Mine have changed just from time on this orb. When I started fooling with cars (8th B'day present was a 38 Dodge sedan to play cops and robbers, Elliot Ness, etc.), I knew less than nothing. Got my first driver at 13 and snuck out onto the roads after countless laps around the ranch(s). Knew a bit more, like keep the crankcase full if you want the motor to last more than a day.
Started driving ranch trucks with an Ag license at 14 and change. Uncles were pretty strict about pre-load checks including oil and water (before coolant was thing). Saw some old trucks puke rods and stuff from over rev'ing (not me), and all us kids learned about rebuilds because that was a winter thing - trucks, tractors, sprayers, etc. One uncle had me help him o'haul a 56 Pontiac Star Chief (248 as I recall ...). We had to oil everything. Used fleet oils from Jobbers. Flying A - Tidewater back then. Superseded by Phillips 66 as I got to HS.
Worked the lube room at the local Phillips 66 station some days, Whittakers Garage other days after HS classes were done - sweeping floors and twisting wrenches. Everyone knew about oil and what worked and what didn't. They'd all tell me their pet theories. Anyone remember "Speedol"? All us guys that worked there dipped into the "drippings barrel" - the barrel we drained the last of every oil "can" into. Thoroughly mixed oils from our stock and new that customers brought in for their changes. Our street cars ran fine on mixed - never looked back
Started building go-faster cars by 17 and started running at Fremont Raceway drag strip on weekends when not working. Learned about aeration and oil starvation, spun bearings, etc. By the time I got to JC, I was driving a 390 4-speed Merc S55 and running high 12's. Buddies had 406 Fords and a few had Olds or Pontons. Cousins were running FI 327's in 57 Chevy or a 383 Mopar in a 57 Ford. We built sleepers and raced on the street a lot.
You learned through carnage what what worked and what did not. Most cars back then were done at 125K ...
Got into heavy trucking after a few more years. Tanking mostly in my Pete. Small cam Cummins with a turbo and 5&4. Hauled all over Cali and up into Canada once with all sorts of petro products. Used to deliver "bright stock" a lot to lube blenders like EF Houghton (drilling fluids and machine shop oils) and Pennzoil Alameda. Pennz would buy in bright stock from the other majors and make final fluids in their batch plant. Learned a lot from those guys. Even though they were slightly more expensive, the truck plants and the big buss fleets wanted their oil. I-H, Pete and Mack all had plants in the SF Bay Area and they all bought Pennz lubes for the underground tanks for FF. They all pulled out before the switch to Chevron products really got going ...
I was running Sta-Lube products mostly for the race cars and the street vehicles. Torco in the bikes. Some Phillips 66 racing oils in the big Fords as they could starve bottom ends and spin bearings. It helped, but mostly it was just better machine work and better assembly. Restricting oil flow to the top end to keep the cranks happy, etc.
Then I got to haul as an indy for Chevron for a while. Whole new education. Those guys wanted me to be able to talk about their products with the big ranchers and fleet operators I delivered to. I read their studies with the State Fleet Admin on 10's of thousands of vehicles. Fe numbers for various oils and cost benefit ratios for Supreme out to 6K, even in the middle 1970's. Their stuff was no joke, and a lot of fleet managers spec'd Chevron fluids for mixed fleet operations. That's when I started to become a Delo fan.
When I moved to marine engineering we were under contract with Shell, so I got an ear full about Rotella products. Once you see the study numbers and compare, you soon realize that there are only subtle differences. Can they make a difference - yes. Is it pronounced - no. But the first Muni buss to go 1,000,000 miles in the SF Bay Area was a East Bay Transit 8V-92 on Pennzoil. That put a marker down for the others. Chevron took that seriously and posted the first 1,000,000 mile CAT truck diesel not long afterwards. Low wear numbers were the holy grail, and I guess they still are... These guys play hard ball with fleet mangers.
So we can all talk about favs and all ... And saving a bit of energy using thinner, etc. But I want longevity. The savings in fuel for a thinner oil will never work out for me as we have vehicles in the family for up to 40 years and multiple engines. If I can get another 50K out of an engine, it will pay back all the lost gasoline many times over. I never sell a vehicle with less than 250K and I don't like buying overhauls in the meantime!
