Is this oil alright?

[mob]

I want to go with some thicker oil in my car, I think my mains are wore down, I've been using 10w30 for years but lately when I change my oil it comes out really really thin, like water thin, no coolant in it, but I would lose oil pressure real bad when I came to a light, my car would surge and the oil pressure gauge would go up and down with it or just completely fall. I added a bottle of lucas last time i did my oil change and it helped my oil pressure go up, but it still surges every once and a while when its hot, so would there be anything wrong with going castrol 20w50 and a bottle of lucas? I have like 170k miles.

 

[squeak93]

I would say ur very much on borrowed time if ur oil pressure is surging like that and ur sending unit IS working properly.

At this point anything u try is just going to be a bandaid and prolong a new short block. Start saving ur doh for a rebuild.

 

[2000xp8]

Ya, i've used 20/50 in that situation. Don't expect that to help all that much.
Get on a shortblock asap, it will only be a matter of time before the oil pressure reads almost zero.
Especially since you are in florida where it's hot all the time.

 

[squeak93]

I personally wouldn't run it too much like that if u plan on re using ur stock crank and rods. (no reason not too if just doing a mild build.). U can damage those by running out of oil and gouge the crank beyond use if the bearings are chewed up that bad. I'd say don't stray too far from home at this point and become a member of AAA.

 

[Makdaddymac]

hmm...i would say to stay away from the lucas, no not because im here to argue the additive myth/fact but it is possible that the lucas' detergents are acting against the motor oil and causing it to burn differently and seem to appear thinner and not helping with the bearing clearnces in a worn motor? idk if lucas is a viscosity modifier but if you are going to use thicker oil on the high mileage motor to atempt to make it raise the pressure your probably better of running the 20w50 by itself. see if you can get a synthetic in 20w50 so it can withstand the tempature a little longer
just my 2 cents

 

[mob]

well ive been driving like this for a couple months, ive been planning on building a small block, buying a used block and have a machine shop clean it up, but I wont be able to start saving money to do that for about a year. I have not seen the oil after putting lucas in it, I would be putting lucas in it to make it thicker. I am going to run 20w50 no lucas this oil change and see how it runs. I am going to get a new sending unit anyways just to make sure it is accurate but the rpms actually surge to the same rhythm as the oil gauge so I doubt its that, we'll see.

 

[pudman]

my 2 cents also. i've been running valvoline straight 50 wt in my 86 gt for 20 yrs now.
reason i started doing that was to overcome the dreaded 5.0 burning 1 quart every 1000 miles. beings i live in so. cal the thickness isn't a factor in wintertime. i contribute my 365,000 + original miles to using this oil.

 

[Makdaddymac]

im running 10w40 which i think is ok,but my motor is either 155k or 55k eithr way it was owned by a grandma(no lie) and swirl marks were present on all pistons and everything was clean so idk if thicker oil is required for me yet...

 

[2000xp8]

well ive been driving like this for a couple months, ive been planning on building a small block, buying a used block and have a machine shop clean it up, but I wont be able to start saving money to do that for about a year. I have not seen the oil after putting lucas in it, I would be putting lucas in it to make it thicker. I am going to run 20w50 no lucas this oil change and see how it runs. I am going to get a new sending unit anyways just to make sure it is accurate but the rpms actually surge to the same rhythm as the oil gauge so I doubt its that, we'll see.

Get an autometer full sweep mechanical oil pressure gauge instead.
Accurate, and you will really know where you stand.
Shouldn't be too expensive, maybe you can even find one ebay cheap.

 

[Foxfan88]

i also get get a real oil pressure guage, the stocker is useless, it may move around but you dont know the pressure numbers.

as for the surging idle, i doubt the surge and the oil pressure are related. when the RPMs dip down while surging your oil pressure may be dropping since the rpms are lower. or perhaps the surging is so bad the system voltage dips down as the rpms drop low enough, causing the gauges to drop some. just an idea.

usually the two causes of idle surge are a rich condtion at idle, and also spark compensation at idle will further worsen the problem.

a rich condition can get the idle surging, the spark advance will change as RPMs dip up and down, usually causing it to get worse. you get the snowballing affect and the car usually stalls.

i dont know the severity of your problem. but try pulling the spout out and see if that calms the idle down some. if you have an adjustable FPR you may try fiddling with the fuel pressure to see if that can have an affect. what timing and FP are you running right now?

usually aftermarket injectors and larger maf without a tune can cause some problem, if there is error in fuel deliverey if will net you the wrong amount of fuel.

IIRC your running stock injectors so thats not a problem, MAF could be off, but even then i would doubt that it would be far enough to where CL would correct and adaptive would trim fuel helping the problem over time.

what maf are you using and how is it set up, i.e. bend before the MAF, straight filter on end of it etc etc???

 

[rd]

I offer my experience with my two 5.0 engines.

The 95k plus short block in my 82 track toy was built in 87 with a high volume oil pump. I always ran 10w40, and it still has good oil pressure, and varies with rpm as it should. 10w30 gives notable lower oil pressure, as I did try it once.

My 79 Capri has a motor that I built in 2000, now with 10k miles, and has somewhat tighter bearings. I put another Melling HV pump in it, and with 10w40, it seemed like it was going to push the stock gage off the scale. So I run 10W30 in it, and it has at least enough pressure, 1/2 the stock gage or higher.

So you may see the desired improvement with the heavier oil. If you see cold weather, I would not use the heavier oil.

I would also try a mechanical gage to make sure that the gage readings are accurate or at least showing accurate trends. My gages have failed a couple of times in different ways.

 

[Modular2v]

I think you should get a MECHANICAL guage to see where it ACTUALLY is and go from there. Dont reley on a sending unit!

 

[mob]

Well I got an electric Autometer gauge today and i got a case of that valvoline sae50 so we'll find out real soon what the deal is.

 

[lang williams]

my friend runs straight 40 weight in his 62 nova that has an oil pressure problem. he knows he's just buying time till a rebuild. I've also heard of people having luck with the rotella 15w40.