What kind of oil are you guys using in the 200 engine?

I`m curious what type of oil (spec and brand) is popular with the community. The engine specs say 15W40, what are you guys using?

Valvoline 10w30 conventional with a bottle of comp cams break in additive at each oil change.....need the zinc for the flat tappet cam......

When I rebuilt mine (200 CID in a 65 Mustang), after "breaking in" the engine with conventional oil, I thought I'd go with full synthetic (Mobil 1). For all intent and purpose that seems to be a good idea, however, reality is that if you drive the thing everyday like I do, I began to notice problems with it. I was using (losing) a quart every 500 miles (highway) and I was getting carbon fouling on several plugs, especially number four. I had read elsewhere that synthetic is so slippery that the seals can't keep it in. So, I put conventional 10W-40 in and the oil loss dropped to half a quart in 1000 miles and the plugs stopped fouling.

I admit this ain't scientific because I didn't return to synthetic to see if the problem returned, but that is so far the answer to my oil/fouling problem.

Harry

Motul 6100 10w-40 semi-synthetic.

The zinc issue is grotesquely overstated, like Public Enemy said, don't believe the hype.

I would review this: http://www.ctci.org/gilsgarage/EngineOil2.php

1.First, to establish a base line, I started with a1980s vintage "Pennzoil" 10W/40 it contained 547 PPM Phosphorus and 716 PPM Zinc. This was one of the popular oils widely available and used in the 80s. It had adequate ZDDP content for flat tappet engines. View Report (PDF)

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And I would review this: http://www.drivenracingoil.com/news/dro ... motor-oil/

A perfect example of proper balance can be seen is an API SN motor oil. While this spec oil is limited to 800 ppm of a catalytic converter friendly ZDDP, an API SN oil can break in a flat tappet camshaft. The flat tappet cam in question has less than .400 valve lift and no more than 215 psi valve spring pressure. So an API SN oil will protect a flat tappet cam, but you won’t see success trying to break in a Big Block Chevy cam with over .500 valve lift and over 300 psi valve spring pressure with an API SN oil. It is the different demands of the valve train loads that dictate what balance is required to protect.

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Stock-ish 200 can run happily on any API-licensed oil off the shelf.

Thanks guys for all your help. I changed to Valvoline 15W40 Mineral this weekend and I also checked the spark plugs, they were all grotesquely fouled (I was using Castrol 5W30 right after I rebuilt the engine and ran about 1500 miles with it).

What I noticed after the oil change, after driving about 200 miles or so, is that some of the leaking stopped, but I fear it is still burning oil. The oil level dropped about 5 mm on the dipstick, and I`m not sure if I lost it or I burned it..

Any thoughts?

P.S.: I checked compression on all cylinders and it looks legit

Brad Penn racing oil 10W-30. It has all the necessary additives to prevent camshaft wear.
It is a semi-synthetic blend.

I run Joe Gibbs/Driven HR-10W30 . Spoke with Driven a while back and got several cases of various things and a reseller/distributor account. Good people. I discussed a lot about how their stuff is blended, their supply chain, vendors, etc.

- Perry

for now i run either pennzoil, valvoline, castrol gtx, mobile one, among other name brands, usually what ever is on sale, or being used by the shop i let do my oil changes.

i like a 10w30, 15w40, or 20w40 weight oil.

sometimes i add in an anti wear additive at the oil change, imo you cant be too careful with older engines and cam wear. i just dont want to spend the money to replace a camshaft right now.

by the way i tend to use the high mileage oils, most of those are semi synthetics, on occasion i will go with a full synthetic oil though.

Lt_Bongwater":2juexrft said:

Thanks guys for all your help. I changed to Valvoline 15W40 Mineral this weekend and I also checked the spark plugs, they were all grotesquely fouled (I was using Castrol 5W30 right after I rebuilt the engine and ran about 1500 miles with it).

What I noticed after the oil change, after driving about 200 miles or so, is that some of the leaking stopped, but I fear it is still burning oil. The oil level dropped about 5 mm on the dipstick, and I`m not sure if I lost it or I burned it..

Any thoughts?

P.S.: I checked compression on all cylinders and it looks legit

Click to expand...

If compression is good that at least means the bottom end is fine. You could have weak valve stem seals letting oil in while running. That would not be a surprise. Don't forget the first number in a multigrade oil is the "when cold" grade - adjusting 5w, 10w or 15w only affects the first few minutes of running, and thinner is essentially better here... at least for any place that has anything approaching winter. The second number in a multigrade oil - the -30, -40, or -50 - is the "when hot" number. A bigger number means higher viscosity when at operating temperature. Here you are balancing plugging leaks with hurting fuel economy (and, possibly, poor lubrication). On an older motor, especially a high mileage older motor, a -30 may not stay where you want it to. Experimenting with a -40 or -50 oil may be called for. Unless you are tackling a specific problem (like, say, high temps from racing duty), you want to run the thinnest oil you can here so it gets where it's supposed to properly and doesn't hurt fuel economy. IMHO, if you need a -50 here to prevent leaks or burnoff, you might consider a rebuild.

Got a small stash of Redline 5 and 10w /30.
Which I wish I would have changed out before we got 10" of snow dumped last night... :arg: