emergency help needed

Don't know if this is right place or not but here's the deal. I was away from my riv for 2 weeks and got back to it today. Started fine, runnin fine parked by van to get luggage and smelt oil burnin so I popped the hood and oil is gettin onto exhaust manifold in front. Lots of sludge there too. Oil looks to be above full (maybe the culprit?) And besides that everything looked good. Got back in car and noticed that if I get below 1000 rpm my oil light comes on. That's the problem and it worries the hell out of me. I ordered the front valve cover gasket in case I have to change that. Also how hard is that and is there a write up for it (sorry Aaron I'm on my phone and search don't work) thanks guys

A valve cover gasket isn't going to affect oil pressure, and it's extremely common for those to leak and accumulate on top of/near the manifold. I wouldn't be surprised if the rear cover is doing the same thing. The front cover gasket is easy to replace. The rear, not so much.

How far above full are you talking???

I wonder if just an oil change with the proper amount would fix it. But if you've already ordered the gasket, why not?

Oil leaking from the valve cover is somewhat common and an easy fix. Completely unrelated to oil being overfull and low oil pressure, or at least it should be.

You are checking the oil level with the engine _off_, right? Oil does not appear from nowhere. How did it get overfilled? Is there something else getting into the oil? (coolant?) Is your coolant low?

Engine is off and I let it cool down before I checked it again. It's at least a quart over and even tho its only got 2000 miles on it I'm changin it this weekend before I leave out again. The oil is still clean with nothin in it. If I can find a write up on doin the front ill do it before I change oil. I'm also going to hit it with degreaser in a few when it cools off again to get rid of some of the old oil gunk that's built up.

A quart over!!! wtf? Who changed the oil?? No wonder it's spewing out....
If memory serves me right, really all you have to do is move the bracket that the Ignition Control Module and coils are mounted to in order to get the front VC off.

I have oil pressure gauges on all my cars including the Riviera. I have an Autometer mechanical oil pressure, and a vacuum/boost gauge hidden where the ash tray used to be. Oil pressure on these engines is awesome compared to the earlier Buick engines like that in my 70 GS. I've never seen the oil pressure below 35 psi, and that's in gear, and hot 5W/30. Breathe on the gas and it's up above 60 psi. If your oil light is on at all, get a gauge on the engine and find out what the oil pressure really is. I think the light comes on when it is under 10 psi, and that ain't good.

Def need a gauge. My light was comin on but no more, o drained some oil out and no more light or leak! Scary huh? I stopped at hedman header and talked to the owner of the company about makin some for our cars. Told me at first not worth it cause it'd cost 2000 or more to pull my car back there and them to make a set of custom headers cause they would only sell the one. I then said we might be interested in 10 sets or so here on the forums. I need to see what the interest in some made in the USA custom headers would be. If we get 10 or more people willon to pay up front for them they will do it.

Where did your last oil change come from?

i do my own unless im out on the road and cant. the last few ive done. this time ill be doing it on the road tho. bad thing this evening tho. my crankshaft sensor went out! acts like its missfiring and puttering along. i bought a new one with lifetime warenty and am having it installed by the companies mech sunday when we leave for savanah. 35 for the part and 50 for the install. its givin 2 codes cylinder 3 misfire and cranckshacft position sensor so i checked plugs and wires in the front and all look good hense i bought the sensor. fingers crossed

Did you pull the coil connection on #3 wire looking for corrosion?

Did you check resistance on the coil secondaries to see if they are all the same?

I pulled the wire off and it looked good on both ends. They have less than 2000 miles on them. I don't know how to do the rest of what you said tho

joshuadalegrimes wrote:

I pulled the wire off and it looked good on both ends. They have less than 2000 miles on them. I don't know how to do the rest of what you said tho

Using an ohmmeter check the resistance across each of the coils, from spark plug post to spark plug post.post your results.