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EFV-8 Club Forum / General Ford Discussion / Best SAE 40 Oil for V8's

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Posted By Discussion Topic: Best SAE 40 Oil for V8's -- page: 1 2     OLDTMR 08-17-2020 @ 9:27 AM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 45 Joined: Dec 2010 Just changed the oil and filter on my 40 using Valvoline Premium Blue, 15/40 Good stuff ! TomO 08-17-2020 @ 7:27 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7250 Joined: Oct 2009 Carcrazy's comment could have been correct 30 years ago, but that changed with the engine requirements of the 1990 and later engines. The oil today is chemically engineered at the molecular level to provide a good oil film under all heat conditions. The important viscosity number is the number for operating temperatures, the cold number is important for starting conditions. When your Reference Book was printed, oil was pumped out of the ground and the separated by viscosity and then sold to be used in the cars. Things began to change dramatically after WWII when automakers wanted their engines to be more reliable and require less service, due to customer demands. Computer programs were written to control daily operations at the refinery and by the 1970's the refineries were being controlled by computers. The chemical engineers then had more time to investigate better ways to refine the oil and what kind of additives to add to improve the oil as it was being refined. Tom Ketronj281989 08-17-2020 @ 5:31 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 143 Joined: Jul 2020 mfirth, I have heard of early car owners using Rotella due to it's great properties. Thank you for your comment regarding. Jon Ketronj281989 08-17-2020 @ 5:28 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 143 Joined: Jul 2020 carcrazy, Thank you for your comments. You bring up some great points to consider when shopping for an quality oil to use. I have been thinking about your reply and understand exactly what you are saying. Thanks, Jon mfirth 08-14-2020 @ 1:59 PM reply profile send p.m. Member Posts: 207 Joined: Nov 2017 I ran 15-40 Rotella in an 8ba & other guys still do. It should be fine in your engine too. carcrazy 08-14-2020 @ 11:16 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 1653 Joined: Oct 2009 If you use oils of less than SAE 30 weight, they will leak out of the engine more readily. Note that multi-grade motor oils are simply oils of the lower viscosity weight with viscosity index improvers added to prevent them from thinning out at higher temperatures. Ketronj281989 08-14-2020 @ 3:37 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 143 Joined: Jul 2020 Tom, Thanks for info. Great stuff, really appreciate the detailed response. I have now decided to run a multi-weight oil once I drop the pan this winter. After the pan has been serviced I will continue to run a multi-weight oil as long as I own and operate, and service the car thru my lifetime. One other question, if I were to use a 15W-40 would this be fine? Jon therunwaybehind 08-13-2020 @ 11:35 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 180 Joined: May 2019 What do you mean by kerosene? Do you mean real K-1 kerosene as sold at pumps for stoves and lighting or do you mean the more common fuel oil used for heating and that has an oily feel? They smell very different. TomO 08-13-2020 @ 7:37 AM reply profile send p.m. Senior Posts: 7250 Joined: Oct 2009 IMHO the ZDDP removal does not affect any engines. In every worn camshaft case that I have found the wear occurred in the the first 5,00 miles after a new or reground camshaft was installed. Most of the cases were within the first 1,000 miles. I suspect that the supplier did not correctly harden the camshaft and wanted to find someone or something else to blame it on. In the 1950's high performance camshafts were wearing out in 4,000 - 10,000 miles. ZDDP was a good, inexpensive anti-wear additive and increasing the amount served to limit the wear. When the oil companies were told to limit the amount, because it damaged catalytic converters, they developed and added more expensive anti-wear additive and the engine manufacturers started using roller tappets because the new engines put more stress on the camshafts. The Ford V-8 valve spring tension is much less than the springs used in the modern engines, so there is less stress on the camshaft and the current witches brew of additives will protect your engine much better than the oil that was sold in 1936. The new problem is the new ratings on the oil. The old "s*" ratings will disappear and will be replaced with GL* ratings. The 10W30 GL6A should be backward compatible, but the GL6B oils will not be backward compatible. Here is a link to the Chevron website that explains their viewpoint on the change. https://www.chevronlubricants.com/en_us/home/learning/about-our-brands/havoline/ilsac-gf-6.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpNfP8K6Y6wIVYgnnCh0nwg6HEAAYASAAEgLekfD_BwE&mkwid=sfCBstIyC_366915025566_api%20sn%20oil_p_c&mtid=744skq56394&slid=&product_id= Here is a link to the API website with their opinion. https://www.api.org/products-and-services/engine-oil/eolcs-categories-and-classifications/latest-oil-categories My opinion is that in the near future you should be OK with the 10W 30 API SN GL6A oil, which has slightly better ant-wear additive than API SM. The API GL6B is too thin to use in our cars. I don't know if there are going to be 20W 40 or 20W 50 oils with these ratings or if the major oil companies will still be making those oil viscosities. Here is a link that explains the API ratings up to SM. https://www.kewengineering.co.uk/Auto_oils/oil_quality_ratings.htm Tom Ketronj281989 08-13-2020 @ 4:03 AM reply profile send p.m. New Member Posts: 143 Joined: Jul 2020 I really appreciate all of your replies, everyone! So to sum up the oil question, please correct me if I am wrong: It would be wise to use a multi-grade oil due to the detergents and better lubricating properties as well as the large temperature range benefit within this type of oil. A multi-grade oil such as 20W-50 allows for operation between 0 degrees F to above 90 degrees F. Essentially a 20W oil upon start up, moving to a 50W once the engine is at operating temperature? What if the temperature stays around 65 degrees F, would I go with a 20W-30?? What about a Zinc additive? It is my understanding this additive was not added to oil until the 1940's. Do our Ford V8 pre-war engines need Zinc? (I was looking at the brand "Classic Car Motor Oil". They talk about pre-war cars and the benefit of zinc and how it could provide extra protection and lubrication properties to these early engines.) I will be removing the pan this winter, wow what a job according to the service book! This will be a first for me. Frank, thanks for your suggestions as well as the offer on the copy of the manual page. I have the entire V-13 manual. I did not think to clean the oil pump pick-up screen, great suggestion. Will be sure to tend to this item upon pan removal. Jon

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