Yep. In fact a great example for those old enough to remember were the International Harvester ads in the late 70’s to around 1980. Then they got out of the consumer automotive business.
How bad were oils in the 1980’s?
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Yep. In fact a great example for those old enough to remember were the International Harvester ads in the late 70’s to around 1980. Then they got out of the consumer automotive business.
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Refresh my memory.
Ran Pennzoil 10w30 in my 74 Grand Prix and my 83 Silverado, both on 3K oil changes, traded the GP in for the Silverado which is still my DD.
The best thing about oils in the 1980's was that thin oil didn't exist. Those were the days when you could actually trust the oil recommendations in your owners manual. I owned a 1985 Toyota Camry. The owners manual said to use 10W-30 in the winter, and 10W-40 in the summer. Somehow the 2020's everything went amiss with 0W-16 and 0W-8. Sometimes the future is worse than the past.
GM came out with a service bulletin IIRC advising that you not use 10/40, the reasoning was that the extra dose of VI improvers needed to span that viscosity range would eventually break down & cause piston ring sticking. Then you’d have high oil consumption problems. However it may have happened more often in cases where the oil wasn’t changed often enough. We ran several cars on 10/40 & never had problems though. After doing some reading on this issue in the 80s I started using 10/30 in winter & 20/50 in summer.
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What was the content of the ads?
We were told at GMTC not to put 10/40 in anything and the reason given was the viscosity spread. Would have been between 86 and 89 or so.
They also said if a new 4.3 came in with Champion plugs (they ran short of Delcos) and a drivability complaint the put Delcos in it. (It was not explained how it was that we are going to have Delcos when they didn't, but i wasn't about to ask hi-pockets that....)
Anyway , I digress.
Back then i was getting 20/50 GTX for 88c a bottle at K-Mart.
They also said if a new 4.3 came in with Champion plugs (they ran short of Delcos) and a drivability complaint the put Delcos in it. (It was not explained how it was that we are going to have Delcos when they didn't, but i wasn't about to ask hi-pockets that....)
Anyway , I digress.
Back then i was getting 20/50 GTX for 88c a bottle at K-Mart.
Whatever ills 1980's oil had, a bottle of Slick 50 made it all better.
Yes, I used it.
Yes, I used it.
Slick 50. I remember buying it and having it added during an oil change.
I thought I had solved the problem of how to decrease all engine wear to 0.
It was a shame Slick 50's claims were totally debunked decades later as being a useless additive.
It seemed so promising at the time.
I was born during the Reagan years in 1980 and vaguely remember the oil that opened up like the BG cans. I think my folks bought Phillips 66 Trop Arctic oil cans. I think it worked out okay.
I once found an article in a trade journal from 1985 that stated that oil packaged in cans is losing market share, and many oil companies planned to discontinue them. So oil was packaged that way through 1985 at least. Oil packaged in both bottles and cans was available at that time. Customers preferred the bottles.
The cans from that time were cheap cardboard with metal ends and they leaked. The bottles were an instant hit.
Had a 1985 toyota 4x4 truck used mystik dimension 5w30 semi synthetic mostly in it,had 248,000 on due to rust,,stll ran good ,about 200k changed valve cover gasket,totally clean inside,the mechanic friend thought its like new inside,used mystik jt8? red grease on drive line ,never changed any u-joint or tie rod end etc..
Emissions standards became much tighter during the '70s, facilitated by catalytic converters and closed-loop mixture control. Front disk brakes went from rare to universal on mundane non-sporty cars. None of that seems significant to you?
The 80s had a huge variation in oils.
You had
Mystik-Kato always has had great products. Even today under citgo.
In the 80s you had such varied products depending on base oils. Just from the technology changes we had in base oils back then. Amaco, petro canada, gulf, etc. all had products that were well above and beyond what was spec at the time.
Where as pennzoil, Texaco, Quaker state, etc. had legacy refineries.
Then in the early 90s you had the advent of re-refined. But they were primarily used in industrial (hydraulic) products.
You had
Mystik-Kato always has had great products. Even today under citgo.
In the 80s you had such varied products depending on base oils. Just from the technology changes we had in base oils back then. Amaco, petro canada, gulf, etc. all had products that were well above and beyond what was spec at the time.
Where as pennzoil, Texaco, Quaker state, etc. had legacy refineries.
Then in the early 90s you had the advent of re-refined. But they were primarily used in industrial (hydraulic) products.
I changed oil (usually 10W-40) about every 6000 miles in my '81 Mazda from the time it was new, and filter every 3rd oil change. Never any oil-related problems. In the 80s, I went through several 24-quart cases of Arco Graphite, then whatever brand met the latest, greatest API spec at the lowest price. That included a lot of Citgo, some Exxon Superflo, and miscellaneous others. Some brands (including Quaker State, not including Citgo) seemed to leave gray sludge in stagnant areas under the valve cover.
I remember around 1980 when Pontiac motor division stopped making their own engines and started using "corporate" 350's. My boss at the time bought a new Bonneville which was a huge financial stretch for him. When it came in the engine was painted black since it wasnt a Pontiac engine. He blew a gasket over that. The car was built in the plant right next to where we worked. To make matter worse it grenaded less than 6 months into his ownership. There was a lot going on automotive wise around that time.
I'm sure if Bitog were around in the 80's the comments regarding oil would be similar to the comments we have today. At the time they were state of the art, just like they are today.
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