Oil Recommendation

[Clone TIE Pilot]

Ive been using Chevron Delo 10w-30 in my 1994 Lesabre since I bought it at 60,000 miles. Now at 130,000, The intake valves couldn't be cleaner as per my borescope. My Chevy K1500 has had Rotella 15w-40 in it for some time. Diesel oil is more robust than gasoline oils, and it also has stronger adhesive and cohesive properties than gasoline oils, which makes up for the lack of startup flow.

Diesel oil isn't stronger or better. It just is formulated differently since diesel engines have different contamination buildup issues than gasoline engines. The stronger adhesive and cohesive properties is simply greater viscosity, which doesn't offset the poorer startup flow. Plus thicker oil has greater fluid friction which increases heat and reduces oil life and performance.

Diesel motor oil has greater additives per volume because diesels burn dirtier and deal with more soot and blow by contamination than gas engines. The extra detergents in diesel oil will reduce ring sealing in a gas engine and cause compression loss. In some cases, diesel oil detergent can cause faster cylinder wall and ring wear in a gas engine, depends on engine design.

Now some commercial diesel oils are dual rated and can be also be safely used in gas engines. However a non dual rated diesel oil should never be used in a gas engine, these are the oils that will cause faster cylinder wear. In other words, diesel oil commonly has higher TBN, because diesel engines have more blow by and require it. However, such high TBN isn't good for gas engines with lower amounts of blow by to deal with, and the excess TBN can lead to adverse reactions. A dual rated oil has TBN between diesel and gas specifications. But you still need the proper viscosity.

As I said before, thicker than specified oil in a engine causes extra wear, not reduction, between poorer cold flow and poorer splashing, plus greater friction. Too many G body owners believe in old wives tales.

 

[RICKDIZZLE]

Some great discussion on here around this topic! My cutlass is a semi/show - street car. Meaning it gets driven about 2-3 times a month maybe 10 miles each time. In the last 16 months I've only put 490 miles on the car...

By no means am I looking for an oil that will fix the slight rear main leak...just was stating I have one was all. So really I'm looking for something for good protection when parked for few weeks at a time, and when it does come out for a lap or two....also for those times I start it and let it run in the garage for a while (I usually do this if the car has not been driven for a while and I don't plan on driving it, just to keep things moving.) All this talk about needing zinc is great as I had no idea...had been using normal Valvoline 10/30. Maybe this will provide more insight into what I should run based on lack of driving lol.

 

[RICKDIZZLE]

Any other input on this?

 

[montec]

Any other input on this?

I say pick your choice of oil you want to run and use it. syn or dino your choice.

My personal preference is stay away from pensoil or quaker state, seen some bad motors with regular oil changes die and early death due to sludge. Mobil, vavoline, havoline are my go to for dino if I need it.

I still stick to my recomondation to find an oil that had zddp added to it, as it will save your cam. When you have all the major cam manufactures saying you need it with flat tappet cams, I listen as I have seen a few cams die a quick death with some of the newer oils.

 

[ron chickadel]

supertech/castrol high mileage oil 10w - 30 . they,re all good . just change regularly or at least twice a year !

 

[Hoopty_Mike]

Run your favorite brand of 10w30. Even when cash was tight I ran walmart "supertech" changed at regular intervals and it did its job.

 

[lilbowtie]

I'm a Brad Penn person BUT - at 132,000 mi's I would keep using what ever got you this far.

 

[tc1959]

My motor has a roller cam and rockers. I have always used Mobil One 10W-30.

 

[64nailhead]

Reading back a page or two on this, it is a real fallacy that today's diesel oils will benefit anything. In the past, the pre 2004 diesel oil had the necessary additives to keep a FT cam from going flat, but the current formulations have no benefit for FT cams or older engines.

Until just recently, I was always a Castrol GTX fan. Never had a failure using until recently. I put in a set of Morel roller lifters and they were noisy (ticking.) Contacted Morel and received a disseratation on oil. They recommend to the point that they won't warranty one of their lifters unless you're running a Driven Oil (formerly a divisionof Joe Gibbs Racing oil). It's expensive, but according to both Driven and Morel, it's needs to be changed annually or at 20,000 miles. So a quick calculation determined that $9 quart x 6 was less than both a change at 1500 miles in a 9000 mile per year car and a set of Morel lifters. The car is a G-body with a turbo'ed SBC making close to 550 at the wheels that gets driven hard (dyno and track) plenty that makes plenty of oil temp- over 275 when driven hard.

With that said, I'm in with lilbowtie for a daily driven, mostly stock motor, run what you've been using if it's been working or swap to an exotic and pay$$$$.