I have been having trouble finding this oil at my local discount stores. Walmart, Autozone and Advance no longer carry conventional 10w40 Valvoline. I sent an e-mail to Valvoline and sure enough its being fazed out. I have been using it for over 30 years in all my older stuff and as far as I'm concerned it was the best. Never any crud in the hot rod's valve covers or pans. I am driving 2 OT trucks right now that have over 650,000 mi. combined with no issues. Both motors have never been apart or repaired. Come to think of it neither has seen more than tune ups and oil changes. I guess I'll go to 10w30 but personally I think its too thin for our hot summers. No rant, just a little sad. Whats next will they stop making PBR.
I noticed this too last time I was picking up oil for my o/t daily beaters(old vw's and bmw's) Guess since new cars use super thin oils it was only a matter of time.
I sent a runner to get some straight 30Wt.for the 265 , no mas ! I guess race oil is the only option.
At my local O'Reillys, 10W 40 Pennzoil flies off the shelf. It was on sale last week at $19.99 for a 5 gallon jug and a filter. I scooped up the last 2 jugs and was told I better hold on to them. I looked around and ALL the 10W 40 was gone. I won't miss Valvoline. It seemed to sludge up in the past.
I am using 20w 50 Valvoline in all my old flat tappet cars and racecars now..Well not my legends car it gets rotella 5W40 synthetic. It see 280 degree plus oil temp coming off the track in the summer races. My son is using the Valvoline for high milage 10W40 on his old cars seems to able to buy that. My new car, OT/wifes car, gets 5W30 valvoline. When the wife gets a new car the old ones have been sold to my sons or their friends after about 200,000 miles. for many years now all of them are still running on the original engines and seeing 350 or more thousand miles. Like always ..changed the oil every 3000 miles. If 10W40 goes away I will use 20W50 racing oil in the old cars..if 20W50 goes away then I guess I will figure something out. I will not worry about it.
Fossil, every time I go shopping for oil, that 20W50 is staring me in the face. I've often thought about using it, but I'm just stuck in the 10W40 groove from experience. Is the difference that much? I've noticed my oil pressure has dropped a little in the past few months. Not a lot, but enough for me to see. I'm still at 50psi at idle and about 30psi in gear, but it used to be 60psi at idle and 40psi in gear. What ya think?
I was told by an old school mechanic friend of mine that in addition to adding Octane Boost (10.3:1 compression) I should also ad an oil additive. They just aren't making products friendly to our old rides too much anymore these days.
Yeah, rustolium paint is next, they are supposed to take it off the market completey by the end of the year, tryin to get rid of oil base paint or something like that, get it while you can.
Lucas and Prolong both have oils for flat tappet engines high in Zink. I switched to Castrol 5-50wt synthetic in '93 in all my cars after talking with their rep and no issues. Picked up oil pressure on the Vette over Mobile 1
What the hell.....why would they do that? That's been my oil for years...better go buy up all I can find!
Try Brad Penn Grade #1 10w40 has zinc in it. Its the best for your flat tappet engines. Can order it on line.
I live in Texas..the part I live in only gets sorta cold every few years.. in the winter... for a few days.. at the most. I don't think I need 10W40 oil. If I thought there was a problem using 20W50 I would not use it. I feel that in the temperature that my engines operate in does not call for really thin oil when cold. There has never been a point in my life..so far, where I said "danged if I only had used 10W40 oil this would not have happened". You fellas that live up north, say past Huntsville are much tougher than me and maybe a thinner oil on start up is good. I can't take the cold. Anything below 60 is too cold. Needless to say snow is not in my future. Your results may vary.
All I can say is, its about time! They probably had so many complaints on how the sludge built up in the valve train.....
I have been using 20w50 in my high compression engines for years. But it's getting harder and harder to find in stock around here. So last summer I changed all my engines over to 15w40 Rotella and have seen no adverse effects. Plus it has the additives for my old flat tappet lifters and cams. As a side benefit it's usually a little less expensive.
I work at Advance Auto Parts and one of my responsibilities is the oil wall. We have conventional Valvoline 10w 40 in both quarts and 5 quart jugs. We also have Valvoline straight 30 in quarts. I just restocked today! I have had customers come in and ask why we don't have straight 30 anymore. We do. Someone is spreading some bad info.
Our Advance Auto Parts carries 20w50 in conventional in Valvoline, Castrol, and Penzoil. 20w50 in Valvoline synthetic and in motorcycle both conventional and synthetic.
I think that's a state thing. We haven't been able to get oil base house paint in IL for a few years but I've seen it for sale in IN. I've heard rumors about Rustoleum and similar oil based equipment paint being phased out next but so far it's still available.
Or then switch to Valvoline's big truck oil, back available again, in 15W40 viscosity. Or switch to Shell Rotella T 15W40. Or Havoline. Or Castrol.
Castrol have now introduced a full synthetic 0W40 oil called Edge - find it at Advance Auto Parts....
To understand how oil works and is labelled a visit to bobistheoilguy is well worth the time - this is the bible of oil websites: www.bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-101/
I'm with the synthetics school.... I use castrol because it's available anywhere, and i run 20 / 40 in all my rides. Happy Roddin' 4TTRUK
Nah. We'd rather toss out brand loyalties and stuff we heard in shop class or the streets. That's why we're here. Thanks anyway. Seriously, good link.
Weasel, thank you again! Saved to favs on good info. Filtration, gasket sealing, fuel system components, crankcase evacuation.......................
I HATE oil threads as a general rule, people get so passionate about a brand, yet they have no real facts or testing to back it up - saying I never had a problem only manes your luck hasn't run out. But I decided to make two comments; 1) one most of the beloved truck oils like Rotella have had their Zinc/Phosphorus content reduced overt the past couple of years for the same reasons that automobile oils did, the stuff degrades emissions competences. This is a fact and many tests have been run to check the content. 2) Castrol has brought out an oil called Edge 5w50 that is blended for older cars, they even state it on the label. It does have a higher zinc and phosphorus content and it is a Synthetic oil. What i like about it better than the specialty oils like Penn or Gibbs is that I can get it at any auto parts store at any time. Some of you may say that's not a big deal, you just order it and keep some at home. Well, that sounds good, but I was driving my 75 F150 with a 416" FE motor and a piece of debris that was on the freeway flew up from the front tire and knocked a hole in the oil filter. I found a Pep Boys 2 blocks away, got a new Motorcraft filter and 5 quarts of Edge 5w50 and was on my way. If I had been running something like Penn, I would have had to put some oil in it, limp home and then spend the money all over again to change the filter and put the Penn oil back in. just something to think about......
lucas oil has a high zinc content. they also offer a race oil that is even higher zinc content. they make a zinc additive to add to low zinc oil or make race oil out of the regular oil.
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