Oil type and interval for seasonal cars

[Scott P]

I get to maintain my wife's 70 MGB. She drives it while I get to wash, wax and maintain it along with fix all the little things that go wrong with a 33 year old car.

Currently, the car uses Penzoil 20W-50 dino changed maybe yearly. The car sees about 2,000 miles per year since it's only driven in warm sunny weather. The engine was completely rebuilt (10 years, but no clue on miles) when the car was restored. Should I be able to run full synthetics like Amsoil, Royal Purple or Mobil 1? Also, what should my change frequency be?

The car is stored winters, but like I said, only driven 2,000 miles per year. I was thinking changing it every fall along with the filter (it uses a filter cartridge) in each fall before storage ad running on it all year. Does this sound like a solid plan?

Thanks,

Scott P

 

[williar]

With a newer engine like this, you might consider a lighter oil, such as 10W30 or 10W40, since it is driven infrequently at low RPMs. I'd stick with dino oil, changing it twice a year.

 

[Scott P]

Thanks for the help. I'll have to keep this stuff in mind. I'm not 100% sure what weight oil should be run in the car, but 20W-50 is what I told to put in there by her father.

The oil currently in the car will probably have two years on it by the time I get to changing the cooler lines, so I should do something when we pull the little thing out of storage in the spring.

 

[Dr. T]

Wow, if having success with the current oil, why change...33 y.o. car...I'd be afraid of switching to synth. (afraid of the wife that is)...

 

[Scott P]

I have to change the oil cooler lines. So, I will be changing the oil. The car runs warm and cruises at about 3,000 (no overdrive). I called and found out it has maybe 5,000 miles since the rebuild. Since I'm only changing it once per year, I was wondering if the dino oil would have broken down and if synthetic would be a better choice over such a timeframe.

 

[Patman]

I'd be a bit scared to run a synthetic oil on an old engine design like that. It's hard to say whether or not it would be totally compatible with the seals. I know that some may say it's an old wives tale, but I do often see people with older LT1 f-bodies who ran dino oil for 100k, then switched to synthetics and ended up getting leaks.

If you do oil analysis on the oil then you'll know for sure if it's safe to go the full year. But without analysis, do it every 6 months to be safe.

 

[Patman]

Another thought just popped into my head (which I'm ashamed to say I didn't think of sooner)

Why not try one of the Schaeffer oil blends? They are great long drain oils, but because they aren't made of a 100% PAO base oil (it's about 20-30% PAO) they won't have compatibility issues with seals.

So you could run this oil for one full year and probably have great results. I still say to do oil analysis, even just once, just to see if what you're doing is safe.

 

[BrewCityR]

quote:

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Originally posted by Patman:
Another thought just popped into my head (which I'm ashamed to say I didn't think of sooner)

Why not try one of the Schaeffer oil blends? They are great long drain oils, but because they aren't made of a 100% PAO base oil (it's about 20-30% PAO) they won't have compatibility issues with seals.

So you could run this oil for one full year and probably have great results. I still say to do oil analysis, even just once, just to see if what you're doing is safe.

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Coincidence with my stored winters 1997 Acura Integra Type R, Patman. I switched to Shaeffer 10w30 and a KN-1005 K&N oil filter. Will be using M1-104s in spring since I found 12 of them on eBay awhile back thanks to my Dad.