Car is stored- (LS1 V8) what oil?

[Striker]

It's a personal choice and a bit of a sacrifice.

I only have one garage where the Mustang sits in and I drive that car every weekend. I also have a company car so there is no need to daily either of the cars.

Once I get a place with a double garage, that will change. For now, I do what I can.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: Nick1994
Originally Posted By: Striker
No- the car is a garage queen.


That's like saving your girlfriend for the next guy.



But the next guy really appreciates all your hard work and patience.

The Belgian Castrol and/or the current Castrol Edge Titanium are great oils too. Maybe it's just that the early GC was just perfect for the time and got quite a mystique attached to it. There are no junk SN rated synthetic oils from the major brand names. Even Walmart SuperTech is a fine synthetic SN oil.

If you race/track/pound on your car when it comes out for play each year, you might want to consider a stout 30 grade or light 40 grade oil. But, I suspect you drive the car fairly normally where nothing special in performance oils are needed. Considering the car is at 25K mi/17 year old, are the factory fills still in the trans, ps, and diff fluids? Those would be good to change if out still original. These cars had a problematic power steering cooler as well. At this age, it should probably be disconnected/removed. I did mine last year at 17K miles rather than risk getting ps fluid in my coolant.

 

[Striker]

I'll give the Belgian stuff a go than.

No, the PS, trans, diff, rad and brakes have all been replaced with new fluid that has maybe 500 miles on it.

Yes, I read on the cooler. So all you did was purchase a coolant hose off a non SS/WS6 car that doesn't have the PS cooler built in it?

 

[mazdamonky]

I saw somewhere, it is better to change your oil a couple of months prior to storing the car. It was an email from Castrol stating that the add packs are a little strong when first put in and should be driven around before storing. I would do the oil change at the beginning of driving season rather than the end of driving season. Any synthetic would do.

 

[A_Harman]

Drive your Firebird more. It's good to keep the machinery exercised.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: Striker
Yes, I read on the cooler. So all you did was purchase a coolant hose off a non SS/WS6 car that doesn't have the PS cooler built in it?


Exactly. Though in the later years of the 4th Gen F body, even the base Z28/Firebird LS1's got the PS cooler. A non-PS cooling hose runs about $14-$25 depending on your source. The cooler/heat exchanger is a plus in the winter time to help heat up the PS system. But in the summer, I've run from 185-195 deg in PS temps either with or without cooler.

 

[Garak]

There is nothing wrong with the current Castrol 0w30 A3/B4. If you want to save some money, the 0w-40 version is available in jugs at Canadian Tire and most Walmarts, and is rolled back often enough. You could probably find Castrol 5w30 A3/B4 if you looked hard enough.

 

[Striker]

For the ps cooler, I may just get another one as dumb as that sounds. I am all for keeping the car original. At least this one. However, I don't even know if they are still even available?

Is the 5w30 and 0w40 Belgian stuff the same oil ?

 

[Striker]

Just phoned the dealer; part is discontinued. May have to call a dealer in the USA and see.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: Striker
Just phoned the dealer; part is discontinued. May have to call a dealer in the USA and see.


When GM last offered them they ran about $200. It still might be possible to find one in a dealer's inventory. You can buy a used one on Ebay for $90 but I doubt it would be in better condition that yours with 25K miles. I'd bet that 95% of those who scrap the OEM cooler and still want one, just go with an aftermarket unit bolted attached to the undercarriage where reasonable air flow is seen. This is one "original" OEM part that was a bad idea from start. My 2002 Lincoln has an OEM PS cooler that doesn't risk the mixing of fluids. It's just like the current aftermarket ones.

LS1 Tech thread on PS coolers

 

[Striker]

You're right, I know the OEM design is faulty. I'll only settle for a brand new one, nothing used wont be any better. I wonder what the deal is with them and why they fail. Perhaps I can get someone to fix whatever is wrong with it- probably a pipe inside that decayed away.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: Striker
You're right, I know the OEM design is faulty. I'll only settle for a brand new one, nothing used wont be any better. I wonder what the deal is with them and why they fail. Perhaps I can get someone to fix whatever is wrong with it- probably a pipe inside that decayed away.


I don't know for sure. My guesses would be either the tube to sheet interface experiences thermal cracks or the coolant becomes acidic over time and corrodes the tubes. There's probably some information on line somewhere as to what the actual failure mode is and any potential fixes. From all my reading on LS1Tech.com over the past 4 years, I've yet to hear of any explanations...or anyone putting a new factory cooler back into their car after the original one failed. Feel free to join the site and pose that question...you'll get answers if there are any.

 

[Striker]

Considering that I don't have any brand new ones available at a dealership or online, I may have to ditch mine. You have to cap the lines off too that are under the power steering pump, right?

How is your LS liking the M1 0W40?

 

[69GTX]

Power Steering cooling success

This 500 post thread covers everything to do with the topic of LS1 PS coolers. For those of us in cooler climates, we seem to do just fine without the coolers. If I were in the south, I'd probably want to install an aftermarket cooler.

There's no need to cap any of the power steering hydraulics. The discharge hose from the steering rack goes through the cooler and then returns to the bottom of the PS reservoir. That PS return/cooler inlet hose can simply be cut at the cooler inlet nipple and reconnected at the reservoir base in place of the other one. Remove the orig hose from the cooler outlet to the reservoir, drain the reservoir fluid into a container, then reconnect the cooler inlet/PS return hose to the reservoir. Cooler is now bypassed.

You can leave the cooler as it is and plug the 2 partial hoses left dangling with some large bolts and hose clamps...until you decide to replace the coolant hose. The PS return hose is 4-6" too long as I recall. So you either have to cut some off, or curl it around. You have to cut at least 1/2" or so off that hose just to remove the expanded portion of hose that used to be on the nipple. If not, it will probably leak as it will be too loose. Routing the hoses like this is how the factory did it for car that didn't have PS Coolers.

 

[Striker]

All great ideas I appreciate it.

If I were to leave the cooler in place and just disconnect the two hoses it would be as simple as camping off the areas on the cooler and underneath the ps pump? It's been a while since I've seen the car so I don't remember how everything is.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: Striker

If I were to leave the cooler in place and just disconnect the two hoses it would be as simple as capping off the areas on the cooler and underneath the ps pump? It's been a while since I've seen the car so I don't remember how everything is.


Yup. Cap the 2 cooler hose stubs tight with bolts + hose clamps. Worst case is that if coolant showed up under pressure, it would try to push out the plugs. Though if those plugs are squeezed real tight by the clamps, it shouldn't happen. Your first sign would be some weepage. If you don't cut off too much of the original cooler inlet hose, you can always return the system to 100% stock.

Nothing to plug on the PS system. You are only swapping which hose ties into the reservoir. There's only one low pressure connection under the PS pump. If you plugged that, there'd be no return flow, and no place for the PS return hose to connect to. The HP pressure PS side uses steel tubing and that stays put.

 

[A_Harman]

Is there a particular year of F-bodies that had PS cooler problems? I'm mystified. Mine has 248,000 miles on it, with thousands of track miles running in hot conditions, and I don't have a problem with PS fluid getting in the cooling system. The cooler on mine is a Laminova-style heat exchanger, which has no tube joints to fail. I thought all years had the same type of cooler.

 

[69GTX]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Is there a particular year of F-bodies that had PS cooler problems? I'm mystified. Mine has 248,000 miles on it, with thousands of track miles running in hot conditions, and I don't have a problem with PS fluid getting in the cooling system. The cooler on mine is a Laminova-style heat exchanger, which has no tube joints to fail. I thought all years had the same type of cooler.


I think all the years show up with a significant number of failures. Though I would think 2001-2002 got more of them since they made a lot more cars in those years, and even base LS1's got the coolers by the end of the run. I've not read anything that suggested that only particular years were susceptible. That's unlike the roof paint bubble issues were everything produced after April 1998 is susceptible, and anything before that is fine. It could be that those who frequently changed their coolant and PS fluid didn't experience issues. Or maybe a car frequently used and pushed hard saw less issues. If you've gone 250K miles on that cooler that's excellent.

At LS1tech.com there are numerous threads in the 2008/2009 period showing these failures. One guy even said he had a cooler leak when the car was brand new and under warranty. Another said they went through 2 coolers by 2009. Sounds hit and miss. But it sure stinks when you get the hit and the PS reservoir level starts to disappear. From what I just read it was the same part all 5 years. I feed and bleed a quart of PS fluid in the system every year just to keep fresh. Still using DexCool too.

 

[A_Harman]

Originally Posted By: 69GTX
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
Is there a particular year of F-bodies that had PS cooler problems? I'm mystified. Mine has 248,000 miles on it, with thousands of track miles running in hot conditions, and I don't have a problem with PS fluid getting in the cooling system. The cooler on mine is a Laminova-style heat exchanger, which has no tube joints to fail. I thought all years had the same type of cooler.


I think all the years show up with a significant number of failures. Though I would think 2001-2002 got more of them since they made a lot more cars in those years, and even base LS1's got the coolers by the end of the run. I've not read anything that suggested that only particular years were susceptible. That's unlike the roof paint bubble issues were everything produced after April 1998 is susceptible, and anything before that is fine. It could be that those who frequently changed their coolant and PS fluid didn't experience issues. Or maybe a car frequently used and pushed hard saw less issues. If you've gone 250K miles on that cooler that's excellent.

At LS1tech.com there are numerous threads in the 2008/2009 period showing these failures. One guy even said he had a cooler leak when the car was brand new and under warranty. Another said they went through 2 coolers by 2009. Sounds hit and miss. But it sure stinks when you get the hit and the PS reservoir level starts to disappear. From what I just read it was the same part all 5 years. I feed and bleed a quart of PS fluid in the system every year just to keep fresh. Still using DexCool too.


I've been consistent over the years in checking the level of the power steering fluid before every on-track session, so I would know if I had fluid loss. My car seems to have been born under a lucky sign. I have also not had fuel pump issues as so many other 4th-Gen F-bodies have.

{Knock wood, hope the luck continues.}

The only recurring problem I have had has been the rear axle assembly, but that is a well-earned problem coming from track driving. I rebuilt the rear end 4 times due to spalling of the outboard axle bearings on the C-clip axle design. That includes two sets of Moser axles. I finally had a custom housing built by Moser using Ford 9-inch outboard bearing adapters and axles, with the axle splines machined to go into the GM differential carrier.

 

[Striker]

Gotcha- i thought since two hoses are coming out of the cooler itself; that these also go back in to the power steering reservoir itself.