Technical Old Wives Tale about non detergent oil

I have no idea what oil was used in my Chrysler, it sat for 30 years, but I didn’t pull the pan, much to the horror of a few here, and it has modern detergent oil in it now with many thousands of miles and going strong.

 

Cause my daddy said so,
that being said
when I first picked up my 28 Tudor it had ND oil in the engine
I pulled the pan, side cover, and scraped out all of the sludge
I added a full flow oil filter and have been running Rotella 15w40 T5 oil with no ill affects
I change the filter and oil yearly
not a myth but an old mans tale

 

One of the funniest opinions I heard in my youth was a guy who thought detergent oil would "foam up" in an old engine, blow all the seals, wipe out all the bearings. "From the detergent?" "Hey, why do you think they call it detergent oil?" "Wow, thanks." I was probably in my 30s, already in learn mode, and it was one of the early ignorance is bliss moments.

 

My answer is I don't know. I have seen old engines in the 50s and 60s that ran on ND oil that changed hands and were changed to detergent oil that started smoking in a few thousand miles. Was it the oil or because of a more aggressive driver?

 

My dad used Quaker State exclusively in our new '65 Galaxie. When eventually torn down the lifter valley looked like it has been paved!

 

Not changing the oil regularly is most likely the biggest cause of all the problems in an old engine not the type of oil,
and
only the frequency of oil changes is different between non and detergent oil.

 

Sometimes when our hands get really greasy from working on something, we'll "wash" our hands with synthetic oil before using soap and water. That stuff really does cut thru the crud.

 

My thoughts as well. from experience. In those days I mentioned I removed "sock " filters from 6-8 year old cars that I would bet came from the factory. Some I had to tear apart to remove.

Ben

 

From what I have read very high detergent oil and zinc do not get along together. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?...&qpvt=joe+gibbs+driven+break+in+oil&FORM=VDRE

 

When I was 18 I had a neighbor with a mid 60's Plymouth V8 Poly motor. The lifters were rapping real loud, and his mechanic told him he needed a new oil pump. Being a cheap screw he asked me to change the pump as I charged less than his mechanic. I asked him what oil he ran in it, and he said Pennzoil. I told him to change it to Valvoline and his lifter noise would go away. He insisted I change the oil pump, because his mechanic told him too, and since he had just changed his oil I was to save it and put the Pennzoil back in. I changed the oil pump with a new one he furnished, put the Pennzoil back in the engine. We started it up and the lifters sounded the same, loud as hell. Ran it for half an hour and still loud. At that point I told him if he let me put Valvoline oil in it and it made no difference he would not have to pay for the oil and I would put his Pennzoil back in. He agreed, so out went the Pennzoil and in went the Valvoline. We started the engine and after running for a few minutes one by one the lifters went quiet. He couldn't believe it. I made a believer out of him that Pennzoil was crap in an engine with hydraulic lifters.

 

@BJR I would be curious to know which type of pensoil he was running
Non syn, blended syn, full synthetic oil?
and the valvoline

 

This would have been back in 1968, way before synthetic oil.

 

Penzoil = paraffin/ wax based in the old days.

 

@BJR my 318 Polys have solid lifters. I think only the 1967 Canadian Polys had hydraulics.

 

It was 55 years ago, I may have the engine wrong, it was a Plymouth V8.

 

All I know is that I have close to 200+ quarts of “The Old Ladies” sitting in my garage that was collected by my dad through the years that I will keep putting in the old flathead’s until I die or run out one.

 

As far as I know the only Plymouth polys with hydraulic lifters were the 1955-56 Dodge based poly - hemi engines

 

Some older and some new type engines with a slinger Oiling (no pump) recommend non detergent. Because the slinging action whipped the detergent oil up and cause it to foam .And foam will not lubricate.

 

You know all modern oils have anti foam additives so that the oil doesn’t foam right?

 

Kinda like the "present wifes tale" of "Dont ever change your Automatic Transmission oil, it will remove all the metal particles and your tranny will slip and burn up". I still here people saying that

 

What about: dont put synthetic oil in a engine that has always ran on regular oil, all your seals and gaskets will leak....

.

 

If you swap 10W30 to the same in full synthetic you might see some leaks and a slight drop in pressure. I won't even begin to try and remember all the "science" of why. Swapping to something like Amsoil over std oil it seems the prevailing opinion is go up a grade like 10W40 due to existing wear. Biggest advantage to full synthetics is not only lubricity (in the good ones) but the fact it doesn't burn like mineral oils. My old research had me favor Amsoil and Torco for synthetic race oils. I had good results in my racer on Amsoil. Also had unreal results in a highly stressed snowmobile. Had to fix a leaned cylinder once and after 5000+ hard miles the inside of that engine look fresh. I know, I know, apples and oranges but it was cleaner than all the others I worked on. Maybe it was the "detergent"...

 

I’d bet @Blues4U is chomping at the bit, or sitting back just smiling

 

'59 Dodge 326.

 

I have seen some older industrial engines that got switched over to detergent and fail inside of the time it would take to reach the next oil change. they were always sludged up bad when taken apart . Most of these were Continental or falt head 6 Chrysler fork lift engines

Anything that is going to soften in place crud and get it in your bearings and such can not be good . If the engine is old and has crud why change at this point its not going to do it any good ?