GM Carb'd 2.8 V6 Oil choice?

P

PSquare75

Joined
Jun 14, 2011
Messages
4
Location
Massachusetts
Bought this as a summer cruiser / daily.. mostly highway.
84 Skylark. 2.8 v6 with a carb. Runs nice. 130K or so.

Live in Massachusetts.

Last time I had something on the road with non roller lifters I was running Mobil 1 15w40, but that was over 10 years ago.

Owner's manual gives a 'range'
160013387_10102407244489956_6045293442763038006_n.jpg
 
My first car! mine was a rockin' dark blue sedan. All the ladies couldn't (keep themselves from laughing) sigh....

Good car though and definitely a 10W-30 minimum, I think anything was spec'd from 5W-30 to 20W-50. I don't think the engine was particularly hard on oil if changed at frequent intervals....

In MA I'd go 10W-30 or 10W-40 HM like MaxLife or Mobil 1 for the summer, maybe 5W-30 HM in winter...
 
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It's a 3.8. What does the oil cap say? That's your starting point. If engine noise, go thicker. Check dipstick often till you find an oil it "likes". Mobil 1 is a good oil from Walmart.
 
FZ1 said:
It's a 3.8. What does the oil cap say? That's your starting point. If engine noise, go thicker. Check dipstick often till you find an oil it "likes". Mobil 1 is a good oil from Walmart.
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It's a 2.8L V6, they never got anything bigger than that :D Several had the 2.5L 4-cyl. which is a sturdy engine as well...
 
That's a CLEAN CLASSIC! Love it! With that, I would run Maxlife syn blend version in 5w/30 and rest well.
 
MaxLife 5W/10W-30 and any good filter(Fram, Champ, Delco, don’t matter). 3K OCIs, this is a carbed car and there will always be some fuel in the oil.
 
Jackson_Slugger said:
My first car! mine was a rockin' dark blue sedan. All the ladies couldn't (keep themselves from laughing) sigh....

Good car though and definitely a 10W-30 minimum, I think anything was spec'd from 5W-30 to 20W-50. I don't think the engine was particularly hard on oil if changed at frequent intervals....

In MA I'd go 10W-30 or 10W-40 HM like MaxLife or Mobil 1 for the summer, maybe 5W-30 HM in winter...
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This is actually the fifth one of these I've been around. Parents had a few in the 80s and 90s and I had one in the 90s. I'm just reliving college fun. Luckily my wife doesn't hate it (much).
 
For the folks recommending Valvoline, I see they have a 150K MaxLife? And a few other under the MaxLife banner. Would the 150K be more applicable for my car because it has a higher zinc content?

Thanks
 
My buddy had an 87 Celebrity w/2.8 carb'd V6 (purchased new) back in the day and I believe it called for 5W30/10W30. I'd start there and just see how things go. If there is no oil consumption during your oil changes, keep with those. It's all good! Only you can tell what oil it'll need from there and if you need to go with a high mileage oil for the extra additives they offer. But these engines didn't require anything special and they ran well.
 
I had a 2.8 TBI V6 in a 1993 S-10 I always ran M1 15-50 in it and never a problem for 150,000 miles.
 
Love those cars, they were everywhere when I was growing up! Like you, would love to have one as a summer cruiser.
Engine is not hard on oil; I like the recommendations for Maxlife, and yes the new Maxlife 150k version in 10W-30 would be great for it!
 
That car has lived through many storms, so it deserves nothing less than Amsoil SS and Amsoil filter! :D

Supertech will work fine, too.
 
PSquare75 said:
For the folks recommending Valvoline, I see they have a 150K MaxLife? And a few other under the MaxLife banner. Would the 150K be more applicable for my car because it has a higher zinc content?

Thanks
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From what I've seen the zinc content of the 150K maxlife is the same if not lower than the red bottle. Just use any oil that the appropriate viscosity, preferably what ever is the cheapest, these engines aren't known to be hard on oil and ZDDP is not necessary, it's like a 120hp 2.8L V6, even if it has "flat tappets" the springs and the contact force of the stock cam require no more ZDDP than you'd find in the cheapest API oil you can find. Supertech appears to be back to $18/jug, just use Supertech High Mileage Full Syn 10W30, if you can find any Delvac 1300 Super Syn Blend 10W30 wouldn't be a bad choice, it's reasonably cheap but diesel oil can be hard to come by in these times.
 
I had a 1980 that I purchased new. My biggest complaint was that the sunroof always leaked, even after 3 visits to the dealer. On the last visit, the service mgr (who knew I was an engineer) handed me a new gasket and said "maybe you'll have better luck than we have". Fisher Body was not getting any quality awards back then...
 
PSquare75 said:
Bought this as a summer cruiser / daily.. mostly highway.
84 Skylark. 2.8 v6 with a carb. Runs nice. 130K or so.

Live in Massachusetts.
Click to expand...
Comfy and pleasant X body! I love the firing order on the GM 2.8 - if you can count from one to six you got it :)
I had a rip roaring Citation X-11 with the Carb'd V6, fiberglass hood and a 4 speed manual and .... a vertical radio (!)
Pretty quick pony for the day.

What is the range of oil grade in the manual? I would guess any good 5W30 ILSAC should do it. ZDP is not a concern.

My S10 with a carb'd goin' V6 ran 10W30 IIRC. It almost tossed its cookies when I tried Mobil 1 'Synthesized Engine Lubricant'
back then - I think that was a 5W20 grade - on the back of the can.

Enjoy the Buick.

p.s.: My wonderful mother in law lives near Scituate, MA in an antique capecodder and we visit at least once a month.
 
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