What's a BAD oil?

[BSouza]

We have had pages and pages of heated discussions on motor oil on the aircooled VW boards.

There is such a thing as bad oil when it comes to vintage VWs, as well as a lot of other older cars, and some high-performance engines.

For us, the challenge is to find motor oil with enough zinc, otherwise we risk early camshaft/lifter failure.

A lot of the oil that works superbly for modern cars will cause premature engine wear on our engines.

We can use Kendall, Amsoil, Delvac, and a few others with enough zinc additive. All the rest are BAD oils.

I [censored] thee, camshaft destroying BAD oils! I [censored] thee to oil [censored]!

Well, thats at least a new twist in the conversation.

 

[chainblu]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
anyone ever ran stp oil from dollar general

Actually, Yes!
I was in the middle of a move and was starting a new job the next day which involved a 30+ mile commute one way. I couldn't remember when I had last changed the oil in my Saturn (it wasn't a daily driver up till then...)
I was in the middle of BFE and the nearest retail store was Dollar General. (a Walmart has since come to the rescue) The DG house brands scared me which only left STP as my only option. I put in 4 qts of 10w30, changed the filter and away I went. I did about a 6 month OCI, which gave me time to unpack my stash of 'good' oil.
As far as I can tell, the old Saturn is none the worse for wear.

 

[Panzerman]

Theres a guy I work with, that has a Toyota Corolla, with 275,000 miles. I asked him what oil he uses and he told me Walmart oil, either Walmart brand or whatever is on sale, every 5000 miles. I am more a believer in changing it rather then brand specific. If it meets the api on the back of the bottle chances are it wont kill the car.

 

[SS1970chrysler]

Originally Posted By: CourierDriver
The 3000 oci came from along time ago when engines and oils were not so good. an old neighbor of mine who was a young man in the 30s and 40s said a car engine was usually in bad shape by 50,000 miles. His dad drove Packards he said. Maybe some of u have friends in their late 70s or 80s that can add to this mystery.

Perhaps I can help you as I regularly work on vehicles from 1930's to 1970's.(and I love my 48 Packard)
Most engines up into the 60's were shot or in need of serious repair by around 65k miles. There are many reasons for this, bad(by our standards) oil being only one of them. Through the 40's into the 50's many engines were using babbit bearings instead of inserts.(Packard was one of the first to upgrade to inserts) Babbit bearings required a thick oil film because of lack of embedability in that style of bearing. Filters were just not as good and many engines used a partial-flow filter or even none at all. Another important factor was the crankcase ventilation system of the time. PCV didn't appear until mid 60's on most. All earlier engines used a breather cap filter and a downdraft tube. The tube had to extend down into the airstream under the car to be effective. Low speed driving and sitting in traffic were very damaging over time by sooting up the oil very quickly. Tolerances on machined parts were a lot wider as well, another reason for thicker oil. Packard actually recommended a thin oil for their engines. One more important factor was the air filtering of the time. You had 2 choices: wire mesh "bird catcher" and oil bath filter made from bark of the Chula tree in Mexico. Oil bath filter worked very well. The mesh design allowed lots of dirt through the intake and I've actually seen it wear off the top ring lands on a piston. It's not pretty.

 

[Promo]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
I had awful luck with the Advance auto oil. I used it for a oil change and My car used oil, a qt between changes(3000 mile OC) it never used oil and it didnt when I went back to the ussually brand. Ive tried other brands and none used oil. So that brand I stay away from.


Actually, advanced auto oil is shell oil.
It's conventional shell oil, I use it all the time when i'm not tracking the car and i've had great luck with it.

 

[Gene K]

http://www.pqiamerica.com/star10w30.htm

 

[TheOilGeek]

Originally Posted By: Gene K
http://www.pqiamerica.com/star10w30.htm


LOL If you check the bottle is says "High Mileage Formula"....so this has the more robust adpack...still has .5 TBN.