Dick J wrote:
> The other day somebody mentioned engine deposits and "paraffin-based"
motor oils. I think Quaker State and Pennzoil were mentioned specifically.
Dick,
I believe too much is made of what brand of oil you may chose to use. I
have used several different kinds of oils over the years, including
Amsoil, and like most everyone else, swore by my brand and criticized
the others. Gear heads tend to be a very opinionated group! And in my
opinion, what the oil has in the way of additives is more important that
the so-called base.
I used Torco many years ago (I still believe that it is an excellent
oil). I knew Bob Lancaster, the founder of the company, at that time a
small refinery in Santa Fe Springs CA. One of the test they would use to
sell their product was to put a small amount of their oil along side
some other oil, in a saucer and burn it. The Torco oil left almost no
residue.
Torco (T hermal O il R efining CO mpany.) is a re-refined oil. They
claimed that all oils have a certain amount of residue left in them when
refined. Much of this would drop out under use in the engine and when
re-refined, the product was actually cleaner than the original oil.
In the past, sludge was a big problem. I don't think that the kind of
oil had as much to do with creating sludge as the way the vehicle was
driven. I am of the opinion that sludge is primarily created because of
short trips (low engine operating temperature). Today everyone is
operating at around 200 deg., even on short trips, because of the hotter
thermostats and you don't see much in the way of sludge.
Many years ago, you changed the oil when it became dirty (black), the
oils of the present have many additives, one of which keeps the dirt,
soot, etc. in suspension. The oil will turn black almost immediately
after changing in an older engine, because it tends to clean the engine.
I have used Mobil, Kendall, Valvoline, Havoline, Torco and others
through the years. Today, I use Pennzoil 20W-50 in my engines. I hear
lots of people criticizing Pennzoil, but until I have a problem, I will
likely keep using it. As I have mentioned previously, the engine that we
ran at Speedweek this year, ran at all meets last year. I checked the
bearings before Speedweek and put them back in the engine for this
season. We now have over 200 miles of full throttle operation on this
engine, making decent HP, and it is still strong and sound. After saying
this, it will probably grenade the next time out!
To sum it up, for your race motors, use what you are comfortable with
and change it often, especially if you run other than gasoline. Most
engine failures are not because of the wrong oil!
Tom, Redding CA - #216 D/GCC
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