[T3] Oil light flickering! Additives?

[Phil Hof]

I have read about the low rpm oil light flicker, but never saw it in my fastback… until this last week.

I changed the oil, and did a few other chores including adjusting my brakes.  Then after a 10 mile drive on a hot day, I saw my light flicker at idle.  After the panic subsided, I thought about the situation.  I had added a somewhat thin zinc additive and maybe that thinned the oil, my usual 20W-50 Castrol GTX.  I had also tightened up the rear brakes, maybe a little too tight?  Maybe they were dragging.

I had also reduced fuel pressure form 30 to 28 in hopes to improve gas mileage a bit.  That would mean leaner/hotter, so I’ll turn that back.

I changed to oil to straight 30 wt, but that didn’t fix it— jot did it again after a brief uphill, full throttle run, followed by idling at a stop sign.

I loosened up the brakes a bit, adjusted my cables to be sure I had no drag when released, and then did what I never did before… tried an oil additive.  I added maybe 4 oz. of Lucas oil supplement, quite thick actually, in hopes that it will do as the  label says, raise oil pressure a bit.

Of course, I want to believe anything but a real engine problem!  Still do, actually.

Now, I plan to tear down the motor in the next year, and go through the whole motor, maybe adding that counterbalanced crank I hear does such nice things for engine life, maybe even a remote filter.

But the Cayucos Rally is in a couple of weeks, and I am hoping to find a temporary solution in a can.  Anyone else used Lucas as a stop-gap fix?

I’ll raise the idle speed a bit to make the light stay off (hopefully!), but I am a little nervous about the 500 mile drive up the coast and back.  This car was parked for so many years, and then driven for a few with no problems, so I haven’t gone back and checked compression or looked at my records to see the mileage at the last rebuild.  Power is good, and it has always run pretty cool.

I’ll raise the pressure, and drive it for these couple of weeks to get confidence for the trip.  But I’d feel better if this Lucas product has been successful for others.

Thanks,
-Phil