ok i have the 1962 ford galaxie 500 with the 352 motor, its got about 100,000 miles on it and its not the best running motor, i will rebuild it in the next year or so...but it gets by for now. i have been running SAE 50 racing oil in it but i am concerned that it isnt enough so i want to switch to a high mileage synthetic. something that will also help get rid of some sludge... any recomendations?
Check out www.bobistheoilguy.com Do some reading.That site will tell you everything you need to know and then some.
Forget about getting rid of the sludge, at least by use of oil. On a high mileage engine the last thing you want to do is to loosen the carbon and sludge and circulate that muck through the engine. Yes, I realize it has a full flow filter and should capture this stuff, but don't count on it. Also, I am not so sure your interests are best served by a 50w racing oil. Even in your part of the country, immediate oil flow at startup is desireable and the viscosity of 50w when at ambient temperature may not be the best for that purpose. I would think a decent multigrade, maybe 15w/40 for instance, would work well. You say it's not "the best running motor"........have you had a compression test recently and, if so, was there much variation between cylinders? If the comp is fairly even, then not running well should be able to be improved through tuning the ignition and carburetion. Ray
Iagree with Hnstray,lose the 50w oil and run some 10w30 or 10 or 15w40 in the engine,remember the engine grew up on probably 30w detergent or by the sludge amount 30w non-dertergent.My old man showed me a trick along time ago that Iknow some of the oldtimers here have done.Have a friend idle the engine up to about 1200to 1500 rpms slowly pour automatic transmission fluid down the carb,just a small stream car will smoke like hell but after it clears its amazing how this cleans out the valve train.some people say use water but I never tried it ,just know the ****** fluid method works.
will definately try that...have any of you guys ever used Zmax or Seafoam? what are your opinions on that stuff?
Forget that 50w racing oil ! Go get Rotella 10-30 or 1040 , it comes in both . It has the zinc you need and will be fine . Unless you are burning oil I wouldn't keep using the racing oil ! You can also use diesel oil too . That also has the zinc in it for the flat tap cam . Retro Jim
Did that 30 yrs ago in my 64 Impala, gotta warn ya, it will look like its a geyser.(white smoke) if you can do it away from a residentual neighborhood the better..
i use valvoline vr1 racing oil. has zinc and other good stuff. says for flat tappet application in the description on their site. available in 20w50 and 10w30.
i use 20/50 castrol gtx in my 1966 tbird with a 428fe, it seems happy with that flavor of oil. i dont agree with the 10/30. that motor was made with thicker oils in mind. its not made to todays standard. its like the gasoline it prefers higher octane leaded fuel. it will run on the gas of today but trust me its much happier on a higher grade of fuel
Don't let these guys confuse you. Motor oils are often made in such a way that they act like thin 10 weight oil when cold, and increase their viscosity (thickness for want of a better term here) as the engine heats up. Hence the 10w40 or 10w30 ratings. Summer is coming soon. Just use a name brand of 10w40 motor oil. You can worry about which is the best oil after you get the engine rebuilt. SAFU
By the late 50's, 10w30 spec motor oil was the standard and nondetergent oil was hard to find. You had to look to find it. All in all, 10W30 is damn hard to beat for general use. If you think the engine is gunked up and want to clean it out, try Sea Foam. My son's Topaz V6 had some noisy lifters. About 5 minutes of running with a 10% mixture of Sea Foam quieted them. I've never been one for the "mechanic in a can" stuff, but this **** works if you have a cruddy engine. Bill
Horse hockey. Texaco and the other majors made 20w and 30w non-detergent motor oil for years after the late 1950s. It was a standard stock item because so many of the older cars on the road still used non-detergent oil, and couldn't safely digest detergent oil. It damn sure wasn't hard to find in the 60s. SAFU
I have never seen a motor that "couldn't safely digest detergent oil". Of couse if a motor with a lot of miles on it has a lot of sludge buildup from running on non-detergent it's unwise to change because the detergent action will loosen the sludge. Absent that, they work like clockwork with degergent oil. I've built several old motors, the first was a '51 chivvy 216, after that several older, 1929, 1930, 1931, etc and they all liked detergent oil just fine.
So if an engine had lots of miles on it, and had been running non-detergent motor oil, it could not safely digest detergent oil without running the risk that all that internal gunk will get loosened up. Now while you might not have seen engines like this,.... I have. See how that works? SAFU
The way multigrade oils work is slightly different than you describe. The lower number is the viscosity of the oil when "cold".......in other words, it has the flow characteristics of 10w when cold.........but the second number is it's viscosity equivalent when at operating temperature...... it doesn't "thicken up"..........it just doesn't THIN out from heat. Again, in other words, even though it was 10w cold, it retains it's viscosity equivalent to either 30w or 40 or whatever the second number is, even when at normal engine operating temps. Unlike so-called straight weight oils, which change viscosity with temperature, the multigrade is more stable in it's viscosity........ Ray
I agree with the guys who are recommending a multi weight for this engine and Hnstray described it CORRECTLY. I have a bit of personal experience with older small block fords and would strongly recommend 20/50 Castrol GTX or 20/50 Valvoline Racing. I would stay away from Pennzoil as it seems to build more sludge then others due to (if I recall correctly) the paraffin content.
I'd have to put my vote in for rotella. Several of my high mileage(who am I kidding, all my rides were/are high mileage) vehicles that had oil consumption issues-like using a quart or more every 1000 miles or so- I was able to reduce consumption by using a multi- viscosity rotella. Leave the sludge be! As long as it's not plugging drain back holes, you don't want to send that sludge through the oiling system. And for cleaning carbon(off the pistons, valves, etc..) ATF or water does the trick through a vacuum hose on the carb.
Realistically, I doubt that anything will hurt as long as the viscosity is up there. I've run straight 50 racing oil in more than a few FE Fords that smoked like Japanese destroyers and leaked as well. Especially in warmer weather where cold starts are not that big of a deal. If you are not comfy with that, go with a 20W40 or 20W50 oil, I like Kendall products myself. Bob
about how much ATF do you use and how fast or slow do you drizzle it in there???????? htat would be helpfull... i am really loving all of this different info thanks guys
isn't the atf to free a stuck lifter, i don't think it will clean out the crank case. i have a 36 ford pickup, it likes 20-50 castrol the best
If a motor is well worn and burns a lot of oil, heavier oil helps. 50 weight isn't too heavy for moderate temps. It helps more when the motor isn't warmed up yet, a beater that's only driven to the store and back and not on long drives might keep on goin' for many years. As long as it carries oil pressure and don't knock and rattle, the old saying applies, "Oil is cheaper than engines". When you get pulled over and receive a citation for laying a smoke screen, or when it gets to the point of fouling the spark plugs and you have to clean them every day or two, it's time to overhaul it.
THE ****** fluid is not meant to clean crankcase ,what it does is burn out all the carbon buildup in valve seats and top of valves,it only takes about half a quart,just pour a small stream in carb no bigger than about the the size of a drinking straw,make sure idle is up to about 1200 to 1500 rpms,if you do this at an idle it will just shut down engine.It is going to smoke like hell so being in an upwind position is a good idea. You will be amazed how much better the engine runs after doing this
now thats the info that i am talking about...guys take note from this dude...if you are gonna give advise mak sure a dumb*** like myself will understand it... otherwise you may just be typing for no reason.
Ah.......... Please re-read my post. You will see that I did not state that multiweight oil THINS out from heat. In fact, I made the same basic points you did. I just used simpler language for the benefit of the person who originally started the thread. Cheez........ what gives with the poor reading skills around here?
I always run the lucas synthetic additive in all my old cars and works very well! I also use caastrol 20-50 dont worry about the sludge! Good luck
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