1966 Ford 289 Oil Analysis

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I have a 1966 Ford 289 with about 25,000 miles. Obviously it must have sat for long periods of time. I do know that in the previous ten years before I bought it, it was only driven for short trips. 2-5 miles at a time. I have had it for a short period of time but after buying it I put in Valvoline VR1 Conventional Racing Oil 10w-30 after asking many people with old cars. I use ethanol free gasoline 90 octane. The oil analysis was fine except for the lead. Last year it was 630 and this year 403. The engine does not smoke or make any unusual noises and it does not use oil. The oil pressure gauge works fine and shows a good oil pressure. (No numbers, but right in the middle of the scale.) Why do you think the lead numbers are so high? Possibly the previous owners used leaded fuel or a lead additive in the fuel? I guess it could be the bearings but like I said, the pressure seems fine. Any thoughts would be helpful. Thank you.
 
The lead in the fuel back in the day used to help cool/lubricate the exhaust valves. What serves that function in today's lead-free fuel?
 
No Lead: I don't plan to really push the car very hard. No racing, no towing, etc. So I should be ok especially with the limited miles that I will put on the car. Maybe 500 miles per year at most. I am old enough to remember the American "white gas." American sold high octane no-lead in the 1960's at least on the east coast. The older fellows with the Corvettes and GTO's and other muscle cars used to fill up all the time with that gasoline and I don't remember them having problems. Back to today, I checked with a lot of local guys with cars that used to run on leaded fuel; now they all use unleaded with no problems. Of course, like me, the mileage is limited.
 
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
The lead in the fuel back in the day used to help cool/lubricate the exhaust valves. What serves that function in today's lead-free fuel?


Nothing in today's fuel serves that function.

Hardened exhaust seats and better valves did away with the need for lead lubricated exhaust seats.
 
An older engine without hardened seats will last a long time if it's never driven very hard.

Now, truck engines are a different story. When leaded gas went away in 1992 or so, all of our 1-1/2 ton & larger trucks sunk the exhaust valve seats pretty quickly.
 
In the late 70's I had a 67. Something rubbed a hole in a power steering hose. The shop replaced the hose and the
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pump.
 
Back in the early 70's I drove a very nice full size 1966 Custom 500 with the 289 engine. It was actually a very nice car with good power, comfortable, roomy, decent mpg. However, the 4 wheel drum brakes were scary compared to today's disc brakes
crazy2.gif
.

Whimsey
 
Originally Posted By: 69GTX
The lead in the fuel back in the day used to help cool/lubricate the exhaust valves. What serves that function in today's lead-free fuel?


Nothing in the fuel does now. Modern engines use hardened valve seats, like stellite.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellite
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Linctex
An older engine without hardened seats will last a long time if it's never driven very hard.

Now, truck engines are a different story. When leaded gas went away in 1992 or so, all of our 1-1/2 ton & larger trucks sunk the exhaust valve seats pretty quickly.
That's believable. Back when leaded was going away, there was an article in the SAE magazine on that issue. The quick synopsis is that old engines without hardened seats need to stay under 3000 RPM when running unleaded fuel.
 
When I owned a number of original 1960's 383/440 Mopars during the 1990's I always put in lead additive. At times they were driven hard so the need to protect those original engines with low miles. Occasionally I'd fill up with 101-104 leaded octane at speed shops or boat yards. I think that was leaded as well.
 
Originally Posted By: Building3
I have a 1966 Ford 289 with about 25,000 miles. Obviously it must have sat for long periods of time. I do know that in the previous ten years before I bought it, it was only driven for short trips. 2-5 miles at a time. I have had it for a short period of time but after buying it I put in Valvoline VR1 Conventional Racing Oil 10w-30 after asking many people with old cars. I use ethanol free gasoline 90 octane. The oil analysis was fine except for the lead. Last year it was 630 and this year 403. The engine does not smoke or make any unusual noises and it does not use oil. The oil pressure gauge works fine and shows a good oil pressure. (No numbers, but right in the middle of the scale.) Why do you think the lead numbers are so high? Possibly the previous owners used leaded fuel or a lead additive in the fuel? I guess it could be the bearings but like I said, the pressure seems fine. Any thoughts would be helpful. Thank you.


My 1966 Mustang with 289 had 77k miles on it; recently sold it. Had been in the family since 1976. We got it as second owners after the first 10 years; it was a trade in at a dealer.

Good to hear that your oil pressure is solid. Ours was dropping badly; at hot idle it struggled to stay above (none!) on the dash gauge. Once the revs came up, the pressure would be near-normal. These engines are known to wear out the cam bearings fairly quickly. Although with only 25k miles on yours, it would be a bit early to think that would happen.

Most of the lead is coming from the past use of leaded fuel, as others have said. Given that you have good oil pressure, I have to think the Pb is coming from residual fuel traces and not cams.

Also, I would suggest you pop off the valve covers and look underneath. There were HEAVY deposits of gunk and sludge under mine; it was atrocious. Oils back in the day, while perhaps good at holding off wear with high levels of ZDDP, were really bad at cleaning and dispersing. I had to pull the valve cover to replace the cork gasket; finally was weeping so badly that the oil was getting onto the exhaust manifold. When I opened it up, I was shocked how full of junk the head was. Truly a reason (back in the day) for frequent oil changes. (which is where the the old habits come from ....) It was the right thing to do back then.
 
Originally Posted By: Brons2
Where is the actual analysis in this thread?


Here .... sort of ...
Originally Posted By: Building3
The oil analysis was fine except for the lead. Last year it was 630 and this year 403.
 
Originally Posted By: dnewton3
My 1966 Mustang with 289 had 77k miles on it; recently sold it. Had been in the family since 1976. We got it as second owners after the first 10 years; it was a trade in at a dealer.

Good to hear that your oil pressure is solid. Ours was dropping badly; at hot idle it struggled to stay above (none!) on the dash gauge. Once the revs came up, the pressure would be near-normal. These engines are known to wear out the cam bearings fairly quickly. Although with only 25k miles on yours, it would be a bit early to think that would happen.

I had a '65 Mercury Comet with a 289. Some people have good luck with 289s. I didn't. I bought the car used and after driving it a few years it was burning oil quite badly (by 80,000 miles total).

I gave it to my BIL who had the engine rebuilt. That's when the oil pressure went in the dumpster. It was scary low even at highway speed.

I had to have the heads rebuilt by about 60,000 miles (burned valve).

When I got mine, there was dust leaking in between the air filter and the intake manifold (gasket was out of place - dirt was visible on the intake manifold). I've always wondered if that dirt was what went wrong with mine.
 
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