I am using 30w Castrol oil in my 55 Plymouth 6 cylinder. Now I hear it is not as good as it used to be since they took the zinc out of it. I was told due to the lack of zinc that the cam and lifters are prone to wear. Has anyone else heard of this? If so what kind of oil should I switch to?
I have also heard that you should use oil with zinc in it. I believe the solution is to use diesel oil.
Personally I just use regular 10W-40 detergent oil and don't worry about it.
I use Shell 30 weight Rotella T in my '37 Plymouth
try this site:
http://www.millersoils-online.co.uk/
for me, they are experts for old engines oil needs.
they should have US- adress too
Here they are even cheaper than modern quality- oils
Greetings! Go
I use SAE 30 non detergent oil, usually the cheapest I can find, have had no problems so far in the 21 plus years that I have owned the car
Generally speaking, non detergent oil is fine in very old engines that have babbit bearings. Multi-viscosity detergent oil, 20-50 Castrol and Shell Rotella 20-40 works very well in any of the engines with insert bearing. The majority of people that are knowledgeble about engine lubrication are saying that if the oil is approved for use in diesel engines, it will work well in any internal combustion engine.
I use Castrol GTX 20-50 in all of my old cars, I also use it in my stationary engines, law mowers, etc. My '91 Jeep Cherokee has 180k on the 4.0 6cyln, it still runs like a clock.
I also use the GTX 20-50 in my '36 Ford V8, two T-Birds, 56/57, 59 Ford F100 4x4 w/292 V8 as well as my '48 Dodge.
Maybe the lowering of the zink content in oil is a potential problem to engines with "flat tappets", however, I for one think that it is about as likely to cause problems as the reputed problems unleaded fuels was going to cause to older engines..... My cars have been on unleaded fuel since 1978 and I have not lost an engine yet....Bill
Thanks, to all of you who have taken the time to respond to my concern. I channge the oil every year and the car is driven less than 1000 miles a year. I just don't want any surprises down the road.
Interesting discussion about oil for our old cars. I've been told that Porsche owners seem to have a lot of interest in this due to the flat 4 design of the 356 model and their consensus is to get as much zinc rich oil as possible. One complaint is that modern oils have less zinc content than before. One product that is readily available (and not expensive) according to the Porsche Club is STP 4 cylinder oil in the red bottle which purports to have enhanced zinc levels resulting in reduced engine wear. I tried about 1/2 bottle of the red STP in my '36 Ply with straight 30 w detergent at changes (OK for my climate) and the oil seems a bit cleaner than before with no other adverse effects so far.
LR
I too use Castrol GTX 20-50 in all my engines that don't require thinner oil, and have used it continuously for more than 40 years. I have never had a lubrication issue with any engine. I agree with Bill 100%
Brian
The vast majority of people, including many professional mechanics, actually have no idea just how and what lubricating oils do and/or are intended to do.
For starters, over 50% of the cooling for an engine is provided by the oil running around in and on the block surfaces. The oil then flows into the pan and is cooled within the pan sump before it is recirculated through the engine.
Modern detergent oils have all the additives needed to cling to and lubricate hot surfaces. Repeated contact with hot surfaces does not break down the additives.
Many years ago one of the car clubs I am a member of invited and oil engineer with a major company to attend our meeting to give a demonstration about engine lubricants.
The demonstration involved the use of an electric hot plate which the engineer pored oil onto, starting with the cheapest grade of non-detergent oil he cold find. When small amounts of the non-detergent oil was pored onto the hot plate, it went up in smoke. Different grades of oil were pored onto the hot plate, the results varied from going up in smoke, running away from the heat to the cooler edges, to in the case of Castrol GTX 20/50, and other similar grades of oil like Shell Rotella, just sitting in the middle of the hot plate.
A lot of people walked away from that demonstration with a better understanding of what engine lubricates are all about....Bill
I find it to be very interesting that the exact same discussion about non-detergent vs detergent engine oils is currently going on at the Early Ford V8 Forum.
The majority of the contributors to the EFV8 Forum are very pro multi-grade detergent oil, however, there are a few die-hards that think the older engines should be ran on non-detergent.
When I was a teenager in the late '40's, early '50's I worked in several service stations and a few garages. I can recall draining the oil out of engines that was so acidic it would burn the skin on our arms when we pulled the drain plug. I can also clearly recall that prior to the invention and common use of detergent oils, engines were usually all done by the time they had 40/50k on them.
One of the frequent contributors to the EFV8 Forum, that has a auto/truck repair shop in the mid-west, really hit the nail on the head recently when he wrote; "non-detergent oil is only good for use in oil cans".....Bill
On the detergent vs. non-detergent, I would think if you have an old engine that had been run with non-detergent, you should keep using it. Sludge would form...(https://www.plymouthowners.club/talk/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fv76%2FJImCno%2FBluebelle%2F600Valves.jpg&hash=cda04150c1315e8e507565f90595e0aa9dac80be) in the crankcase and if it were dislodged by a detergent oil, you could clog up oil passages.
If you have rebuilt an engine or you know there is no sludge in you engine, detergent oil would keep it from building up.
I have a friend whose father is a retired engineer for one of the big oil companies. His opinion is there is no need to change the oil, it never wears out. He just ads oil when it gets low (I can't remember if he changes filters or not). He drives his cars for several hundred thousand miles before he buys a new one so I guess he's doing something right.
Also I was listening to Car Talk the other day and they said an investigation but the military showed that engines lasted longer by not changing the oil. Supposedly the metals in the oil helped lubricate. (Don't ask me, I'm just repeating what I heard.)
Now all that said, I change my oil in my daily driver every three months and my '35 Plymouth once a year. I don't care what others say, I feel better when I change my oil on a regular basis.
The job of detergents is to hold particles in suspension so that they can be transported to the oil filter for removal. I would think that an old sludged up engine would benefit over time from running and regularly changing detergent oil, to get the sludge out. Most of the sludge is from lead blow by from the days of leaded fuel, the residue of which would get past the rings and get suspended in the oil.
I have found the Tractor Supply Company has a brad of oil rated for diesel service but rated for all internal combustio engines. It is a multi viscosity, detergent oil with a significant zdp content. I have been runing it for 3 years at about 3K miles a year with good results.
If you have a Tractor Supply check out the Traveller Brand, and compare the information panel to the Shell Rotella if its still on the shelf.
The Feb. 25, 2010 issue of Old Cars Weekly, pages 38/39, has a very good article about engine lubricants. The article is very clear about the pros/cons of non-detergent vs detergent oils. The article also makes mention of the importance of maintaining the operating temp of engines....Bill
If your engine has only had non detergent oil in it, I would not switch to a detergent oil! Chances are it will do more harm than good. It will loosen the gunk and circulate throughout the engine. A by-pass oil filter only collects so much. Some of the older engines did not even have an oil filter. Think about it that gunk could be sealing the rings and keeping the compression up and keeping the oil from getting past the rings. If that happens you will have smoke coming out of the tail pipe.
The last time I ruminated on this topic, which is EVERY time I change the oil, I found this informative article on the internet. I tried posting it, but the pdf file is too big. Follow the link below and I hope it works for you. Whatever oil I use, I add the zinc additive. The only thing it will hurt is my cash flow!
http://newenglandclassics.org/Articles/The%20Evolution%20of%20Engine%20Oil.pdf