It's a 1990 Chevrolet C1500 with the 5.7L (350) engine with throttle body fuel injection and an automatic transmission with overdrive in a stepside SWB "Chattanooga" custom pickup with 121,600 on the clock that now only averages 100 miles a month and is (almost) always driven at sustained operating temps. It is ocassionally used to tow an enclosed trailer hauling a motorcycle or whatever and may be used to do so on a long trip. It's presently in the first clean phase of an ARX treatment with SuperTech Synthetic 5w30. I just had to add about a half qt of oil after pulling a heavily loaded enclosed trailer about 200 miles...first time I can remember having to add oil. It only has 1600 miles on the oil and about 900 on the ARX and the oil has been in for over 15 months. Since it's no longer in "regular" use, I've dropped the Amsoil that it used for the last 30K miles (was on Havoline dino 10w30 every 3K since 20K prior to that when in regular use by my late Father). I was thinking along the lines of a HDEO (does this engine need the extra AW additives?) such as 10w30 Rotella or a HM 5 or 10w30, can't hardly find 10w30 Rotella around here....or do you think the SuperTech Synthetic 5 or 10w30 would do better and how long should it be left in service? I live in North MS where temps are fairly mild. Please give your recommendations and reasons behind them. It was my Dad's last pickup and I want it to last using the "best bang for the buck" oil and OCI....thanks in advance for your time.
Give oil recommendations for 1990 Chevy 350
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I would say Pennzoil Platinum 10w30. Good oil, with a great additive package. Good for the hauling you do too.
Use it with confidence because it's a great product at a great price and widely available.
Use it with confidence because it's a great product at a great price and widely available.
M1 10w30HM will serve you well.
Being a throttle body injection and a bit older of an engine I would say 5K would be the limit IMO.
I would say or 1 year...
I put Maxlife(HM)10W-30 in a 305 engine of 91 Chevy with 262k miles after my last Auto-RX treatment along with the maintenance dose and this combo is the best oil I have ever run in this engine in regards to consumption and leaking. Plus it really runs great. My current regime is about 5000-6000 miles for this oil and a purolator filter, which ususally works out to about 6 months. Keep in mind I will be adding 1 quart every 1000-1500 miles for top-up. I will switch to 10W-40 for the summer this year. I have a few quarts of 20W-50 for top-up, too.
Thanks bmwtechguy....I was stuck in the 30wt range, I guess, due to the factory recommendation of 5w30 (or 10w30 above O*F, which it always is around here)...but just thought, what about a 5w40 such as Rotella??...or would that not fit with the most "bang for the buck" goal?? ....
5W-40 would be fine, just cost more. It should also have plenty of TBN reserve for longer oil change intervals. I have used the 5W-40's and PP, both good options. but Maxlife is my favorite for doing things that no other oil has done for me so far, and I have tried quite a few except M1 HM in this engine.
You asked if this engine would benefit from the extra AW additives of an HDEO. If you are working this engine very hard all the time, yes. For most duties HDEO would work, but not be better than a good HM oil, IMO. I find sales on HM oils such as ML, but rarely find a 5W-40 HDEO on sale around here.
You asked if this engine would benefit from the extra AW additives of an HDEO. If you are working this engine very hard all the time, yes. For most duties HDEO would work, but not be better than a good HM oil, IMO. I find sales on HM oils such as ML, but rarely find a 5W-40 HDEO on sale around here.
I've got a couple of jugs of Maxlife syn blend 5w30 in my stash along with a 10w30 Supertech HM and a 10w30 Q Torque Power...would the 5w30 HM be good for this engine or do you think a 10w30 HM would be better? ... should I trade my 5w for 10w ? ... or should I just run any regular dino such as SuperTech (5 or 10w?) with (or without) a maintenance dose of ARX and change it every year no matter the low miles or keep it in til it hits at least 2 or 3K even if it takes a couple of years?? Does the 5w40 HDEO have as good or better low temp flows as the HM oils ?? Thanks again for everyones time....
Well you see it gets little use so whatever oil gets put in will be in there for at least a year, maybe two...one reason for my questions on which weight to use. My understanding is that the 10w30 weight is a stronger oil than the 5w30 weights...is this true or was it just true in the past?
You will get different answers about relative strength of 10wxx vs. 5wxx oils, but I going by base oil would say 10wxx is more robust than 5wxx. If you really want to go a year between changes use a syn, or at least a blend. I would change dino at least 2x per year, right before and right after winter.
I would recommend oil changes at least twice a year, if nothing else to remove condensation and any acids that have formed in the engine. If it were mine I would run 10w30 or 10w40 Valvoline Maxlife synthetic blend. Its very good oil and is reasonably priced.
350 is a strong motor, and tough to kill even when abused.
Since it's only seeing a little over 1000 miles per year, I would consider using a dino oil or a syn blend and changing it out every 6 months or 1 year, whatever you're most comfortable with.
Pretty much any name brand oil these days will work just fine, some are better than others, none will cause engine problems if used correctly.
Since it's only seeing a little over 1000 miles per year, I would consider using a dino oil or a syn blend and changing it out every 6 months or 1 year, whatever you're most comfortable with.
Pretty much any name brand oil these days will work just fine, some are better than others, none will cause engine problems if used correctly.
You mentioned you want to keep this truck running well for a long time. With 1000 miles per year, I would use the Maxlife 10W-30. You could even trade out one of your stash oils at Wal-mart for this oil and give it a try. At that low of yearly mileage, really any of the oils you mentioned in your stash would do just fine, but a high mileage oil will do better in my experience with your engine type and now-aged seals and gaskets.
At 1000 miles, your oil will probably still be clear, even after one year, and at that point it will be tempting to go another year on the same oil and filter, not that I recommend it. Plus the seal conditioners in the HM oil should keep the seals and gaskets in better shape with that many miles on them already, especially with the truck sitting most of the time. Just something to keep in mind.
I have one customer/friend that has a 67 mustang 390 that sees limited mileage like your truck. His engine has been rebuilt already one time a few years ago. With only about 1000-1500 miles per year, we still change the oil and filter annually using just regular 10W-40 Havoline, his favorite oil brand. The oil always looks really clean still when we drain it. The car went from his uncle, to his father, and then to him when his father passed away. Havoline was his dad's oil brand choice as well. The car sees only nice weather driving in moderate temps.
At 1000 miles, your oil will probably still be clear, even after one year, and at that point it will be tempting to go another year on the same oil and filter, not that I recommend it. Plus the seal conditioners in the HM oil should keep the seals and gaskets in better shape with that many miles on them already, especially with the truck sitting most of the time. Just something to keep in mind.
I have one customer/friend that has a 67 mustang 390 that sees limited mileage like your truck. His engine has been rebuilt already one time a few years ago. With only about 1000-1500 miles per year, we still change the oil and filter annually using just regular 10W-40 Havoline, his favorite oil brand. The oil always looks really clean still when we drain it. The car went from his uncle, to his father, and then to him when his father passed away. Havoline was his dad's oil brand choice as well. The car sees only nice weather driving in moderate temps.
Thanks bmwtechguy, I appreciate the info...so you really think that the 10w30 HM would be better than the 5w30 HM...reason I ask again is that I was under the impression that the HM oils were "thicker" (at the top of their viscosity ranges) than their conventional counterparts...
Oh, and would you add a maintenance dose of ARX to that as well??
Of course, I'm still in the first clean phase of an Auto RX treatment and at this rate, I guess I'd be better off to dump the clean phase out after 1500 miles due to the time it's taking me to put the required miles on, then I've got to rinse too, which I'd guess that I should just do for a year with whatever miles I have on it and then start another clean phase...man, this is gonna take a while!...but that's ok .. still get to drive it when I want/need to...
Thanks again for the info...
Oh, and would you add a maintenance dose of ARX to that as well??
Of course, I'm still in the first clean phase of an Auto RX treatment and at this rate, I guess I'd be better off to dump the clean phase out after 1500 miles due to the time it's taking me to put the required miles on, then I've got to rinse too, which I'd guess that I should just do for a year with whatever miles I have on it and then start another clean phase...man, this is gonna take a while!...but that's ok .. still get to drive it when I want/need to...
Thanks again for the info...
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You say that your temps are moderate, then I figure that you will get very few starts on this oil at less than 10 or 20 deg F. It's when you start at the really cold temps like 0 deg F or minus 20 that a 5W oil really benefits oil flow significantly during your cold starts. 10W-30 is just a tad more HD all around, especially in warmer temps or your occasional towing use.
Yes HM oils are a bit toward the higher viscosity limit of say an SAE XW-30 at operating temp. This may be part of the reason they do not have "energy conserving" in the API donut on the labels. I generally use the recommended 5W-30 oil when the engine is newer or under warranty, and in colder climates. You could use either one and be ok, really.
Let me give you this example from my family. My sister and her husband in Cleveland OH bought a really nice (no rust from out-of-state) 92 Buick Roadmaster wagon with less than 90k miles a few years ago. Engine is 5.7 350 Chevy similar to yours. Now it has a little over 100k miles, and they do short trips some. No towing and relativley cold climate in the winter at times. So there we have been using a 5W-30 syn. I have been using up some different oils, mostly Valvo synpower 5W-30 for yearly oil changes. We may use ML 5W-30 next since the miles have been only about 3-5000 per year. It does not use or leak any oil, and looks real clean inside the oil filler hole.
Here in SC I can get by with 10W-40 or 15W-40 year round in older beaters that use some oil since we don't see as much or as intense cold weather. There's a guy I know here who's trying 20W-50 ML in his 4.0 Jeep even in winter due to nearly 300k on the original engine. He was using 5W-30 ML but we were hearing a lot of bottom engine noise until the oil pressure came up. Now with 20W-50(his idea), he gets some lifter ticking up top on cold starts, but the bottom end stays much smoother and his consumption is less. he swears by this oil. Ideally, he should probably be using 10W-40 during the winter here and 20W-50 for the summer in this worn engine.
Of course I will always recommend an ARX maintenance dose no matter what oil is used. With your current ARX treatment, I'm thinking it may have been better to run the higher dose/shorter mileage instructions since you put so few miles on this truck per year. This would have helped accomplish the whole thing in a shorter time with most of the main benefits still intact. But maybe those instuctions were not added until after you began your ARX cleaning. Either way, you should end up with good results like higher compression, more power, etc. and wake that ole 350 up a little, turning back the clock, so to speak. Let us know how it goes.
Yes HM oils are a bit toward the higher viscosity limit of say an SAE XW-30 at operating temp. This may be part of the reason they do not have "energy conserving" in the API donut on the labels. I generally use the recommended 5W-30 oil when the engine is newer or under warranty, and in colder climates. You could use either one and be ok, really.
Let me give you this example from my family. My sister and her husband in Cleveland OH bought a really nice (no rust from out-of-state) 92 Buick Roadmaster wagon with less than 90k miles a few years ago. Engine is 5.7 350 Chevy similar to yours. Now it has a little over 100k miles, and they do short trips some. No towing and relativley cold climate in the winter at times. So there we have been using a 5W-30 syn. I have been using up some different oils, mostly Valvo synpower 5W-30 for yearly oil changes. We may use ML 5W-30 next since the miles have been only about 3-5000 per year. It does not use or leak any oil, and looks real clean inside the oil filler hole.
Here in SC I can get by with 10W-40 or 15W-40 year round in older beaters that use some oil since we don't see as much or as intense cold weather. There's a guy I know here who's trying 20W-50 ML in his 4.0 Jeep even in winter due to nearly 300k on the original engine. He was using 5W-30 ML but we were hearing a lot of bottom engine noise until the oil pressure came up. Now with 20W-50(his idea), he gets some lifter ticking up top on cold starts, but the bottom end stays much smoother and his consumption is less. he swears by this oil. Ideally, he should probably be using 10W-40 during the winter here and 20W-50 for the summer in this worn engine.
Of course I will always recommend an ARX maintenance dose no matter what oil is used. With your current ARX treatment, I'm thinking it may have been better to run the higher dose/shorter mileage instructions since you put so few miles on this truck per year. This would have helped accomplish the whole thing in a shorter time with most of the main benefits still intact. But maybe those instuctions were not added until after you began your ARX cleaning. Either way, you should end up with good results like higher compression, more power, etc. and wake that ole 350 up a little, turning back the clock, so to speak. Let us know how it goes.
Just looking over my old threads and doing updates....I changed the ARX wash phase oil out after 2 years and 2,867 miles on oil and 2,226 miles on the ARX on 10-29-09. Rinse phase oil is Quaker State 5w30 and an old Fram PH30 filter. I've never used QS before but the price point got me for what will probably be a 1200 to 1500 mile/1 year rinse phase. Total mileage at change was 122,829...now at 123,219.
After that, well, I'm considering either using something like QS 5w30 with a half quart of MMO or maybe a 15w40 with a full quart of MMO for the next year instead of another ARX wash for a year or longer followed by a rinse for the next year. I could do another ARX clean/rinse and then go to MMO ??? By what I read in the oil additives forum, it seems that they both can/should do some cleaning ... so I thought that using them both may have benefits rather than just using one ??? I have the ARX on hand and I now always keep some MMO around. Any opinions welcome.
After that, well, I'm considering either using something like QS 5w30 with a half quart of MMO or maybe a 15w40 with a full quart of MMO for the next year instead of another ARX wash for a year or longer followed by a rinse for the next year. I could do another ARX clean/rinse and then go to MMO ??? By what I read in the oil additives forum, it seems that they both can/should do some cleaning ... so I thought that using them both may have benefits rather than just using one ??? I have the ARX on hand and I now always keep some MMO around. Any opinions welcome.
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