Kinda of Lame question, but what oil are yourunning in old (non rebuilt) engines

45 dodge inline 6. has 50 PSI at idle, but smokes a bit, Not sure if it's from sitting for 25 years or if it's just going to smoke..

Honestly, I don' know what the first and second numbers on the oil mean i.e 15/40

Normally I would just throw some 30w in there but this truck runs pretty sweet and i don't want to run something too thick or thin and damage it.

Let me know, and again sorry for the lame question

 

i run valvoline racing 50 wt in a 230 dodge 6. if it smokes run the thinkest you can get!

 

For flat tappet motors, I use Shell Rotella T 15w/40, or DELO 400. If it is a roller motor you can use your regular 30 weight.

 

I use 20/50 valv racing and have for years....

 

Everything pre 60's smoked. That engine would run fine with some of reclaimed 30W

 

valvoline racing 20/50

 

Amzoil in every thing around here including the chain saw.

 

Also, these diesel oils will help clean out these old engines over time. This is good because they were very bad to form sludge due to poor crankcase ventilation. It's doubtful you even have a filter either but if you do, it's not a real effective one.
Although I don't use it in my modern engines, when I drove nothing but old cars, I used Rotella T exclusively for years. I kept it in bulk quan***ies.

 

Biltema 15w/40 Thats a sort of K-Mart oil i guess

 

Diesel oil. Delo or Shell Rotella. It has a much better additive package including zinc. Modern car oil oil is set up to work in today's **** box cars.

 

The numbers relate to the effective weight cold/hot.
Briefly, 15w40 will act like 15 weight when you fire her up and 40 weight once she's hot.

Funny, I had a girlfriend like that: acted 15 when cold, but once you got her warmed up...

 

'Ma Chrysler reccommended 30 weight oil on those motors. I run Rotella straight 30 in the summer with a small bottle of GM ZDDP Engine ***embly Lube. Doesn't smoke, doesn't leak.

Running 50 weight oil in a vehicle to prevent it from smoking is a temporary fix and only delays the inevitable...if it smokes, your tolerances are out of spec. Thicker oil only masks the problem (and may exacerbate it) rather than fixing it.

 

Absolutely bad advice at this point. It will be a very hard to find Rotella w/ zinc at this point. It's gone around here. They've pretty much pulled it out of anything that will hit the road. There is zinc still in some oils that are "not for highway use" though.

Yep if you run 50wt in and engine with tolerances for 30wt you are asking for trouble.

 

Rotella T 30w

 

15w40 rotella t 235 6 cylinder

 

Valvoline Racing oil. 20/50W if I can find it. 40W if not. But, since it's "Racing" oil, and not intended for street vehicles, it has the Zinc levels and whatever other good stuff that's being removed from todays oils due to smog or sensor issues. I hear the good stuff's slowly being removed from the Diesel oils as well (Dello, and Rotella). PS-on new motors, I add a couple of $10 bottles of Zinc additive for camshaft/piston skirt protection. I think the stuff I buy is made by Lucas. At $10 a bottle, it may sound expensive. But, on a few thousand dollar build, it's CHEAP insurance

 

Rotella 15W40...If you want an additive I recommend the GM EOS product...

 

Around here Wal-Mart carries Accel brand 10W-40 oil that is SF rated & it's marked "for pre 1988 cars only", so it should still have zinc. The new no zinc oil is SM rated. The high zinc diesel is CI-4 rated, the new diesel is CJ-4. Wal-Mart house brand is still CI-4 here & AutoZone has Coastal brand CI-4. The additive package in racing oil has a short life span, reportedly not more than 1500 miles, if that.

 

30w

 

Sometimes running an oil that will "clean out" all the old **** is not good....as all that **** inside is sealing it up....run new oil with better detergents and you'll develop all kinds of leaks and it may smoke even more.
If it's got alot of miles on it and suspected of being sludged up, I'd continue to run a "sludgy"-type oil.....like Pennzoil...or whatever was cheap at a discount store...
Fancy oil ain't gonna fix yer motor.....

 

Took me years befriending a fellow that run an oil distribution center. Some misleading info on multi-grade oils out there, that he finally informed me of. Granted this has been perpetuated by the oil companies, only to their benefit.

Single grade oils are what they say they are.
30 is 30, 40 is 40, etc.

Multigrade oils are what the first numbers imply.
5-20 is 5 weight, 10-30 is 10 weight, etc, etc, etc.

The second number ONLY states that it will not thin out as fast as the second weight number implies.

As in a 10-30 is a 10 weight oil that will not thin out under pressure/heat conditions as fast as a 30 weight. You are still running a 10 weight oil. NOT an oil that gets thicker as it gets hotter.

I am really suprised that more people don't know about this. All they have done is add viscosity improvers to slow down the thinning effect that is normal under pressure/heat situations.

If you have a smoking problem run a straight weight oil like 30 weight and it will likely go away. Not that this will cure a clearence problem, but it will help.

I run a small engine repair shop and you probably wouldn't believe the problems I have "cured" only by putting the correct weight oil in the machines.

 

Not to hijack, but it seems appropriate on this thread....what exactly does the viscosity number of a motor (or gear) oil mean?

 

what I was told is they use a screen of predertimend size. Depending on how long it takes to go through the screen is how they determine viscosity.

At least that is what I was told, too many years ago.

 

I've got a 53 chevy with original 235. Calls for 20W originally. I've been using 10/30 for high mileage cars. Should I run something else?

 

Back when they built those 6 cylinders and early v8s there were very few multi viscosity oils on the market . If you can run the oil weight originally reccomended for your particular engine in its stock form. adding a cam and headers does NOT make it a racing engine. If you want to help a little blow by or loss of power try a can of Restore next oil change. But in the end sooner or later they all need a rebulld.

 

Wrong. The "W" does not stand for weight. It means the oil is winterized. For example 10w30 oil, at cold startup flows like a lightweight oil (10 weight)...but is engineered to maintain the same viscosity as a 30 weight at operating temperature, hence the term 'multi-viscosity' (or, more correctly 'multi-grade').

While you are correct that a 10w30's base is 10 weight, 10w30 motor oil is engineered to be a 30 weight oil at operating temperature...so aside from cold starting, it is a 30 weight oil.

This is why factory manuals suggest 5w30 for colder climates, 10w30 for moderate climates, and straight 30 for mild climates...all on the same vehicle. At temperature, they are not 5, 10, and 30 weight oils, they all have the viscosity of a 30 weight.

see; http://www.valvoline.com/carcare/articleviewer.asp?pg=ccr20040601ov

 

Simple question then. How come a Briggs engine with a 10w30 oil in it will with a load on it sieze the piston enough to stop the engine? But if you put a 30 in it, it will not happen under the same load? I have had that happen numerous times.

 

Not sure I understand what you're asking...a Briggs with 10w30 seizes under load, while the same engine with single viscosity 30 weight doesn't?

There is a 'range' for each viscosity rating. IIRC, Amzoil products tend to be thicker than say Mobil 1 or Castrol Syntec offerings of like grade. Regardless, I'm not sure that would make much difference at all as they are generally similar in viscosity.

A little more information about the oils & equipment would be needed before I could even guess at why you're observing such a drastic difference in performance between 2 30 weight oils.

 

I call ******** on this one. If you have a smoking problem, you have worn parts that CAN'T be fixed by an oil change. Only the replacement of parts, and/or remachining will fix it

 

This is what my old man always told me, in an old motor I run a non detergent 30w, I buy resolute brand oil