Older performance Cars and Diesel Oil

[63Avanti]

Question 1:
Other than non-synthetic, what are the current recommendations for ancient performance cars?

Question 2:
What are HDEO and PCMO, and how would someone standing at the oil shelf an the autostore be able to tell? (see below from the light diesel forum).


Background:
Before I bought my supercharged 63 Avanti, I read that modern diesel multi-grade non-synthetic. oil CG-4 or higher is ideal for older engines. Upon purchase, I had all the filters/fluids replaced and immediately noticed that the engine ran smoother with less (though still visible) smooking on hard acceleration. The oil is Delvac 1400 (15w-40, CI-4). Not certain, but looking in the oil fill hole, the top looks shinier. I will put a few more miles and then around 3000 miles, replace to capture any stuff now in suspension.

quote:

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Originally posted by miraCRD:
Good info chucky2....I was not aware of the lighter vis HDEO's.

Also, in the November 1999 issue of "Car and Driver", Patrick Bedard's monthly editorial column was titled "Searching For The Right Oil for Keeper Cars", and featured a discussion with a former Exxon Labs engineer named Ed Kollin. It's a great article and Kollin specifically says that the add pack in the HDEO's are more beneficial to older cars than the modern PCMO's. He cites that in older cars that do a lot of sitting, internal engine corrosion is more of an issue than regular wear, and HDEO's deal with corrosion better.

If you have access to back issues of Car and Driver, I highly recommend digging this one out. I tried the C&D website, but their editorial online archives look like they start at year 2000.

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[TallPaul]

I would run Redline oil and you will get HDMO or better antiwear additives and the ester base oil will take any abuse the supercharger can put out.

PCMO = passenger car motor oil. Current spec is SM

HDMO: I am not sure, but believe this is fleet oil that is dual rated for gasoline/diesel. There is another heavy duty motor oil that is diesel only and will not do right in a gas engine.

Fleet oil or dual purpose is rated something like SL/CI4. Some PCMO's have SL/CF but that is only for light diesel. SL/CI4 oils would be like Valvoline Premium Blue, Mobil Delvac, Chevron Delo, Shell Rotella. Most auto parts stores have some of these. Usually always 15w40, but I can get Motorcraft in that and 10w30 dual rated in quarts.

 

[427Z06]

Paul pretty much summed it up. There are "synthetic" versions of HDMOs. I quoted "synthetic" since some are Grp III based oils and some people don't like to call these synthetic.

AMSOIL Series 3K HD Diesel Oil 5w30
Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck 5w40
Schaeffer Supreme 9000 5W-40
Delo 400 Synthetic 5w40
Shell Rotella-T Synthetic 5w40

You also might be interested in a couple of other products useful for older vehicles.

http://specialtyformulations.com

http://www.auto-rx.com

 

[reyjay1]

HDMO, HDEO = Heavy Duty Motor Oil, Heavy Duty Engine Oil. Thes oils typically have either 'C' ratings for diesel engines, or like the straight 30 weight varieties say Heavy Duty or HD on the label. Do not use one unless it also has a corresponding 'S' rating (SG, SH,SJ...) rating on the label as well in your gasoline engine (i.e. do not use straight C ratied oils).

 

[TallPaul]

So it appears the distinction is that a dual rated HDMO would be considered a Fleet HDMO or just Fleet Oil.

 

[reyjay1]

Yes, these are often considered fleet oils.

 

[acewiza]

I've been runing Delo400 and Rotella-T in a couple of early 70's vintage Chrysler HP V8s and they seem to love it. Gotta be the best thing for them. It will be awhile before I have UOAs to back it up because they see very low miles. But it will also show the results of long term/low mile use, talking in the 2-3 year OCI range.

 

[CONMCK]

And don't forget here in Canade we have our kick #ss Esso XD-3 0w-30 and 0w-40 full synthetic HDEO built for diesel/gas engines, and works extremely well.

 

[ChevyGoldfinger]

Well, there is always a first post for everyone I guess.

There has been quite a bit of info published lately about the Rotella 15w40 oil. One article I read was in Hot Rod Magazine. My friend who subscribes to a vintage Pontiac mag told me they also had a write up about this oil and old school "flat tappet" engines. One of the reasons given for the older engines using it was the reduction of wear on the cam lobes. Apparenty some folks have been using this as "break-in" oil for quite a while, due to the additives in it preventing wear on the cam lobes at initial start up.

There was something mentioned about the modern oils having changed their formulas in recent years due to EPA guidelines etc. One of the additives mentioned was "ZDDP" among others. They are now advocating use of this oil in the old flat tappet engines all the time now, not just for break-in. I have a classic 1970 K5 Blazer that sits around a good deal of the time, so I bought a couple of gallons of Shell Rotella 15w40 and have started using it in my Blazer. The original 350 4 bolt main engine was rebuilt about 7k ago. I hope to prevent wear on the cam lobes as well as protect it from the evils of non use.

I was surprised there was so little posted about this subject when I did a search on it. At any rate, I plan to send in a sample as soon as I get about 1.5k on her, (this could take a while). Will post up when I get some results.

Great Website BTW, and hello to my fellow gearheads reading this post.

 

[Gary Allan]

Just put HDEO in the search engine and you should get plenty (about 15 pages

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