I pulled apart the engine from my Olds 442 last night. This car has had nothing but diesel oil for the last 15 years and 76,000 miles. The inside of the engine looks like it was just rebuilt. Absolutely no sludge, grime, discoloration....nothing. Just a perfectly clean surface on everything. The oil pump screen looks like it was never used. Diesel oil rocks!
Jeeeze, maybe I should switch from the synthetic I've been using? Sounds like you're on to something here! :TU:
oil myths and facts oil is always an interesting subject to me. Every one claims to have successes with brands-practices etc. Is it the oil or the caretaker? I change oil on my drivers every 2000k-no matter what. Is that overkill, probably - but it is about the cheapest thing you can do and it is good insurance. I have a 64' Vette that has a LT1 350 circa 1970-beat that motor to death-it is older than me and never been apart. 50w Valvoline its' whole life ... I put an oil pan gasket on it recently and there was 0 sludge contaminants, etc. The oil.? The oil changes every 500 or less? Is it Valvoline?
I use Shell Rotella T or Mobil DelVac 15w-40. BTW, I have seen what Castrol does first hand. My wife had a brand new Mercedes that used Castrol. After 3 years and 40,000 miles, it had a significant amount of sludge in the valve covers. Diesel oil has a high level of anti-wear and detergent additives. I just broke in my new motor on diesel oil and a bottle of E.O.S.
in my 70 chevelle, i used shell rotella T from the start because that is what we used in our ford diesel tractors . worked fine for me .
Posts of mine from another thread.. Not anymore boys.. EOS, produced after Jan 1 2004, no longer has zinc in it.. EPA concern I am sure.. As soon as I depleted my stock of it which I bought in 2003 (go thru a couple cases a year), I switched to Crane Cams break-in lube, which still has zinc. You should too, for breaking in a new motor. Next post we talk about filters and oil. JW __________________ Also.. Doug is right, Fram filters are too fine, my dyno operator reports that it is not uncommon on a new engine, with a Fram filter on it, to not make it thru break-in without losing oil pressure. A number of times they have switched oil filters, and everything was fine again. Also.. virtually all passenger car motor oils, designed for gasoline engines, no longer has the anti-scuff and anti-wear additives in them anymore, because most modern car engines have roller followers or roller tappets. We use Shell Rottella T oil now, in 10w 30 for the street stuff, and in 15-40 for the motors with the bigger clearances. It's diesel oil, and has a host of anti-wear additives in it. Otherwise we use racing oil.. as it also still has the additives. Synthetic is fine too.. if you don't mind paying the extra money for the minimal benefit it will have in most of our cars. Most of our cars are driven in warm weather, with only moderate loads on them. Even if your out pounding on it, conventional oil, in a correctly built motor, is all you need. What you do need to do, if you have a cam with a moderate to heavy lope at idle, is change the oil every 1000 miles. Changing the oil is about removing the acids that form in the oil, from partially burned fuel getting past the rings. Dumping the oil removes that acid content. I pick my Rottella up by the case at Walmart.. comes in a case of 4 1 gallon jugs. It's not the cheapest oil, but a good price on a good product. It is exactly what goes in every new motor here, from the $5K resto motors, to the $20K race jobs, and everything in between.. If there was a better conventional oil to use in new motors, I would be using it. JW __________________ EOS used to have zinc in it.. which is the major anti-scuff/anit wear additive that was taken out of passenger car motor oils a while back. That's why Dennis Manner used to say add it with every oil change, when using passenger car motor oil. And no, I don't recommend using additive with every oil change.. I recommend using the correct oil. See the post above. Break in lube is just that.. your "overfeeding" it with anti-wear additives, to get that new flat tappet cam broken in.. there is no need to use it on roller cam motors. And once the flat tappet cam and lifters (solid or hydraulic) are living together nicely, the excessive anti-wear additives are not needed.
thanks for this tip jim!! i bought a gallon of rotella t 10/30,gonna change it tomorrow. hope i like it! again,thanks!!
i've used pennzoil in my rides for years. (my old honda only had that in it from 1987 thru 2003) 192k miles later. pulling the valve cover left it very clean and the top of the heads also clean. I also beat the snot out of that engine. I like the idea of diesel oil though. -nate
I think that the post about changing oil frequently is right on. My Turbo car had 66K on it when I had the engine "freshened up". No sludge and I used only Castrol oil. My current driver is a LeSabre T-Type with 235,000 miles on it and has only seen Penzoil in it.
Diesel oil I work for a Bobcat diesel repair shop and everybody in the shop uses the house diesel oil for all their automotive needs, myself included. At our shop we can send in samples for screening to the manufacturer and consistantly the diesel stuff comes back cleaner. I myself use Bobcat 15-40 in all my cars. As to the Penzoil issue, myself would never use it but the fact that is any oil that is changed cosistantly will never build up. Mark
More to the story The Olds design in the oil pump will work well with diesel oil, however using 15-40 (like Rotella T that we use in our big Caterpillar engines, and is an excellent oil by the way) in the Buick design is a mistake. The aluminum pump housing that is cast aluminum and expands much faster than the cast iron style, along with the weak design in the cam drive through the distributor gear will wear prematurely and cavitate heavy oil, large displacement diesel engines never see more than 2000 to 2700 rpm tops, and the adhesion characteristics of the heavier oils will not adhere or feed into the tighter tolerances of smaller or newer engines as well as a lighter oil will, additionally, the rpm response and higher RPM range will be hindered with heavy oil. The turbo impellers on many diesel engines have huge hard feed lines that allow a heavier oil to protect bearing surfaces at 200,000 RPM, and the impeller is not subjected to the pounding the rest of the engine is, it simply just spins around driven by hot air. True synthetics (like Amsoil or Redline) do a much better job in these areas in engines with tighter tolerances, they are great cleaners, last longer, and flow much better during start ups, especially cold ones. Engines with greater tolerances (like race engines and big diesels) need heavier oil and can work with it, everything is bigger and heavier, as well as the hardware to support it, auto makers have been away from heavy oils for a long time, Mike Tomazewski (TA Perfornace) uses the lightest Amsoil Synthetic the application will allow. Many of the newer diesel engines now use a high volume low pressure design, the Caterpillar in my Peterbuilt when warm tops out between 40 and 50 PSI of oil pressure, and 20 at idle, this was unheard of in new engines just 10 years ago, volume and increased total capacity, as well as cooling the oil through an exchange (letting air or water remove the heat directly) as well as consistent pressure throughout the engine allow the usage and benefits of lighter oils. Admittedly, the benefits might mean more here in Wisconsin with the winters, and Synthetics will seep through leaks much faster, and yes, there is the cost consideration. I've used Amsoil in everthing I own, and my experience with it shows it cleans and protects just as well as the Rotella, and is much lighter and more compatable with a 455.
Diesel oil The weights are the same for 10/30 gas oil as 10/30 diesel oil. if they different, it would say it. Many of the diesel oils are ap rated gasoline engines also, not just diesel. The amount of additives and parifin wax makes more difference than anything else but the weights are figured the same. :Smarty:
I've been running 15w40 diesel oil in my Skylark. I just buy the cheap Walmart branded, it is Cat and Detroit certified. Although, last oil change I ended up getting regular 10w30.
My Stage 1 only had Pennzoil used in it....has 227k on the clock!! Frequent oil changes & a good filter may be the single most important thing. Even more than oil brand(although, based on the above testimonials about Rotella oil - that sounds like it warrants trying it).
My grandfather had a truck and a van, so the neither was driven all the time, and he changed the oil 4 times a year. My other grandfather did the same with his car (when he bought a used one, he changed the oil weekly until the dirt was gone). They didn't buy the best, but didn't buy off-brand oil either. All their vehicles lasted a long time - I learned regular changes are probably the most important thing to keep engines going well beyond 100,000 miles.
