Oil for old smallblock?

[Junkie]

I recently picked up an old Chevy truck. The engine is a fairly recent rebuild (10-20k on it). It's a truck engine, nothing special, Comp Cams 252H hydraulic flat tappet cam, roller rockers.

A friend of mine had a similar engine that ate a cam lobe not too long ago, and I'd rather not have the same thing happen to me. I've read that ZDDP helps but I've also read that it doesn't...

Pretty sure it used 10W40 factory and that seems like a reasonable viscosity to stick with, but I was hoping for a suggestion for what oil to go with. The truck doesn't get driven a lot, and I'll probably end up changing the oil twice a year rather than based on mileage, but on occasion I might tow long distances with it.

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Clevy]

I like the euro spec oils. And they are cheap in the states. M1 0w-40 or castrol 0w-40.
If using a good oil like the 2 I mentiined 5000 miles is a joke. They are long life oils,so run em 10000 miles.
Or run a conventional 5w30 for 5000 miles.
Next

 

[Jim_Truett]

I run Rotella 15w40 in the Nova. It's been working great for years.

 

[Bandito440]

15w-40 HDEO, or 5w-40 if it ever sees cold starts. Rotella, Delo, Delvac, etc.

Mobil 1 10w-40 HM is fine too.

 

[Junkie]

Is there any downside to the 5W40 Rotella T6 vs the other Rotella options, other than price?

 

[Clevy]

Originally Posted By: Junkie
Is there any downside to the 5W40 Rotella T6 vs the other Rotella options, other than price?


Nope

 

[Bud_One]

Quaker State Defy - 10W30 could be another option.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: Junkie
Is there any downside to the 5W40 Rotella T6 vs the other Rotella options, other than price?
Here in New England Wallyworld has T6 for about 21 bucks a gallon.

 

[daman]

Since it has flat tappet cam/lifters id stick with something higher in ZDDP yes.

Can of MoS2 won't hurt either IMO.

 

[morepwr]

I run Rotella 10w30 in my old cars with flat tappets and have never had an issue.

 

[bigt61]

Originally Posted By: Bud_One
Quaker State Defy - 10W30 could be another option.

+1 That's what I'd use. if you're towing something really heavy, you could go to 10W-40.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: Junkie
I recently picked up an old Chevy truck. The engine is a fairly recent rebuild (10-20k on it). It's a truck engine, nothing special, Comp Cams 252H hydraulic flat tappet cam, roller rockers.

A friend of mine had a similar engine that ate a cam lobe not too long ago, and I'd rather not have the same thing happen to me. I've read that ZDDP helps but I've also read that it doesn't...

Pretty sure it used 10W40 factory and that seems like a reasonable viscosity to stick with, but I was hoping for a suggestion for what oil to go with. The truck doesn't get driven a lot, and I'll probably end up changing the oil twice a year rather than based on mileage, but on occasion I might tow long distances with it.

Thanks for any suggestions.


I assume its a GM 5.7L engine. I have one in my boat and had one in my Suburban. I run 15W40 in boat and 5W30 in Suburban. Obviously the boat only sees warm weather.

 

[bullwinkle]

Defy 10W40 has additional ZDDP levels-that's the way I would go. I run Delvac 1300 15W40 in my older ('89) Mercruiser/Chevy flat tappet 350 myself, any dual-rated HDEO would also be a good choice.

 

[Bamaro]

 

[chainblu]

If memory serves, the Comp Cams 252 is a fairly mild grind. Since you are already using 10w40, I'm confident the QS Defy 10w40 will serve you well.

 

[DrDave]

I'm somewhat surprised that nobody has mentioned Amsoil ZRod 10w30. I'm using it in my 66 Thunderbird. I don't have a UOA back as of yet. I do have a VOA of this batch. It has a very robust additive package. If I knew how to post my oil report I would gladly share it.

Dave

 

[Merkava_4]

Joe Gibbs Hot Rod oil will have the necessary ZDDP additive. They blend their oil for vintage push rod engines that use flat bottom lifters. Any of your modern passenger car oils will wear your cam lobes out, causing the lifters to bounce between the cam lobes and the push rods, making a noisy racket. If it gets bad enough, you'll start bending push rods.

 

[Doug Hillary]

Hi,

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Joe Gibbs Hot Rod oil will have the necessary ZDDP additive. They blend their oil for vintage push rod engines that use flat bottom lifters. Any of your modern passenger car oils will wear your cam lobes out, causing the lifters to bounce between the cam lobes and the push rods, making a noisy racket. If it gets bad enough, you'll start bending push rods.


Perhaps you should consider NOT POSTING a lot of RUBBISH!!!

 

[Merkava_4]

Quote:
If the oil does not contain an adequate amount of ZDDP to protect against wear, bad things can happen to the cam lobe and lifters. Typically, the peaks on the cam lobes that open the valves will wear down and round off, causing a huge drop in power. The bottoms of the lifters may be be scuffed and galled.


Quote:
If conventional motor oils (including synthetic oils and synthetic blends) are used in these engines, cam wear and cam failure can occur.


Source

 

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: Merkava_4
Joe Gibbs Hot Rod oil will have the necessary ZDDP additive. They blend their oil for vintage push rod engines that use flat bottom lifters. Any of your modern passenger car oils will wear your cam lobes out, causing the lifters to bounce between the cam lobes and the push rods, making a noisy racket. If it gets bad enough, you'll start bending push rods.


Guess nobody told the Lunatti VooDoo we had in my buddy's dad's SBC which is massively wilder than the one in this mill

Also, the engine in my old Glastron (Mercruiser 888, 302, flat tappet) outlived the boat (had several thousand hours on it, much of it at WOT) with whatever PCMO was on sale at Canadian Tire.

We also ran a BUILT Ford Y-block (~425HP) on nothing more than Mobil 1 5w30. It had solid lifters. No wear issues with that motor either.

Now, GM DID have some years where the cams were improperly hardened and would turn into a broomstick. But that wasn't an oil problem, that was a GM problem and they eventually fixed it.