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Oil Choices [was Technical Questions]

To: "Scott Gardner" <gardner@lwcomm.com>, Teacher122@aol.com
Subject: Oil Choices [was Technical Questions]
From: Carol <car@texas.net>
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 1997 10:57:23 -0500
While we're at it...

I have a 76 dodge van that has a sticky lifter. It only stuck on start-up,
and didn't occur every time I started the van. 

I met a race driver one afternoon and he 'splained that it was the front
right lifter that was making the noise, knocking only when the piston wound
up in certain position when the engine was turned off, and suggested that I
use Marvel Mystery Oil in the system. I would use 4 qts. 10-40 and 1 qt
Marvel per change. The clatter quit. 

Would this help or hurt anything in the MGA 1600. I've wondered about this
for a year. 

Thanks!

Carol



At 10:05 AM 9/10/97 +0000, Scott Gardner wrote:
>
>>       DUH!  It took me forever to figure out how to post something in spite
>> of Scott Gardner's guidance.
>
>
>"in spite of" or "because of"??   (grin)
>
><<SNIP>>
>
>You'll love this last topic!  With almost all modern vehicles running
>> on 5w-30 oil and easily lasting 100,000 plus miles before major engine
work,
>> why are we running our MGs on 20w-50?  Is the oil so thick that oil is not
>> reaching engine parts during critical moments  of cold starts?  Would a
>> 10w-40 oil be a better choice especially during  the colder seasons?  Is
>> anyone out there running a different grade of oil besides 20w-50?  What's
>> your experience?  Maybe it's just the fact that 20w-50 leaves smaller
puddles
>> on the garage floor.  We've discussed the "hearts" of our cars enough let's
>> go for the "blood" now.
>> 
>> Tom Green
>> 1979 MGB
>> 
>Tom,
>       I think part of the reason for the thicker oil compared to newer 
>cars is that the newer cars have smaller clearances in the engine, 
>calling for thinner oils.  I still haven't heard anything good about 
>10w-40.  Seems that to get that wide of a spread in a conventional 
>motor oil requires the addition of a lot of fillers, and they tend to 
>break down pretty quickly.  I've used Castrol 20w-50 for years in 
>several cars with no problems.  The engine failure in the 'B' came 
>right after I changed the oil with straight 40w Pennzoil.  I used the
>heavier oil because I had noticed my oil pressure dropping on 
>extended highway drives, and my wife was going to take the car from 
>FL to TX the next day.  Don't know if the oil choice was related to 
>the engine failure or not.  I've also used Castrol 5w-50 synthetic 
>with no problems, other than its cost.
>Scott
>
>

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