The best oil?

[jmortensen]

The main reason I now run Mobil 1 is that it drops normal engine operating temperatures by 10-15 degrees F. Heat is always a major factor here in sunny Florida... As these L series engines age.. and they are now at least 33 years old (the L24's anyway)... the cooling passages inside the cast iron blocks build up calcium/rust etc.. this makes heat transfer from the block to the coolant less efficient.. and changing to Mobil 1 simply allows less friction to begin with which helps off-set the effects of the aging block...

Why not remove the calcium and rust in the block? I've read Jet Dry works to remove this stuff, haven't tried it myself. Supposedly you drain the coolant completely, run the system with water only, and add a bottle of jet dry. Drive for a couple days and all that crap is gone, flushes out the radiator too, so if your older radiator is starting to get clogged with that white crusty stuff, apparently this fixes that issue completely. Drain again and fill 50/50. I could also see doing the same thing with CLR (Calcium/Lime/Rust) remover they show on TV.

I use dino oil, Chevron Delo 400 now, when I first rebuilt the engine I used Valvoline 10W-40, and pulled my engine apart with ~40K on the clock due to losing the damper and screwing up the front of the crankshaft. It also had NO sludge or buildup whatsoever. I think the detergents that are now in oils make sludge a think of the past, assuming regular oil changes.

ALL of the lubrication failures that I've seen on L's had to do with starvation. Never seen one that just spontaneously lost a main bearing while driving down the street at 2500 rpm or anything similar that could be attributed to the dino oil itself. I have a junkyard dog of a motor, and it doesn't have a lot of dollars in it, so until I see a failure caused by cheap oil I won't consider paying 5x as much for synthetic.

[zman525]

:-P i guess u can call me retarded hahaha

[sblake01]

I have to agree w/Jon. Keep the engine clean, do oil changes at the proper intervals, use a quality oil. Those things will offset any benefit of using syntetic oil. I use 10W30 with half a quart of Lucas oil treatment and have seen no evidence of sludge. I have used a product called Whink rust remover for cooling system flushes every couple of years or so. Followed by plain water then the 50/50 antifreeze mix. No problems there either.

[hls30.com]

Why not remove the calcium and rust in the block? I've read Jet Dry works to remove this stuff, haven't tried it myself. Supposedly you drain the coolant completely, run the system with water only, and add a bottle of jet dry. Drive for a couple days and all that crap is gone, flushes out the radiator too, so if your older radiator is starting to get clogged with that white crusty stuff, apparently this fixes that issue completely. Drain again and fill 50/50. I could also see doing the same thing with CLR (Calcium/Lime/Rust) remover they show on TV.

White vinegar is what has been used for several decades to remove boiler scale-not as caustic as CLR, but I wouldn't run either for long, their acidic nature would set up galvanic action and start undercutting gaskets and thinning passage walls.

Will