Dad's oil practice

[bumpasmerc]

On the ‘54 Chevy, the oil change was a real pain in the arse as the filter arrangement was one of the worst ever. Trying to keep a small O ring on the housing while negotiating a frame member in the process kept us busy for a long time. It was frustrating to say the least. [/quote]

Yep. My 64 Malibu had a similar cartridge filter. The new filter element came with a new O-ring but before installing it you had to get the old O-ring out of it's groove up in the underside of the engine block. Most of the time it came out in pieces using a screwdriver. The rubber had more than lost any resiliency.

Then you kind of squeezed the new O-ring into the groove, again with a screwdriver and tried to get it to seat in there without sections of it hanging down loose. It was a one shot deal because if you had to try again you would probably ruin the O-ring getting it out. So the old saying "Start Her Up and Check for Leaks" was often an announcement of a pending drama. I would say that if you got anywhere less than 50% leakers you were doing well.

Kind of ironic that there seems to be a trend (at least in European and some Japanese cars) back to cartridge filters.

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted By: bumpasmerc


On the ‘54 Chevy, the oil change was a real pain in the arse as the filter arrangement was one of the worst ever. Trying to keep a small O ring on the housing while negotiating a frame member in the process kept us busy for a long time. It was frustrating to say the least.


Yep. My 64 Malibu had a similar cartridge filter. The new filter element came with a new O-ring but before installing it you had to get the old O-ring out of it's groove up in the underside of the engine block. Most of the time it came out in pieces using a screwdriver. The rubber had more than lost any resiliency.

Then you kind of squeezed the new O-ring into the groove, again with a screwdriver and tried to get it to seat in there without sections of it hanging down loose. It was a one shot deal because if you had to try again you would probably ruin the O-ring getting it out. So the old saying "Start Her Up and Check for Leaks" was often an announcement of a pending drama. I would say that if you got anywhere less than 50% leakers you were doing well.

Kind of ironic that there seems to be a trend (at least in European and some Japanese cars) back to cartridge filters. [/quote]



This was my memory as well. It was frustration at its best and lots of cursing. A couple of times the oil change ran into the evening and as we were performing the change outside off the alley a good light was essential and we had a nice 9 volt sealed beam lantern that was great.

I have not seen any new cartridge filter systems yet in person but I would dare say they must have improved the access and ease of changing the filter. Some are accessed from the top which would be a plus in my book as long as they don’t make a mess in the process of changing.

 

[BrocLuno]

Originally Posted By: Kamele0N
Yes..&..No...

+1 and kinda dumb too ... They are both 30's at op temp.

I could see 5W-30 for winter and 10W-40 for summer. But what was he trying to do ...

 

[RetiredSux]

Originally Posted By: skyactiv
I remember when I was a kid my dad used Valvoline Turbo 10W30 in the summer and plain old Valvoline 5W30 in the winter for his 1990 Chevy Z28 IROC.


My Dad used Havoline 30W year 'round. But back then the multi-weight oils hadn't been developed. He never had engine problems. Hmmmmm....

 

[285south]

My dad used VWB 10w30 year round in phoenix.