synthetic oil in these old motors?

Anonymous-0 · Sep 4, 2010

For some reason, the price of oil just went up to the point that synthetic oil is just a buck more than the cheapest normal oil on the shelf.

Any issues with using it in an old motor?

Dave

Spook · Sep 4, 2010

I use it in my Farmall H. Seems to leak a bit more, but seems to work well.

james rumph · Sep 4, 2010

I use it in the trans of both my cubs and what a differance. The 1954 and 55 were both smooth trans to start with but with the synthetic 90 weight what a change.

unclemerle · Sep 4, 2010

Use synthetic oil in everything including lawn mowers since 92. No problems and no leaks. Oldest motor on the yard is 1966 and newest is 2004 with 130,000 miles on the clock.

evilboweivel · Sep 4, 2010

works great

Ron

molinebob · Sep 4, 2010

They say when you go from conventional oil to synthetic, you have to watch the oil consumption on the first few oil changes, you wind up burnin a litle more synthetic for a bit, normally one or two quarts between oil changes, only does it for like the first two though than its all good.

Mike M · Sep 4, 2010

I tried it in a RAV4 and my lawn mower and both started blowing smoke upon start up. I switched back to reg. oil.

Likely better results in something newer right from the start.

sotxbill · Sep 4, 2010

if you have been running a good heavy duty oil before, then there will be no difference.

if your running cheap low end oil, then there will tons of difference. The good oils have additives that clean and resist piston ring scuffing, ring coking, deposit build ups.. cheap oil does not.

so if you change, the new hd oils will start cleaning the gunk and you might end up with leaks everywhere as they clean the dirt off the old worn out gaskets. if the valve guides are worn out, the new oil will clean the gunk out then start using oil through the valve guides..

again, if you have been using a good hd oil, then you will see very little change, as the engine is clean and the oils both have the same critical additive packages, so a minor change of base oil will not change much.

Putting this oil in a worn out engine will make it appear to be worse shape.

k6zrx · Sep 4, 2010

I have had no problems switching. I get NAPA (Ashland) synthetic pretty cheap with my discount. My "48 Desoto has 5W20, it called for straight 20 weight. The "50 Dodge and "56 Plymouth get 10W30, they call for 30 weight. All three are flatheads, DeSoto has 46k miles, the Dodge 96k, and the Plymouth is on it"s first synthetic after break in. I also switched a Diesel Mercedes with 240k miles to 5W40 Rotella Synthetic. The turbo seems to spool up better when the engine is not fully hot yet.
I do not run long change intervals since as you noted, the price is so close to normal oil. I figure in the older engines without PCV that it is worth it, especially with town driving.
I would recommend that if you have any leaks, fix them first. The Mercedes leaked the same after synthetic as it did before. The DeSoto had leaky pan gaskets that I replaced before switching. I cleaned out all the sludge at that time. Pulling the pan and removing sludge is a good idea before switching if you think it might be gunked up. Good chance to inspect inside and Plastigage the bearings.

Josh

daman · Sep 4, 2010

In an older high mileage high hour engine you [i:b79e275ca0]may[/i:b79e275ca0] experience some slight leakage/seepage.

J.Wondergem · Sep 4, 2010

I run it in everthing I have, including the motorcycles. Oldest tractor is a 1937.

synthetic oil in these old motors?

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

Spook

Well-known Member

james rumph

Member

unclemerle

Member

evilboweivel

Member

molinebob

Member

Mike M

Well-known Member

sotxbill

Well-known Member

k6zrx

Member

daman

Member

J.Wondergem

Well-known Member

Similar threads