will synthetic make my sludged engine leak ?

[SuperFast]

this is the camaro 1984 2.8L i have an update: it runs, works well. I put some STP in there and changed the oil filter, replaced one quart valvoline hi-mi 10W30 and it will b the FIRST AND LAST TIME I USE STP.. it was all stuck in the bottom of the blue bottle, i added 3/4 the blue bottle and tossed it. no more STP for me

ok. through the fill hole, it looks nastily sludged. it runs very very well. I got it going, it sometimes somokes on startup when it is cold, and i have to give it gas for about 30 seconds and it will run fine, its carbd. I too mostly take it on short trips, but i let it idle about 20 minutes so the oil does reach full operating temperature. in about a week of using the car, id say it runs well, i topped up all the fluids so i no longer do easssyyy burnouts on accident, i do miss that a little bit, strong trans

as to oil....... i think hi-mi 10W30 is all i ened. maybe ill mix hi-mi 5W30 with 10W30 since why not, and its high miles. for the summe,r i was briefly considering german castrol but my engine appears to be sludged, oh i also added a pint of mmo (MMO) maybe that is helping things

im afraid to put GC in there

the car runs pretty good, it sometimes smokes on cold mornings but i saw its first smoke-free (of any kind) startup today, it loves the weather here

no overheat, no temp gauge, no oil pressure gauge, they are idiot lights and i mostly short trp the car but i let it idle, i thought about a 10W-40 High Mileage oil for summer (maybe one quart to the 5w30 and 10w30 High Mileage mix, with mo in it too)

will GC hurt my engine, or stick with the 10w30 High Mileage valvoline due to the unknown history of my engine, the fact its workin well, and that i do have MMO in there ? Should i go 10W40 or GC or keep it 10W30 when the real hot summer gets here and its around 100 degrees on the regular ?

 

[dtt004]

Hi.

It's hard to say really. I am leaning towards no simply because an oil won't cause a leak. But I may be incorrect. I simply have never experienced this problem in my vehicles.

If you are worried about using synthetic though, then use a conventional oil and it should slowly clear things up. You can try an engine flush or treatment. Various companies market them.

Idling for 20 minutes is a long time. You are wasting a lot of gas. And the oil takes longer to reach operating temperature. Seriously. Fire it up, wait a little, and go...smoothly. A loaded engine will heat up the oil faster than an idling engine.

 

[SuperFast]

Originally Posted By: dtt004
Hi.

It's hard to say really. I am leaning towards no simply because an oil won't cause a leak. But I may be incorrect. I simply have never experienced this problem in my vehicles.

If you are worried about using synthetic though, then use a conventional oil and it should slowly clear things up. You can try an engine flush or treatment. Various companies market them.

Idling for 20 minutes is a long time. You are wasting a lot of gas. And the oil takes longer to reach operating temperature. Seriously. Fire it up, wait a little, and go...smoothly. A loaded engine will heat up the oil faster than an idling engine.


I might stick with the hi miles valvoline then

and as to gas, im actually happy to be wasting some. It was out of gas and i ran it on e for a week so i did a disservice to the fuel system, and im about to make it up to the car with massive amounts of MMO in the gas and also the regane 2X concentrate stuff, i really thought i had a gas leak is why.. turns out i didnt, the gauge fluxuates about 4 gallon but from what i hear thats noormal and i will spend as much on gas as i do cleaners. 87 octane only, no benefiit to plus, correct ?
and i also drive it about 10 minutes after that 20 minutes idling, to get to full temp

Im glad i didnt kill the fuel pump. boy i thought i needed to replace stuff. kicked myself when i foud out i ran it dry twwice and on E for a week.. now its full and running well. I jsut have to give it gas for about 30 seconds or it will die after start-up then it runs good, is that normal? i dodged a bullet there, wow (i spilled gas on ground, thought i had gas leak due to smell of gas, it rained, thought water on ground was gas and "brow n stain" was there.. turns out my gas is FINE n leak and .. yeah i beat up fuel system, cleaners to un-do what i did, in big amounts. Techron, MMO, regane. will anything make my gas gauge not fluxuate as much or is t always like that) ?

oh.. and should i go to 10W-40 for summer with the carburated engine or stick 10w30? I hear my car subscribed to the old school logix of "3 months or 3000 miles" since it is carburated and tears down oil faster, also "Thicker is better" in this engine ? so 10W30 or 10W40 for high summer temps ?

 

[virginoil]

Make sure you change the oil filter often so it doesn't clog and go into bypass mode.

Every 1000m miles or so for the 1st or 2nd OCI's.

I would stick with a high mileage mineral oil in this instance in whatever grade the OEM recommends.

 

[electrolover]

i would go with Pennzoil Platinum or Pennzoil Ultra for a couple 3k ocis to clean it up then maxlife.
or mmo and a cheaper oil if price is an issue.
dont worry about leaks just fix them if they come. its an old car so your gonna have to learn eventually...

 

[mpvue]

20 minutes of warm up? that's a serious waste. driving for 5 minutes gets the oil up to temp.

 

[65convertible]

About three years ago I switched my 1965 289 over to Amsoil from conventional oil and have had no leaks whatsoever. So base on my experience it should be no problem. But if it is as dirty as you say it is you may want to flush it out a bit. I might add that I did use high mileage oil before I switched and ended up replacing the valve guide seals anyway. So I am not to sure about the actual benefits of high mileage oil. Good Luck!!

 

[infecto]

You really should not need to warm it for more than a minute imo. We are talking about California which I am guessing does not hit below 0F.

 

[rslifkin]

I wouldn't worry about leaks with synth. Unless one of the seals is shot, and simply blocked up with garbage keeping it from leaking, you should be fine. If the seal is held together with just sludge, it'll start leaking regardless of the oil as things get cleaned out.

65convertible - As far high mileage oil helping leaky seals, it varies. If it's not a big leak, and the seal is a little worn, but not torn, etc, it may help. Depending on the type of seal, and the level of damage/wear to the seal, it may not be able to swell it up enough to make it seal again.

 

[addyguy]

Add some MMO (Marvel Mystery oil) to your current fill, run it for 500 miles, and then change the oil. Do that with another fill of oil, and the engine should be getting close to clean.

But, overall, I agree that a High Mileage 10w30 oil fill be a great oil for this vehicle going forward.