference between the crankcase and ambient air. Dipstick has an o-ring seal that plugs things up real well.

I jack the car up with the engine warm but not too hot. Pull right rear wheel and fiberglass rock shield. Pull the dipstick so air can get into the crankcase easily. Put a big stainless bowl under the drain and loosen plug. Put a plastic cover underneath oil filter and loosen it slightly. Plastic is there so front rubber bushing on lower A-arm stays dry. Drain crankcase and pull filter. Replace filter and drain plug. Replace shield and wheel. Let car down and fill with 7 quarts of oil. No problem filling as long as dip stick is up a ways. Seat dip stick, start car and watch oil pressure rise. Done. Remember to lift the dip stick anytime you are adding oil between changes. If you don’t, bubbles force the oil to spill over filler neck.

Takes more time to get rid of oil than to change it. The stainless bowl cleans up perfectly with Dawn and hot water. Candi can go back to using it for the dinner salad after a sanitizing round in the dishwasher.

The only other regular maintenance items are the two ball joints on the upper front A-arms. They need a shot of grease at every oil change. Lower ball joints were switched to greaseless a few years ago and all is well. Of course a shot of oil on the throttle linkage is good as is a shot on the clutch linkage. The Dino is really a low maintenance car if you do the basic things yourself. I have found that the biggest cost of shop maintenance is the “while we have it up in the air we might as well…” syndrome. Do it yourselfers wait until it is necessary, not merely convenient. Makes a difference. And the price of labor is reasonable.

John
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