Please correct my wayward ways.

[Bill H2]

I guess it’s time I stepped into the 20th century. In the past I have never used Synthetic oil. I have two cars I am concerned about.
1) 1965 GT-350 Shelby Mustang. 289, flat tappet camshaft, extremely radical grind. The engine was assembled with fairly loose bearing clearance. I have always used Castrol 20-50 in this engine.
2) 2001 Lexus GS430. Car has about 78K. on the clock. Once again, Castrol 10-30. This engine does not have roller followers in the valve train. I am concerned about valve train wear with the reduction of zinc in present day oil.
I change oil every 3000 miles.
Looking for recommendations. Should I stay with standard or go to synthetic. Castrol and GM EOS?
Thanks

 

[Mitch Alsup]

1) stick with a thick oil for the flat tappet application. There are addative packages that contain the ZDDP you are looking for, or you can stick with an SL oil in preference over an SM.

2) any of the 0W-30, 5w30 or 10w30 should work just fine. If you have an oil temperature guage in the car, you can try 5W-20 and 0W-20 oils. As long as the xW-20 oils stay below 250dF then you can continue to use these--assuming that oil consumption does not become an issue.

Unless you are going to try long OCIs, there is no particular reason to switch to a synthetic.

 

[mikemc]

I believe you should let me have the Mustang for a year and I will let you know how it likes synthetic.

Honestly, I see nothing wrong with your current routine. If changed at reasonable intervals, today's excellent dinos perform very well.

 

[Bill H2]

Mikemc
In good faith, I couldn't do that to you. You wouldn't like the Mustang at all. No sound insulation, very noisy. Assorted clunks from the Detroit Locker in the rear end and the over ride traction bars. The engine is extremely radical, 3.89 gears so it spins 3500 RPM at 70 MPH. Very harsh ride and no power anything. I had better just hold on to it. Thanks for the advice on the oil, I'll put on my disguise and go to the GM dealership and pick up some EOS (Need a disguise because I couldn't be seen in a GM store) I'll also have to pour it in to an empty Motorcraft container before I put it in the Shelby.

 

[ekpolk]

Bill:

Your concern for Mike is touching. I, however, am not so vulnerable -- when should I stop by to pick it up???

Seriously, as to the GS, don't worry about it. Go to our UOA section and ferret out a some of our Toyota V-8 results. This engine is absolutely amazing in terms of what it does (or perhaps doesn't do) to oil. I've posted several from the 2UZ in our Sequoia. There are multiple results for the 1UZ and 3UZ as well. Use Mobil 1 5w30 and you'll show darned near no wear at all, irrespective of the particulars of how the valvetrain operates.

 

[mechtech]

How about a HDEO in 15-40 for the Mustang?
You'd free up a few ponies and have great protection.

 

[Steve S]

I would stay with what you are using . Depending on the oil pressure HDE0 would serve you well .A shot of E.O.S. would work in the Ford, but if used as an additive don't use the whole can. The Lexus has an overhead cam so the valve spring pressure is low.I wouldn't use E.O.S. in the Lexus. I think this is the 21st. century ? anybody?.

 

[Bill H2]

So, if I change to Mobli1 5-30 in the Lexus, how long should I go before change intervals? I don't think I could bring myself to leave it in there longer than 4K miles,
Thanks
Bill

 

[AndyH]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bill H2:
So, if I change to Mobli1 5-30 in the Lexus, how long should I go before change intervals? I don't think I could bring myself to leave it in there longer than 4K miles,
Thanks
Bill

---

I'd probably start with a 5,000 mile OCI and perform a used oil analysis at that point (with TBN) to see how the engine is doing and to see if you can run the oil longer. Adjust your OCI up or down from there. If you're only interested in 3,000 - 4,000 mile OCI's in your Lexus, I'd skip the synthetic and run a quality conventional or semi-synthetic oil. My $0.02

 

[ekpolk]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Bill H2:
So, if I change to Mobli1 5-30 in the Lexus, how long should I go before change intervals? I don't think I could bring myself to leave it in there longer than 4K miles,
Thanks
Bill

---

Bill:

Go check out my 2UZ results in the used oil analysis section. On one of them, you'll see that I ran German Castrol 0w30 (earlier used oil analysis are with Mobil 1 5w30) in the Sequoia for 13 months and over 10,000 miles. This resulted in almost non-existent wear metal, and oil that by the numbers could have probably gone another 5k miles at least.

No, we don't expect you to just automatically let go of years of habit, but keep studying the results of others, as you push your own envelope some. As you will see, on one hand, early changes won't hurt your engine, but at 4k miles, the Lexus/Mobil 1 combo will barely start to show evidence that it's actually been inside a running engine. If you must drain it that early, save the used oil for your mower or other similar app.

 

[black thunder]

quote:

---

Originally posted by mechtech:
How about a HDEO in 15-40 for the Mustang?
You'd free up a few ponies and have great protection.

---

I'd say a good 15w40 in the stang as well.

 

[adam123]

15w4o HDEO no doubt. I use rotella T in my 70 Mustang Mach1 351C.