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#1
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oil for '65 t-bird
My friend have a '65 thunderbird and is wondering what kind of motor
oil to use. I can't seem to find anything on a web site so I thought I'd ask here. |
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#2
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#3
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Indeed. Motor oils have a letter following the weight. Every so often they increase the letter to match oils to advances in engines. I remember having to get rid of my 10W30 F oil and start using 10W30 G. Makes you wonder what they have done to oil since the 1960's and why. -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned |
#4
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Exactly, that's why it makes me wonder what today's numbers and letters
would be for a car from 40 years ago. But do we all agree it would be a 15-40? |
#5
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#6
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> wrote in message ups.com... > My friend have a '65 thunderbird and is wondering what kind of motor > oil to use. I can't seem to find anything on a web site so I thought > I'd ask here. > In the heat of So. Carolina, I like Castrol 20W50. Has been good to us for older, higher mileage engines, like the older 68-75 Pontiac 350's/400's/455's and similar years Buick 350's & 455's. Using 10W30, oil lites begin to flicker at idle; switching to Cas. 20W50 would stop both that AND oil seeming to lose viscosity and letting the oil lite come on when the engine heated up completely & lifters began to clack. HTH & good luck. s |
#7
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As you might imagine, this can provoke a lively discussion and a groan
or two on the T-Bird mailing lists (see http://www.tbird.org). In my interpretation, house-brand 10W40 is the modern equivalent of what the owner's manual suggests. Change it about every 3K and use a quality filter (the Motorcraft FL-1A is readily available and competitively priced). The five-quart jug is, intentionally, the right amount for a complete change with new filter. I run 5W40 or 5W50 synthetic in my '66. The incremental cost of using synthetic is about ten dollars an oil change, a small fraction of the cost of operating such a car. However, I know the history of my car since overhaul. There is much debate over whether to use synthetics in a "survivor" or older resto whose past use and maintenance are unknown to you. Some people really like the new generation of "high mileage" motor oils in a somewhat worn older car that has the odd leak here and there; cost is about a buck fifty a quart. That might be a good choice for the extra bottle you keep in the trunk (like most cars of the era, they'll consume more oil than we're used to nowadays -- a quart or so during the change interval is nothing to be alarmed about if the engine seems healthy otherwise). I would not try to squeeze out the 6,000 miles between changes that Ford suggested was possible, unless I was doing highway driving exclusively. Somewhere in the neighborhood of every 3-4k should be about right. Have fun with your Bird, --Joe |
#8
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#9
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Ad absurdum per aspera > wrote:
>However, I know the history of my car since overhaul. There is much >debate over whether to use synthetics in a "survivor" or older resto >whose past use and maintenance are unknown to you. Some people really >like the new generation of "high mileage" motor oils in a somewhat worn >older car that has the odd leak here and there; cost is about a buck >fifty a quart. The synthetics have some good points and bad points. Many of them have very good solvent properties, and will remove huge amounts of gum and varnish from older engines. This means sticky lifter problems sometimes go away, but it also means that sometimes you get a lot more oil leakage too. The leakage issue is made worse by the fact that the synthetics flow a lot better than most petroleum oils, so pinhole leaks that were non-issues turn into big problems. Personally I have been using Castrol 5W-50 and the Royal Purple 20W-40 synthetics in a variety of older engines and have basically been quite happy with it. The Castrol seems to have more blowby than the Royal Purple stuff, which may just be due to the viscosity. I did have a problem with a stationary engine that seemed to be held together completely with gum and tar. I tried the Castrol stuff in it, and the oil filter clogged up after five hours of running time, from all the junk that was going into solution. That was a horribly-abused engine before I got it, though. >I would not try to squeeze out the 6,000 miles between changes that >Ford suggested was possible, unless I was doing highway driving >exclusively. Somewhere in the neighborhood of every 3-4k should be >about right. I'm still trying for 2,500 miles between changes. 480,000 miles on a crappy Chrysler Laser is a good sign I must be doing something right. --scott -- "C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis." |
#10
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Ad absurdum per aspera wrote: > As you might imagine, this can provoke a lively discussion and a groan > or two on the T-Bird mailing lists (see http://www.tbird.org). > > In my interpretation, house-brand 10W40 is the modern equivalent of > what the owner's manual suggests. Change it about every 3K and use a > quality filter (the Motorcraft FL-1A is readily available and > competitively priced). The five-quart jug is, intentionally, the > right amount for a complete change with new filter. Joe, I usually agree with your advice, but in this case I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with you. Traditionally, a 10W40 conventional oil has a lot of VI improvers which break down with heat and mileage, thinning out the oil, which is less than ideal. I'd stick with either a 10W30 or a 15W40 depending on the requirements of the engine (if it holds sufficient oil pressure with 10W30 that will provide better flow and incrementally better mileage, so its use is preferable IF the engine is "tight" enough to use it.) I basically mistrust any non-synthetic that has a viscosity spread that large (i.e. the numbers before and after the "W" are that different.) > > I run 5W40 or 5W50 synthetic in my '66. The incremental cost of using > synthetic is about ten dollars an oil change, a small fraction of the > cost of operating such a car. > Not a bad plan, IF the engine isn't a leak-monster. Since you say it's been overhauled below, that's probably the best plan for you. One of the big advantages of synthetic is that it doesn't need as many VI improvers to have a large viscosity spread, i.e. a 10W40 conventional oil is iffy but a 5W40 synthetic is probably just fine. This makes life easier on your starter in cold weather without the need to switch between a "summer" (e.g. 15W40 or straight 30 weight) and "winter" (e.g. 10W30 or lighter) oil. > However, I know the history of my car since overhaul. There is much > debate over whether to use synthetics in a "survivor" or older resto > whose past use and maintenance are unknown to you. Some people really > like the new generation of "high mileage" motor oils in a somewhat worn > older car that has the odd leak here and there; cost is about a buck > fifty a quart. Better yet IMHO than the "high mileage" oils are the "fleet" oils, also known as HDEO's (Heavy Duty Engine Oils) or "dual rated" (will have an API Sx/Cx rating for Spark/Compression, or Gasoline/Diesel) oils. They're cheap, have TONS of detergents and anti-wear additives, and are often available in gallon jugs for less than a regular 10W30. Most common weight is 15W40. Two common brands are Shell Rotella and Mobil Delvac. > > That might be a good choice for the extra bottle you keep in the trunk > (like most cars of the era, they'll consume more oil than we're used to > nowadays -- a quart or so during the change interval is nothing to be > alarmed about if the engine seems healthy otherwise). > Agreed. > I would not try to squeeze out the 6,000 miles between changes that > Ford suggested was possible, unless I was doing highway driving > exclusively. Somewhere in the neighborhood of every 3-4k should be > about right. > > Have fun with your Bird, > --Joe Agreed yet again. If the engine is super sludgy inside, you might want to consider using a fleet oil and changing a couple times at even shorter intervals, such as 1000 miles or even less if the oil is getting noticeably dirty before then. A few cycles of this will start to gently clean the insides of your engine, if you periodically have the valve covers off you will actually notice the old varnish deposits softening up and becoming easier to remove. good luck, nate |
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