Request for Lubrication Recommendations

[xRugby8]

I'm finally getting ready to re-launch my 69 c20 and I would like to know what is recommended for lubricants for the engine, tranny, & rear diff.

Engine is a 350cu with 110,000 original miles. Tranny is a manual 4 speed with granny. The rear diff. has a full floating axle type.

If you have specific recommendations that would be very helpful.

Thanks

[Cethern]

For me I use Amsoil Synthetic in everything. Amsoil has everthing you could need for your engine, Now you do have a lot of miles on your engine if you don't have any leaks a 10/30 would work great.
For the rear end a 80/90 I'm guessing you have a sm420 maybe a 465 and if I remember right the same 80/90 will work.
Hope this helps


Ceth

[UltraDresser]

Mobil One for engine....they make one for older engines now... Royal purple for diff .... Amsoil is to slick and too thin.... unless changed all the time... Use to race powerboats and used Amsoil but oil was changed after every race ..... But it is allot of Opinion..... Good Engine filter very important... Tow vehicles all Mobil One ..... But there is allot out there to choose from now adays.... so to put it in a nut shell...... SYNTHETIC !!!!!!!

[68 Suburban]

Originally Posted by UltraDresser

Amsoil is to slick and too thin....

Sounds like great protection and great mileage like they claim

[UltraDresser]

short term but long run ..... there is such a thing as to slick.... you need some heat and friction to bring your engine tight.... specially on an engine with 110,000 miles.... I concede on the milage but as for proper protection..... juries out .... but my opinion and experiance only..............

[RED72blazer]

I use kendall in all of my cars. I would be against putting sinthetic in an engine with 110,000, you might discover new oil leaks.

[68 Suburban]

Originally Posted by RED72blazer

I use kendall in all of my cars. I would be against putting sinthetic in an engine with 110,000, you might discover new oil leaks.

This is a long time myth that has never panned out.

[Cethern]

When you use a petroleum oil then move to a Synthetic oil you can have leaks but that is from the seals being old, Why does it leak after? well I was told the petroleum oil leaves sludge around the seals and petroleum oil does not flow like a Synthetic.

Ceth

[imdarren]

If oil leaks is a myth, then why do I get them every time I try Synthetic?
Wasn't leaking before. Only thing changed was the oil to syn.
This has not only happened to me once. Several times.
I would use it in a new motor without any question. An old motor. No way.

Just my experience / opinion.

[RED72blazer]

Same thing for me with an old engine, all I did was change the oil to synthetic and and I had a leak in both of my valve covers that I did not have before. We did put royal purple synthetic in my Friends 74 454 stepside when we reinstalled the 454 after the rebuild, and it didn't leak. I would have to agree with imdarren.

[72C203503ONTHETREE]

I had a 87 Volvo 240 that had almost 300,000 miles when I got it. I put Mobil 1 15/50 synthetic in it and it never leaked a drop, same with my Toyota Landcruisers. Any car I have had with high mileage has never leaked after switching to synthetic but it may not be true for all cars.

[Quagmire]

another vote for amsoil, it's great stuff.

whoever was talking about it being too slick/thin... are you talking about the regular synthetic or the series 2000? i wouldn't recommend putting the series 2000 in a manual tranny on a daily driver, but the regular is ok.

<--amsoil junkie

[UltraDresser]

I use to be a Wolfs Head straight weight man myself....... In new trucks like my Avalanche I use Mobil One ...and Royal Purple in the diff's in the 69 I am using Valvolene straight weight Racing Blend as I only drive up here in Northern Mi during the summer months ... I used Amzoil in my last Avalanche and I developed a knock in less then 10,000 miles.... in the Ultra I still use straight weight ...50 in the 1550 but synthetic in trans and primary..... ...............4 wheelers I use synthetic... also min lawn tractor alls well never ever had a lub issue in any vehicle Only thing I have not tried is Lucas but from I have seen there stuff is pretty impressive .....
Mobil one I find is the Best Synthetic.... but anyting at all if you change it pretty reularly and use good filtration

[dtlilly]

I was told by an old shop teacher that oil is oil. The companies spend a lot of money differenciating themselves from the competition by saying "for high milage engines" or "for sport utilitys" etc, etc. A good filter and frequent changes is more important than oil type.

Synthetics are a different cow (see how I am using Wisconsin terms already, lol). They are engineered in a laboratory and are supposed to be superior to hydrocarbon based. I did hear that used regular oil that has been professionally filtered and recycled is actually the best, because the molecules have broken down smaller and protect from wear better, but...who knows.

[RED72blazer]

dtilly: my dad Agrees with yuo He buys the cheapest oil he can Find. he does his oil changes on the dot

[grayw0lf]

Here is something you might enjoy. True oil geeks. (as opposed to truck geeks). These people are as fanatical & interested in oil as we are in out 67-72 trucks. They have their oil & many new oils chemically analyzed & tested in all kiinds of other weird ways.

Personally, I just switched from Advance Auto Parts to WalMart (SuperTec) oil. The SuperTec gets suprisingly high ratings & is dirt cheap.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

John

[sbc350gearhead]

Yeah....we are a little nuts about lubrication over at BITOG. But we are a good bunch, and you all are welcome to visit and join.


Engine........It is your call whether or not to use a synthetic in the engine. If the seals are covered in sludge, then you may develop leaks. There is a product called auto-rx, that has been proven to help with the above situation. If you are going to use synthetic, then I recommend RP, amsoil (not xl-7500 line), redline or mobil 1. They are all good oils. There are a few others that are just as good, but are not as easy to find. In a conventional, I recommend pennzoil, chevron supreme, havoline, or motorcraft (conoco hydroclear), for standard PCMO's, ...............pennzoil HM, and castrol HM for the high mileage oils, and delo 400, delvac 1300s, and pennzoil longlife for HDEO's.

For the tranny..........It depends on whether it calls for a GL4 or GL5 fluid. For GL-4...I recommend RP max-gear, redline mt-90 and MTL. For GL5 fluids I recommend RP max-gear (both GL-4 and GL-5 compliant), and redline 75w90.


For the diff.......I recommend the afforementioned GL-5 fluids. Amsoil makes good gear lube, but it often requires limited slip additive if used with a posi........whereas redline and RP do not usually require it.

[724wdcopper]

i went from valvoline 5w-30 conventional to the same in synthetic at 75,000 miles or so. no new leaks, and i think the rear main healed itself! not so much of an oil slick underneath! my grandpa always ran valvoline and so did my dad. both worked on cars for a living. my grandpa a grease monkey and my dad a body man.

i have heard the "oil is oil", but with the prices so close on all the major brands, why not get name brand? do you love your truck? there may just be something to their claims. you never know. i do however shy away from the "for engines with over 75000 miles" stuff. it is conventional, and 3 times the price! i just went to synthetic.

[sbc350gearhead]

The high mileage oils (recommended for vehicles over 75000 miles), are actually synthetic blends, and contain esters (synthetic oil) for detergency and seal swelling capability. Most HM oils are actually superior in application to most "synthetic blends". Most HM oils are formulated at the high side of their viscosity range.......i.e. an HM 30 weight, is almost a 40 weight.

Brand name and price doesn't always tell the tale. Fram oil filters are probably the worst filters around, yet cost more than most of their competition.

Supertech oil is 89 cents a quart, and appears to be a better built oil than valvoline all climate.

The current SL rated oils, will get the job done, no matter what the brand. There are a few that stand out from the crowd.

It is of utmost importance, that you not be brand loyal...........as oils that were lame a few years ago, are now the best of the breed, and vice versa. As the new SM rated oils enter the marketplace later this year............there will probably be some oils that fall from grace. Beware the new SM class of oils, for those of you running flat tappet cams, as there may not be enough EP/AW adds to protect your engine.

[724wdcopper]

sbc350gearhead, you seem to know a lot about oil! where are you getting the info? might be a good place for all of us to check out before our next oil change! also, some of the jargon you use is tough for a laymen like me to understand. in that last paragraph, what is it you are refering to about lifters not pumping up?

by the way, i used to run parts for a little shop in walla walla that had a machine shop. engines that came in with MASSIVE sludge builld up in the pan and everywhere else all seemed to always run quaker state! my buddy did the tear down and he always asked. just a little background!

[sbc350gearhead]

I am a long time member of www.bobistheoilguy.com
In fact.......the powers that be, were kind enough to recently make me a moderator there. As I said before, you are all welcome, but understand that most of what you know about lubrication, will be turned out on its ear (at least, that is what happened to me ).

EP/AW stands for extreme pressure/anti-wear. There is an EP/AW additive used in all motor oils, that is called zinc dithiodiphosphate...........or ZDDP for short. ZDDP is a mixture of phosphorus and zinc. ZDDP coats the metal parts of your engine, and acts as a protective barrier between the metal parts, in case that the hydrodynamic film (oil film) is sheared. This is especially important for high lift flat tappet camshafts, and the high shear forces associated with them (as the camshaft lobe, rubs the lifter). ZDDP has a drawback............according to vehicle manufacturers.......phosphorus kills catalytic convertors. For those vehicles without cats, this means nothing, but for newer vehicles, it does. The car companies blame phosphorus as the reason that they occasionally have to replace a cat under warranty, and they force the API to reduce phosphorus levels, every time there is an API class change..........like what will happen later this year. These manufacturers do not care about protection of flat tappet cams, since they haven't been used in new auto engines for some time now. The new phosphorus limits for the SM classification, may not allow protection of flat tappet cams, and may force us to either change to HDEO's, or non-API approved oils. This is not written in stone....as the final SM specs have not been set yet.........but the phosphorus levels have been finalized. Unless they spec the useage of another more expensive EP/AW additive that will replace the ZDDP,...........Then the new SM oils may not be backwards compatible with our engines.


There were many cases of QS causing sludging issues in the past. This is not a problem with today's QS formulation........nor any other SL class formulation. QS is currently owned by shell, and is a close 2nd in additive package and basestocks, to pennzoil.......which is shell's "flagship" oil. Shell also produces formula shell and wolf's head oil, which are their bargain oils. There is nothing wrong with these oils either.

[724wdcopper]

WOW! i think i just took a chemistry class! so, if what you say comes to pass, will we have to buy special oil? if i go to the local auto parts shop, am i going to have to watch which oil i pickup? so what if it burns up a few cats? they are no good anyway! thanks for the heads up, and keep us posted on this developing situation! film at eleven!

[Quagmire]

so you like amsoil, but don't recommend the xl-7500. i don't run it anymore, but i did one time when i first changed the oil in my car.

what about schaeffers?

[Pont]

Growing up as a kid (watching my dad work on cars) used to tell me to never run Pennzoil motor oil because it had a high content wax paraffin base which caused that crappy sludge build up you see when taking the valve covers off. Is this true or just an old myth? I was brought up to run Valvoline and change it regularly. I now usually run either Delo 400, Castrol or Mobil 1 Synthetic, depending on my application. Just curious.......

[sbc350gearhead]

Amsoil's xl-7500 is a group III "hydrocracked" petroleum oil. It is not a true chemically engineered synthetic. Valvoline synpower, castrol syntec, pennzoil synthetic, and most of the other OTC "synthetics" are also group III oils. Mobil 1 is the only major true synthetic available OTC. IMO, amsoil xl-7500 is the best group III oil on the market, but it is way overpriced. For an extra 65 cents a quart, you can buy amsoil's asl-atm line of oils that are true chemically engineered synthetics, and are far superior to the xl-7500. If you somehow can't find the extra 65 cents in your pocket..........save a dollar a quart and buy mobil 1.

As I briefly mentioned earlier.........there are some small, lesser known blenders that can rival the big oil blenders. Schaeffers is one of these. Their supreme line of synthetic blends, can match or best the top tier synthetics out to about 6000 miles.......sometimes even further. When formulating an oil........the additive package is just as important as the basestock.........if not more so. The schaeffers supreme proves this fact. Schaeffers is a top notch company with many top notch products.