[bruter]

"for higher mileage engines". We've all seen the commercials but does anyone have any experience with it? Does it make a difference?? Is it worth almost double the cost??? Just something I was wondering about!

 

[FoKKerj]

dead dinos

An old mechanic once told me i seen alot of engines burn up for no oil, but never seen one burn up for the wrong oil. Except for that cruise master stuff it looks like wd-40.

 

[CrazyCat]

Sounds like Quaker State is blowing smoke.... The real question is- if the oil is actually different, would it really matter anyways on an old engine?
Double the cost? save your money.

 

[sixt9coug]

so call me cheap..... i buy the case of cheap oil from WalMart for $9. cant beat it, i just chage the oil often. thats all. its fine in the 351

 

[Logan]

The only oil worth extra money is a full synthetic. Everything else is just marketing fluff.

'nuff said.

 

[TheRktmn]

If anyone is interested a quick motor oil lesson, check out the Engine Oil Bible at http://www.fernblatt.com/longhurst/engineoil_bible.html
It's written by a Brit, so you have to ignore the funny spelling but is very informative.
It even tells what all those codes and certs mean.
He also has an Oil Additive site that you can link to from the oil bible site.

 

[bruter]

More about synthetic...

The mention of a synthetic oil is interesting. I have synthetic in both my newer vehicles (helps when its -40 outside) but was under the impression that synthetic was not recommended for older vehicles??...something to do with rubber seals?? I strongly believe in synthetic oil products and would like to put it into the cougar's engine. Thanks for the :1zhelp: !

 

[FoKKerj]

syntheic

I was told once you put synthetic in a motor; you have to keep runing synthetic in it or it will tear it up. Is that true?

 

[cougar1]

I use discount auto parts oil, quaker state, Valvoline, whatever is on sale. After running the engine with forged pistons, hedders, holley 650, and street/strip cam for 17 yrs I decided go to a wilder cam and so took the engine apart. And yes I drive the car hard and race it from time to time. Everything inside was fine. Cylinder walls looked good, bearings were all great.
My theory, use decent oil, not bulk oil @ $.50/quart, change it every 3000 miles and everything will be fine.
I do use a Ford oil filter. Used to be a tech with Nissan and saw some blown engines on cars with Fram filters. Never saw it happen on an American car. It's too long to write out why this happens, but suffices to say I use factory filters on all my cars including a 626 Mazda with 150000 miles.

 

[TheRktmn]

FoKKerj said:

I was told once you put synthetic in a motor; you have to keep runing synthetic in it or it will tear it up. Is that true?

I always heard just the opposite: You can go from a Synthetic to a regular petroleum based oil, but you shouldn't switch from a standard oil to a synthetic in older engines. The reasoning was that a synthetic will have and adverse effect on your seals and gaskets that are oil soked - causing leaks and failures.

 

[Neal_DePape]

Dino oil to synthetic and back

An engineer friend of mine explained to me that synthetic oil is fine for old engines, it just is more slippery, so it can get past rings, gaskets and seals that dino oil couldn't. So switching to synthetic could cause new leaks or make old leaks worse.

As far as the high mileage oils, I've never tried Quaker States, but I do use Valvoline Max Life in my pickup and I think it might have slowed some minor leaks. I was told by a mechanic, who really swears by Max Life, that it might take a couple oil changes with Max Life before the seals are fully conditioned, but that it usually can stop or really, really slow minor leaks. YMMV, of course

Neal

 

[modifiedmark]

Cougar1, Ford (motorcraft) filters used to be made by WIX, and I assume they still are. Also the better NAPA filters (not the silver line) are made by Wix also. I ran into some filter problems before with some of my race motors, 90lbs oil pressure was blowing the guts out of them. Wix filters cured my problems. I tried Frams and they did work although they pressure gauge would read a couple lbs less, they never blew there guts out. I have used Fram filters forever in all my daily drivers and have NEVER had a oil filter problem. (No ricers here!!!)

As far as oil goes, I agree that most any decent oil is fine as long as its changed when needed. I do think its better to stay with what ever brand you choose though. I use Mobile HD detergent thats cheap and available anywhere.

You know how everyone gets opinions on things but many years ago when I was a farm equipment mechanic I seen alot of sludged up engines that the owners swore they had changed the oil properly in and when I asked what brand they used it was always Quaker State. These were not all tractor engines either as when it got slow in the winter we worked on there trucks and whatever came in through the door. So I guess I got stigmatized about Quaker State and have absolutly stayed away from it as well as Penzoil and any other Penn crude based oil.

To be fair though I bought car that my stepmother had wrecked for the engine and it being a sb chevy (I know, but I used to help support my race cars by buying , fixing and reselling cars in the winter)of course the valve covers were leaking so I removed them and was amazed at how clean this 100k mile motor was. I then found out that since the time it was new she had taken it to the same shop to have the oil changed at every 3000 miles and it had only had Quaker State in it. So that theory went to hell in a hand basket. mm

 

[bruter]

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to all for the opinions. I think I understand about synthetic in older engines. There are no leaks now, so why risk it! As it turns out, the former owner informed me that valvoline max life is in the engine now, so I just bought more of the same. This is great!!!!!!!

 

[jdalu]

There was a really interesting article in Car and Driver Magazine a few years ago by Csere Csaba that addressed exactly this issue. His point was that you really should put some thought into the oil you run in older engines to avoid sludging and to prevent component wear.

The crux (near as I recall) was that modern oils differ from those available 30 years ago because of changes in detergent additives and other chemicals req'd for the oils to not void many new car factory warranties. I know I've given a pretty flimsy description, here, but if anyone read it, or knows the issue that included it please let me know. I'd love to see it again!

If I remember, the closest thing to what was available then was a type currently used in big diesels...