Sea Foam or not?

[GasSavers_JoeBob]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

ive heard those cheaper oils arent to great, personally i use castrol GTX conventional and high mileage. havent had any problems.

what was funny is when i pulled my model A engine it had probably 60 year old oil in it, had about an inch of sludge the rest was rather liquidy. sure preserved everything nicely. sure was stinky tho...:P

The last time I went to Wal-Mart to get my Wal-Mart synthetic oil, I came across a bottle of oil which was "Not Recommended for Engines Manufactured after 1930". Essentially it was 30 weight non-detergent oil. Which, if I had an engine made BEFORE 1930 would be just about the LAST type of oil I would choose for it!

Actually, I haven't seen any problems with any oils manufactured by any reputable firms, save for one time many years ago. Out of habit, I usually used Valvoline oil. I had a car back in the '70s, a 1966 Chevy Malibu which got about 1000 miles to a quart. On a whim I tried Castrol one oil change (it was probably on sale...). Oil consumption tripled! Changed back to Valvoline, oil consumption returned to normal.

[VetteOwner]

yea thats another can of worms to open... model A enthusist cant agree which is better, conventional or synthetic...

i say ANY oil made nowadays is 100 times better than what they had in 1920's...

[Ford Man]

The oil now is probably 100 times better than the straight 30 weight non detergent oil I remember my dad using in his cars in the early and mid '60's of course that was the best they had back then. I remember him having a '61 Ford Falcon that had 77,000+ miles on it when he traded it off. He changed the oil every 1000 miles. The engine had already been rebuilt once and was worn out again and wasn't even near the 100,000 mile mark. If I had to change oil every 1000 miles I'd be changing it about every 2 weeks.

[VetteOwner]

yea the model A had a 500 mile oil change interval, nowadays most people go to 1000 miles. gotta remember theres no oil filter of any kind and its splash oiling system.

heck i have all the factory manuals for my chevette, it only had a 12,000 mile warranty...

[theholycow]

My 1980 Buick manual says 7,500 mile/12 month normal interval; or 3,000 mile/3 month severe service under these conditions:
- Driving in dusty areas
- Towing a trailer
- Frequent idling/idling for long periods
- Driving 4 miles or less in freezing weather or other short trips in cold weather where the engine does not thoroughly warm up

Oddly, for the normal interval, it says this about filter changes:

Change the oil filter at the first oil change, then every second oil change, if mileage (7,500 miles) determines when you change the oil. If time (12 months) determines when you change the oil, change the filter with every oil change.

I can imagine logic under which that makes sense, though I can imagine logic for the other way too...and that all leads me to believe it's worth the extra 30 seconds and $5 (or less) to change the filter at the same time.

The warranty information was in a separate document, so I'm unable to report on that.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Originally Posted by KU40

Yeah Quaker State was the other bad one. I think they rated that even worse than Pennzoil.

I can remember once my sister borrowed a quart of oil from my dad's stash in the garage. She bought a bottle of 10W40 to replace it, but she took a bottle of Havoline, and replaced it with a bottle of Quaker State. Dad made a point of telling her to never buy that brand again, and then took the bottle. He ended up using the quart of QS as bar oil in his chainsaw. He didn't dare put it in his car.

When I used Dino juice I'dchange my oil with Valvoline, and go for 3,000 miles, or when I can't read "Add 1 Quart" through the oil on the dipstick - whichever came first. Now that I'm on Mobil 1 Synthetic I just change @ 5,000 miles, and I never see the oil so black that I can't read through it, even @ 5,000 miles.

When I tore the oil pan and timing cover off of Rusty earlier this year I was suprised to see how clean it was inside. That was with 190,000 miles, the past ~40,000 miles were on Mobil 1 10w30. There was almost no residue in the oilpan, and looking up at the crank from underneath it looked like a new engine it was so clean.

-Jay

[bowtieguy]

Originally Posted by Jay2TheRescue

When I tore the oil pan and timing cover off of Rusty earlier this year I was suprised to see how clean it was inside. That was with 190,000 miles, the past ~40,000 miles were on Mobil 1 10w30. There was almost no residue in the oilpan, and looking up at the crank from underneath it looked like a new engine it was so clean.

this, i believe, is the best argument for TRUE synthetics.

i too have observed interiors of engines, both on conventional and synthetics. engines run on synthetics ALWAYS stay cleaner.

not to discredit anyone oposed to them, but in florida they are the best. i've never lived anywhere else, so it could be the heat, humidity, and perhaps dust that makes the dino stuff inferior?

[Ford Man]

Originally Posted by VetteOwner

yea the model A had a 500 mile oil change interval, nowadays most people go to 1000 miles. gotta remember theres no oil filter of any kind and its splash oiling system.

heck i have all the factory manuals for my chevette, it only had a 12,000 mile warranty...

Henry wasn't worried about the technicalities he just wanted to ride.

[bowtieguy]

i "sea foamed" my accord last night using the new spray can. i'm not certain if the smoke was from the cleaning process or the car burning the sea foam.