Oil's well that ends well

Topic: Oil's well that ends well (Read 3494 times) previous topic - next topic

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #15 – May 17, 2005, 01:15:08 AM

Fram oil filters suck. I've seen two engines blow with frams on them (Mitsu 2.0T and Ford 2.3). The oil pump on the mitsu seized, ripped the timing belt apart, bent valves and cracked a piston.

I used Motorcraft/Napa gold on my cars. They're both made by Wix, which is a very good filter.

I think I remember seeing that Walmart Synthetic came 2nd in an oil test, one down from Mobile 1.

After I brake my new engine in with 30wt. and 1000 miles of 10W30 I think I'm going to run some Royal Purple 10W30. I don't think you can go wrong with oil that costs $5.65 a qt.

Nick

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #16 – May 17, 2005, 12:20:25 PM

Anybody have experiance with ams oil?

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #17 – May 17, 2005, 12:37:22 PM

Fram WAS making good products till about 4 years ago. I use Purolator now. My oil of choice is Valvoline Durablend 10W40.

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #18 – May 17, 2005, 01:17:20 PM

My daily drivers get Motorcraft filters, and Exxon or similar oil. What can I say, I have a hookup at AZ, baby.

The convertible gets nothing but Castrol Syntec Blend (3 quarts) and Castrol 10W30 (2 quarts) with a Bosch filter. The notion that synthetic oil does not cause leaks is baloney. If I run 5 quarts of regular Castrol, all my leaks disappear. There are all-new gaskets on the entire engine, and not cheap ones either. Most of my problems come from the oil pan drainplugs though. I'm going to try different gaskets for the magnetic drain plugs and see if that helps. I'd love to hold a full 5 quarts all summer long for a change..oh, and not clean up the spots on my garage floor either.

When I put the motor in the convertible in 1999, I'd installed a Melling high volume oil pump. My reasoning was that with the head work, roller rockers and higher-lift E-303 cam, I'd need more oiling power. Well, turned out that was a bad move. Twice I completely blew the oil filter off the car. The pressure relief valve in the oil pump was sticking on cold startup, and the weakest link is usually the filter. Had it not been for having some type of synthetic oil in the engine, I'm sure there would have been some damage to the engine. Instead I'm here 6+ years later with the same engine, no damage--and a regular Melling standard volume pump. This is real-world proof that synthetic oil is a good thing and worth the extra money.

In the past I've found Pennzoil to be very good for these engines (3.8 and 5.0, anyway). I've also substituted a quart of oil for a quart of Rislone. That is some wicked stuff. It's great for older-mileage engines but can also be used in lower-mileage ones. My dad used to use it back in the 1960's on his old '61 Corvette. He said one day he cracked open the engine (Chevy 283) at 200,000 miles and the inside looked like brand new. He put it back together, dropped it back into the car, and drove it many more miles before selling the car. I really believe in it and would recommend it. My old light blue '84 always had a quart of Rislone inside and it never failed me. A buddy of mine crosses the border to Mexico to visit his relatives, and he once sent me some stuff from Mexico that was similar to Rislone. It really quieted down the chatter in my old '88 XR7's engine. Can't remember the name of it but nice stuff. I'm not too familiar with any other products like that (Restore, etc.). Basically if it worked for my dad back in tha day, I use it, no questions asked.

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #19 – May 17, 2005, 01:41:36 PM

ive been using castrol GTX in both of my birds, and have a motorcraft filter on the TC, and a fram on 3.8 (who cares about an old, beat up 3.

my dad ran GTX in his 89 3.8L, and his car burned it up quick, he's been running Penzoil since probably the 80's in his cars

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #20 – May 17, 2005, 04:20:50 PM

Quote from: EricCoolCats

Most of my problems come from the oil pan drainplugs though. I'm going to try different gaskets for the magnetic drain plugs and see if that helps. I'd love to hold a full 5 quarts all summer long for a change..oh, and not clean up the spots on my garage floor either.

So I am not alone on this one eh......I was getting one or two drops on the garage floor when it sat a week or 10 days.....Just put in new plugs with a drop of thread sealer on the threads so far so good

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #21 – May 17, 2005, 04:41:29 PM

So that's where some of this oil is coming from. . Well, another 3000-ish miles before I can do much about it, I guess. (unless I let some of it out in a quick switch-out of plugs and gaskets, and pour it back in.. but I'd rather not. I don't lose that much oil, maybe half a quart per oil change)

I thought the gasket felt a little stiff and maybe even brittle, when I did the last change.. but I didn't think it would be too bad.

Maybe it isn't really the rear main seal.. but it still could be.

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #22 – May 17, 2005, 07:36:06 PM

i used vavoline since i started changing my oil. in the cougar 10-40 in the summer and 5-40 in the winter. but when i used to take it to jiffy lube. they started sythetic. and i didnt like it to much also started leaking. no more of that in an old motor for me.

mustang i use the same 10-40 valvoline oil and motorcraft filters. when i got the car in the winter it had one of those fram Extra fiter garbage on it. and you could hear it starve the motor for oil on first startup. not to good if you ask me .

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #23 – May 17, 2005, 10:52:54 PM

Quote from: CougarCoupe88

when i got the car in the winter it had one of those fram Extra fiter garbage on it. and you could hear it starve the motor for oil on first startup. not to good if you ask me .

I have the same starvation on the blue bird, and it too has a POS Fram filter on it.... Gonna pull the pan and get rid of the high volume pump in it and check the bearings. Then it will get Motorcraft filter and synthetic blend. I use nothing but Motorcraft filter and 5w-30 synthetic blend in the white bird. Wifes 100K mi Grand Marquis gets Valvoline high milage 5w-30 in the winter and 10w-40 in the summer(also with Motorcraft filter). It uses a little oil as the valve stem seals are starting to go, since they are such a bitch to change in a 4 fuggin' point 6, I'll just keep addin oil for now.

As far as oil, most brands are probably just fine... Years ago I had a 100K mi '69 351 Windsor in a '67 Falcon. Every time I changed the oil I bought a different brand, just to see if it made a difference. Guess it was a really good motor cause it never really cared what was in it. Finally junked the car and sold the engine(with approx 150K) to a guy for a Mustang.

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #24 – May 18, 2005, 03:47:05 AM

Quote from: tbirdscott

i'll check tomorrow and see if I can tell who supplies the oil.

forgot about that

walmart brand oil is supplied by Safety Kleen which from my quick searches appears to be an oil recycler. If anyone cares... also mobile one and esso are both by imperial and penzoil/quaker state are the same, I never knew that.

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #25 – May 18, 2005, 07:30:53 AM

Quote

Anybody have experiance with ams oil?

"Amsoil"? Only the the rec.autos.tech newsgroup where they call it Scamsoil.

Here's a blurb I found with a quick search:

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API Certification, Phosphorus & ZDDP
Never use a non-API certified synthetic oil (there are many of these on the market). The problem with the non-API certified synthetics is that they contain too much phosphorus (in the form of the additive ZDDP (Zinc Dialkyl Dithiophosphates)). The API has limited the amount of phosphorus because phosphorus shortens the life of the catalytic converter. These oils are fine for snowmobiles, motorcycles, and older cars that don't have a catalytic converter, and the extra ZDDP does provide additional wear protection. Unfortunately, the marketers of some the non-certified oils do not explicitly and honestly state the reason for the lack of API certification. You can check the status of API certification on the API web site. Be certain to go not just by the manufacturer name but by the actual product as well. This is because a manufacturer will sometimes have both certified and non-certified products. Suffice it to say that Mobil 1, Royal Purple, Castrol, & Havoline all make synthetic oils that are API certified and that can be purchased at auto parts stores and other retail outlets. Amsoil has one product line, XL-7500 that is API certified, but it's other lines contain too much ZDDP to be certified and should not be used in vehicles with catalytic converters.

Amsoil
Amsoil actually makes some very good products. The negative image of Amsoil is due to their distribution method (MLM) and their marketing approach. If Amsoil products were competitively priced with Mobil 1 and other synthetics, and if I could buy them in a store, I would not hesitate to use their XL-7500 synthetic as opposed to Mobil 1. What upsets me about Amsoil is that they didn't disclose until recently (and then it was by accident) the real reason that their oils (except for XL-7500) are not API certified. In the past they came up with all sorts of bizarre excuses about the reason for their lack of API certification and this greatly contributed to the distrust that people have of the company.
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Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #26 – June 01, 2005, 08:18:44 PM

OK, oil's NOT well that ends well, because now I am getting an occasional knocking when warm and at low speed. I've decided to try a thicker oil, and consider the 500 miles I got out of this oil change to be a flushing of the system. (whatever eases the pain.. heh)

This time around I plan on using 4 qt. of 10w40 MaxLife, and 1 qt. of 5w30 MaxLife Synthetic. Also picked up a Motorcraft FL-1A for this change. We'll see how it goes.. I'll probably put it in tomorrow if the weather cooperates.

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #27 – June 02, 2005, 04:32:50 AM

OK, it's 4:21 in the morning and I'm stuck awake and researching oil filters out of sheer boredom.

It looks like the FL-1A/PH8A/etc. is the gold standard in oil filters. So much the better for us, huh? However, they look to have a bypass valve that opens generally in the 8-11 PSI range.. with some brands reporting as high as 16 PSI. But according to here:

http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=6;t=002510#000003

..and here:

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy-mopar.html#m53020311

..it's apparently possible to get one with a 30 PSI bypass valve, but people should be picky about which one they go after. (The Wix 51191 sounds like a decent candidate.. even though it does not officially list any of our engines under the application guide, compare the measurements)

So this begs the question, which would you rather have?

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #28 – June 02, 2005, 11:08:02 AM

Quote from: Bird351

OK, oil's NOT well that ends well, because now I am getting an occasional knocking when warm and at low speed. I've decided to try a thicker oil, and consider the 500 miles I got out of this oil change to be a flushing of the system. (whatever eases the pain.. heh)

This time around I plan on using 4 qt. of 10w40 MaxLife, and 1 qt. of 5w30 MaxLife Synthetic. Also picked up a Motorcraft FL-1A for this change. We'll see how it goes.. I'll probably put it in tomorrow if the weather cooperates.

Awww quit ' arround with that watery stuff, you have a rather worn engine there. Get some 20W-50(it will be fine in sunny FL, I still use it in my old Cobra Jet) and the Motorcraft filter. If you still have problems its time for a overhaul..

Re: Oil's well that ends well

Reply #29 – June 02, 2005, 01:12:32 PM

Hey guys,
I noticed several references to Wal-Mart. Don't get me wrong, I love the store most of the time, but they are about to lose my oil-changing business (I'm sure they'll miss me). First, my local Wal-Mart dropped the oil I've used in my '98 F150 for the last 3 years, Castrol Synthetic Blend 5W-30. They still carry Castrol, and they still carry other weights of Castrol Synthetic blends, but not 5W-30. OK, I can deal with that. Then, and I don't know if this applies to every Wal-Mart or just the ones I shop at, they dropped all brands of filters except Fram (oil, air, fuel, etc.). What did Fram or whoever owns them now have to pay Wally World to pull that off? I almost refuse to put Fram oil filters in my vehicles. It's got to be Motorcraft. When I first started getting on F150 forums several years ago, the topic of oil filters came up all the time, and what I remember them saying was that, Frams don't or didn't use to have anti-drainback valves in them. That means, when the motor is shut off, all of the oil drains back into the pan. Motorcrafts have the valve (which you'd expect them to, being OEM). So starting your truck/car with a Fram meant you were running a dry motor for a short period of time (not good); Motorcraft, oil still up in motor, motor happier! From that point, all I have bought is Motorcraft. I guess I have to find a new store to buy from. Watch for Wal-Mart stock prices to plummet dramatically!! Just thought I'd warn you. Thanks for letting me vent.

Fordman3