engine oil

[NeillB]

just want to say i just recently joined this forum very help full i have learned a lot just reading. i have a 1929 model a coupe i would like to know what oil you recommend using i know 30 wt oil should be used is their any certain brand that i should be using and what type are most people using. thanks

[Smitty]

I use Rotella 15-40.

[Aerocraft]

I have used Castrol GTX 20-50 for a long time. Gar Williams

[Tom Wesenberg]

Gar and Smitty nailed it. Those are the two I was going to suggest and they have been my favorites.

[columbiA]

15-40 or 20-50 is what I use.In winter I change to 10-30.Always use a detergent oil,unless you have a lot of sludge in the engine.In that case,drop the pan,remove the dipper tray & clean them.Any brand of oil is better than what was available back then.I get my oil when its on sale at wally world.

[NeillB]

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thanks for the information with the engine oil.

[azmodela]

Asking questions about oil here is like asking how long is a piece of string or how deep is the ocean...

[1931 flamingo]

NeillB: Try doing a search here. Oil has been discussed in great dtail many, many times before. And WELCOME!
Paul in CT

[JimK1930A]

I use Rotella 15-40.

[Mike V. Florida]

Slippery oil.
Any brand for engines will work fine.

[real550A]

+1 for Rotella 15w40.

[MrTube]

Think I'm running 10W40 in ours. I came up with this as they originally recommended 40W in the summer and 30W in the winter if I recall.

If I am mistaken I reserve the right not to be tackled and pounded

[Cool Hand Lurker]

"Asking questions about oil here is like asking how long is a piece of string or how deep is the ocean... "

Wherever you are, you only need as much as you need. Kind of like information. Like what oil to use. And the time to ask the question is when you need the answer.

[Kevin in NJ]

Seek out the science and look for stuff written by oil engineers.

The summary of science.

You need additives to prevent the formation of nasty chemicals in the oil.

You need detergent to keep microscopic particles from settling and forming sludge. NO, the detergent does not cause the sludge to break up and circulate. There are stories out there about people using detergent oils and suddenly having their engine go bad. You put good oil in a dirty worn engine and you find out how worn the engine is.

The A engine is designed to eat dirt. The babbitt bearings are designed to embed dirt and keep on running. So an oil filter is generally not needed. Do not believe you need to change the oil every year or 500 miles. The oil is good until the additives are used up so a few years or a few thousand miles will be fine. Too frequent a change interval only costs you money and is not environmentally friendly.

Notice I am not telling what grade or brand oil. Just about anything works. Engines do not fail from failing to change the oil.

[theHIGHLANDER]

There's a lot of concern regarding the lack of zinc. There's enough oils out there (like Rotella) that have plenty of zinc in them yet. To find out how much zinc, click on the MSDS info online and it will call out the percentage. Rotella has nearly the same amount by volume as good ol STP. STP has one of the highest zinc concentrations available. Just sayin...

[ford1]

use any brand of modern oil with the exception of non detergent oil, and the oil that has the red circle on the front of the container that says for gasoline engines only, that oil is for modern engines with roller tappets and they do not need zink, Kevin in NJ is right, no need to change oil every 500 miles, that was back in the times when there were no paved roads and they drove there cars in extremely conditions, and the oil back then that it need to be changed that often, the non detergent oil used then is only use in air compressors now, and i wonder if it even should be used then, you guys are following a maintance guide that is 70 years old and pertains to the the available of lubricants availabe then, use the modern oils and change every 1500 miles or so, or not , depending on your preference

[Paul_nz]

There have been several good posts on the right oils for the Model A engines, the main issue IMHO is one of having the correct levels of zinc additives in the oil. Modern oils do not have high levels. Check your oil brand and ensure that that it does not have a rating higher than SG.

This leads us to the main point --zinc, or more specifically the lack of it in today's oils. Oil companies started adding ZDDP (zinc dialkyldithiophosphate) to engine oil back in the 1950s to help reduce wear and tear during engine start-up. How important is ZDDP to your classic Model A engine? It reduces bearing and journal wear by a factor of 20. It's that important.
ZDDP acts as an anti-wear barrier with great staying power when we shut an engine down. It does essentially the same job tetraethyl lead did for exhaust valves and seats before it was removed from gasoline in the 1980s to reduce air pollution. Lead acted as an anti-wear element between valve and seat. When the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandated lead's removal from gasoline, it caused quite a stir in the classic car community because enthusiasts feared excessive exhaust valve and seat wear. The solution was the installation of hardened exhaust valve seats in older iron cylinder heads.
Without zinc in the oil, wear for vintage engines with flat tappet cams increases exponentially. In fact, it is alarming how quickly it happens and how much damage it does. Zinc is crucial not just for cold start-up, but extreme conditions that make heavy-duty engine oils necessary for reliable operation. There's no magic in heavy-duty engine oil, just higher levels of ZDDP to help reduce wear.
If you're going to use engine oil with the "SM" rating or higher, use a zinc additive that will maintain proper ZDDP levels.

[msmaron]

Rotella 10w 30.....I think its great and 4oz marvel mystery oil at every fill up!

[Paul from Maine]

Last year I spent $3,500 having my engine rebuilt. Oil is damn cheap compared to that. I have put a thousand miles on it and changed the oil when it started to get dirty...about every 350 miles. Detergent oils suspend the contaminants. I don't want them circulating through my fresh rebuild. Plus gasoline condenses on the cold intake manifold and in the cylinders every time you start up cold. Some of that gets past the rings and dilutes the oil. I ran non detergent oil for the first 750 miles like my rebuilder told me to. Now I am running Mobil 1. Maybe that is a mistake, if it is, I hope someone on the forum corrects me, but I notice on my oil pressure gauge, I still have one or two pounds showing when the engine is hot with the Mobil 1 and it doesn't peg the needle as far when it is cold. The non detergent showed no oil pressure when hot and really pegged the needle way past the end of the scale when cold. I will keep changing it when it gets dirty and if it continues to be 350 mile intervals, so be it.

[1931 flamingo]

Paul: I don't understand why on a freshly re-built engine the oil is getting "dirty" so fast??
Paul in CT