Engine Oil Questions

[1973stang]

I have a few engine oil questions.

I live in SoCal (so hot generally)

I am using 10W40 right now w/ 1 quart of Lucas Oil Stabilizer.

The car runs really well with this combination. But it never hurts to be better.

1) What weight should I use ?

2) If I am using Lucas Oil Stabilizer....do I need to use Zinc rich oil ???

Rush

73 convert

351C 4V

 

[hyena429]

You only really need the Zinc and nickle during break in of a new motor.....Oil like alot of things..Everyone has a opinion...But after break in of the motor you should be able to run just about any oil you want..For hot zones..I run 10w40...Cold zones or winter..10w30....I dont run too much snake oils in my car and never had a issue...All cars i have owned made it past 250,000 mark with out any serious motor issues...Ford truck i sold had allmost 300,000 on a little 302..never put any zinc in it and ran full sytech at the time in it....It is still runing and driving around.."not sure if it has a new motor now or not" hehe

 

[matrixx]

I'd use a quality name brand oil except pennz unless you want to sludge it up so it never leaks. I personally use Valvoline but I may be biased as i work for Valvoline. Anyhow Zinc is better for break in and wear on flat tappet engines. In todays world use a good 10w30 or 10w40 and you'll be fine.

Oh and any additives are just a waste of money and the degrade the additives that come in the oil straight from the bottle. Then you have two acting agents fighting against each other.

 

[mustang7173]

All,

Here is an interesting article on the subject of motor oil and it additives. Read the .pdf Engine Oil Mythology 2-2007

Motor Oil: Zinc and Other Myths

http://forums.aaca.org/f115/motor-oil-zinc-other-myths-272260.html

mustang7173

 

[1973stang]

Matrixx,

I am also a skeptic on additives (specially if they are on infomercials).

Lucas oil stabilizer additive was reco. by my mechanic who is an expert for classic cars (and hence very tough to get hold of)

I have added it twice and the car has never felt better. The roughness that I associated to OLD car engine is completely gone. Rough idle is also gone (but that may be attributed to fuel system cleaner)

I'd use a quality name brand oil except pennz unless you want to sludge it up so it never leaks. I personally use Valvoline but I may be biased as i work for Valvoline. Anyhow Zinc is better for break in and wear on flat tappet engines. In todays world use a good 10w30 or 10w40 and you'll be fine.

Oh and any additives are just a waste of money and the degrade the additives that come in the oil straight from the bottle. Then you have two acting agents fighting against each other.

 

[matrixx]

Good to hear your engine is running well. However, a properly upkept fuel/ignition system should have your engine running smoothly without any additives. I work around various people who swear by Lucas products and i believe that Lucas makes an excellent band aid in a bottle. The real isue is still there though.

Please i am in no way telling anyone what they should or should not use as thats really up to the owner and his/her wallet. What works for you may not work for someone else and if it aint broke don't fix it right!! Cheers!

 

[tempestairbrush]

I also use valvoline oil, but unlike everyone else posting here so far I add in one bottle of Lucas Engine Break in additive. I read the article on the myths of additives, but also found the comment a few down on the Shell oil company to be a good response to the article. There is a difference in Diesel oil and "modern car oil" and in my mind the lubercation process is very similar. I have had other poeple tell me you can run the diesel oil in the older cars because the diesel oil is designed more for the flat tapped camshaft without having to worry about destroying catalytic converters.(I haven't tried this so can't say for sure). You need to always see where the source is comming from in articles you read and research both sides. I haven't had any problems running the break in additive and i spend what an extra $15 every oil change for a piece of mind.

All,

Here is an interesting article on the subject of motor oil and it additives. Read the .pdf Engine Oil Mythology 2-2007

Motor Oil: Zinc and Other Myths

http://forums.aaca.org/f115/motor-oil-zinc-other-myths-272260.html

mustang7173

 

[mdan575]

My favorite site when talking about oil. Alot of useful information along with good education material.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

 

[droptop73]

My favorite site when talking about oil. Alot of useful information along with good education material.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

That site is very informative!

 

[Don65Stang]

My favorite site when talking about oil. Alot of useful information along with good education material.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

Dang! Beat me to it! There is a very long white paper article on there that took me like an hour to read. The take away is to use 5w-20 reglar dino oil in whatever environment and only step it up to 5w-30 if your oil pressure is low. I've followed that advice for years with no issues in hot, coastal Alabama with great results. The key is to let your oil pressure gauge tell you what weight oil to use.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-101/

I highly recommend reading that article. He has some really expensive and exotic cars he's run these tests on as well as regular cars.

 

[mityman]

I read both articles from mustang7173 and mdan75.

Both articles have some interesting and great info.

Here is my reason for using the oil I use.

When I rebuilt my engine, one of my concerns about shifting away from a flat tappet style motor was cost vs how long would I go before the engine bay needed refreshing again. If you take a look at anyone's engine that has 80,000 miles on it, you certainly won't see an engine that looks freshly rebuilt. This is about that life expectancy of the flat tappet motor. So at that thought I could not justify spending an additional $500 to switch from a flat tappet style. With this said, I still put plenty of trust in the Zinc based oil that the manufacturer recommends. I currently use Valvoline 10w30 racing oil as it contains the zinc additive I need for my flat tappet style motor. I also have a Motorsports B303 cam and I hope the Zinc is keeping my cam in good condition as well. I really doubt that I will put another 80,000 miles on this motor before I get the urge to change it up again but just in case it does stay in there I know its what the manufacturer recommended for this engine and it worked just fine until I rebuilt the motor at 89,000 miles. Right or wrong, this was how I came to my reasoning.