3k mile oci and everything was fine. I used to use SAE30 and 5w30 in my '65 mustang.
I miss those days when I could get under a vehicle because they rode so high off the ground.
How bad were oils in the 1980’s?
- Thread starter 53' Stude
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I miss those days when I could get under a vehicle because they rode so high off the ground.
Which is a common misconception. Even PAO is a paraffin, along with traditional base stocks regardless of origin.
Iirc it was paraffin vs naphthenic base and how one tended to varnish whereas the other would sludge or something like that.
Naphthenic oil - Wikipedia
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Lots of guys thought paraffin = paraffin wax, which is where the Pennzoil wax thing came from.Iirc it was paraffin vs naphthenic base and how one tended to varnish whereas the other would sludge or something like that.
Naphthenic oil - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
In about 1983 I had a guy tell me about how Pennzoil in his VW stadium racing buggy wouldn't last one heat race without his oil pressure dropping dangerously. there was that wax talk going on also. Else than that, I don't remember any real problems with oil. I did have an experience with using Castrol GTX oil in my honda street bike, fresh oil change, and the engine made a lot of noise after a few rides, so I changed it and it ran out like water. Back then my dad liked Valvoline and then transitioned to Mobile1 synthetic. I liked Exxon and Chevron oil also back then. They came out of the bottle very clear(liquid gold baby!) I delivered oil for a distributor back then also.
My dad told me that the Japanese engines back then were so much better than the American manufacturers so they had to up their game.
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I mean, many of the Japanese marques had inferior fuel delivery systems around that time, but their 4-poppers were typically better than their American counterparts, at least in terms of power output and NVH.
I remember Honda 80's fuel injection with a single injector, kinda similar to TBI (a carb with a fuel injector in it). Ford was one of the first to really go to town with SEFI on most of their vehicles.
It was really apparent at one dealer that sold Nissans and GM products. The Nissans had hardly any warranty claims while the GM cars were a headache with unhappy customers. I was shown the internals of a Nissan engine that the oil wasn't changed on(nasty) and was shown how well crafted the engine was internally. Compared to the rough casting of a crankshaft/machining of an American engine. My dad drag-raced with chevy engines so he liked American cars. He thought the Japanese upped the game.
I'm going by memory and during the time I was in my 30's and lived in the area affected.
There was a lot written about the subject in news papers and car magazines. It was a hot topic of the time and a complete mystery.
GM was largely affected, probably because it had a very wide spread of GM vehicles on the road at that time. So they invested heavily into the cause of the problem.
I don't remember a particular brand of oil that was blamed and I don't believe GM picked on any brand. But they did pinpoint 10w-40 so I suspect all the brands were included.
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I remember the first time I pulled apart a Ford 302HO and saw that the factory rotating assembly had been fully balanced at the factory. Each of the rod caps were numbered and had material ground off them so that all the rods were the same weight. Same for the pistons. Was pretty impressive to see in a factory engine, particularly from that time period.
The LoPo engines didn't see the same attention to detail.
Wear is always a problem.
My 1985 Corolla never had any ring, deposit, fuel-mileage, or oil-consumption issues approaching 300,000 miles when it was totaled by a hit-and-run driver. Toyota recommended a 10,000-mile OCI with conventional API SF or API SF/CC oil.
New cars like Subaru and most new European cars do suffer from ring sticking, deposits, and ring wear, despite using the latest ILSAC, ACEA, and OEM oil specs.
The problem is not really the robustness of the oil but the engine design.
I did a Google books search for "gm" and "10w-40" and all that comes up are Popular Mechanics and Popular Science articles about GM not wanting it used for the reasons of deposits. And some "snippet" views from other publications which from the limited snippet view appear to be about the same thing.
With my 1974 VW Super Beetle, 1.6 Liter boxer engine, in Michigan winters I ran 10W30 and in the summer would use 20W50. Castrol GTX in both weights. The wife's Buick (5.7 liter V8) ran 10W30 Castrol GTX year around.
Never had any issues with oils . . . when I sold the cars some 20 years later, they each had over 300,000 miles on them.
Never had any issues with oils . . . when I sold the cars some 20 years later, they each had over 300,000 miles on them.
Yes, 3,000 miles, and in my case, for the fun of it whenever I felt liked trying a new oil, even after a few hundred miles.
Back in those days, I didn't know about boutique oil. All I knew was Castrol GTX, Valvoline, and Pennzoil. Pennzoil's cheap-looking yellow bottle turned me off. My decision between Castrol GTX and Valvoline was based on whichever adopted the newest API spec earlier. I first used 10W-40, but I then switched to 10W-30 because it gave about 2-mph higher gas mileage. I later switched to Delvac 15W-40 HDEO because it had every gas- and diesel-oil category, including API CF-2, which is typically only available to SAE-monograde HDEOs. I was scared of synthetic oils like Mobil 1, which I thought they were a marketing gimmick with a harmful chemical contact that should never be put in any car and because I vaguely remembered reading somewhere that synthetic oil was not recommended and should not be used. I laughed at oils like Royal Purple that how they were ripping people off by selling oil in a purple bottle. I liked Purolator oil filters perhaps because they were well-advertised and the oil-filter cans were good-sized. I disliked anything Fram because the orange color made them look cheap. I liked the Champion brand as well. My Champion BCI Group 35 battery, which I always replenished with distilled water, reliably lasted for ten years in hot climates until I replaced it when it got weak. Good luck finding such batteries these days. So, this was young me shopping for and changing oil.
@ka9mnx I have no experience with American engines. My 1985 Corolla ran well till the end. I was a student and everybody I talked to told me to buy a Japanese car or a Toyota when I was car-shopping in 1995. I took a ~ $1,000 loan, bought the Jack Gillis's used-car book as well as the KBB from the university bookstore, shopped within my budget (strictly under $1,800) and got the Corolla for about $1,500. I ended up really liking the light blue. The funny thing was that I was also looking at Plymouth Gran Fury thanks to a recommendation by the book, but I couldn't fine one. I even test-drove a Trans AM, but it would probably have failed on me within a few months. The Plymouth Gran Fury would probably have been nice.
Bosch was licensing out Jetronic to anyone who paid up. Denso and Hitachi formed a strategic license with Bosch, Denso had their interpretation of L-Jetronic with Toyota, Hitachi’s system for Nissan and Subaru was almost a one-for-one copy of it. Ford was the first to adapt D-Jetronic, then LH-Jet. GM Rochester went their own way.
I’ve read Ford and Bosch worked together on Mono-Jetronic, their version of TBI while GM worked on their own version of it.
When Bosch released ABS they and Mercedes developed, they also allowed others to license it. Denso licensed ABS, and then ESP - they added “made under license from Robert Bosch GmBH”, Hitachi again entered a joint venture to supply Nissan/Subaru. Ford and Chrysler bought systems from Bosch and ATE, Delco went on their own way.
The Japanese 4 cylinder engines ran a whole lot smoother than their American counterparts.
The one in my 1998 Nissan Frontier is ok in a truck, I can't believe Nissan ever used it in a car. 2.4L, no balance shafts.
Nissan used it in the 240SX. Later gave it a twin cam head. Probably the weakest part of the car, though it helped keep it affordable.
Everyone else got SR20s in their Silvias. That engine was a hoot, espcially in a light car like the Sentra SE-R. And quite reknown in turbo form (like the Supra's inline six).