On a 1965 88 Oldsmobile, does the oil in the oil pan need tp be vented?

 

Its vented either by a road draft tube or a PCV.

 

From the factory, the engine should have a PCV valve and a vented oil fill cap. This is a 1965 442, but the 425 in an Eighty Eight will look the same.

 

Here's a 1965 425 motor.

 

The crankcase vents itself thru the PCV system. Fresh air in thru valve cover breather filter, blowby gases evacuated and reburned thru PCV valve and intake.

Some racing engines scavenge the crankcase by venturi flow in the headers, but can't think of any reason to do that on a street engine.

If you're having problems with the crankcase pressurizing, either you have excessive blowby (worn engine) or the breather filter, PCV valve and hoses are plugged.

 

Glenn's right, but to clarify, in 1965, there was no valve cover breather. The breather was in the oil fill cap. The black item on the passenger side valve cover that looks like a vent is actually the 1964-65 PCV valve. Unlike modern PCV valves, it did not connect to manifold vacuum. The small vacuum hose on the side of the valve controlled opening and closing; the valve itself vented to the air cleaner snorkel.

 

That's the same as 63-64. For some reason I thought 65 had gone to modern style PCV.

 

I lost the tube and the oil dipstick and I am trying to replace a new one. I can't remove the oil pan because I would have to raise the engine, so the hole where I think the original tube was, seems to be blocked and possibly broken. right above that hole on the block ( 2-3 inches) there is a little stud sticking out that I can run the dipstick in to go to the oil pan, is it ok to use that hole? It seems like a vent hole?

 

I lost the tube and the oil dipstick and I am trying to replace a new one. I can't remove the oil pan because I would have to raise the engine, so the hole where I think the original tube was, seems to be blocked and possibly broken. right above that hole on the block ( 2-3 inches) there is a little stud sticking out that I can run the dipstick in to go to the oil pan, is it ok to use that hole? It seems like a vent hole?

 

If your real question is "is there another opening that I can use for the dipstick tube", the answer is no.

There is only the one hole you can use for the dipstick tube. There are no other available "vent" holes. That would have been called a "leak". If the old tube is broken off in the hole, you need to get it out. Frequently you can use a slide hammer with an appropriate diameter sheet metal screw.