Synthetic Oil

[tjfdesmo]

GM has captured lightning in a bottle with several engines that were quite good, but, in the grand scheme of things, they have probably unleashed more absolute garbage engines than anybody.

 

[ezmoney]

I've had my truck about a year and I have just been taking to the drive through oil place and what ever oil they put in it is what I got. Recently I've started doing some upgrades and preventative maintenance to my truck. I've decided to change the oil myself from now on. Truck has 149k miles and no tick. Redline costs more than I would like to spend. Did I make a good choice of oil and filter? By the way, that's not a hellcat, it's just a regular cat.

 

[Burla]

View attachment 550083
I've had my truck about a year and I have just been taking to the drive through oil place and what ever oil they put in it is what I got. Recently I've started doing some upgrades and preventative maintenance to my truck. I've decided to change the oil myself from now on. Truck has 149k miles and no tick. Redline costs more than I would like to spend. Did I make a good choice of oil and filter? By the way, that's not a hellcat, it's just a regular cat.

most popular combo on the board, if you never got a used oil analysis before, consider Blackstone thread and get one, leave feelings aside and see the science. I'd do it after your current combo, and if you want to know more about oil change interval, you have to add tbn. Do you have an interval in mind, 5k miles or more?

 

[ezmoney]

most popular combo on the board, if you never got a used oil analysis before, consider Blackstone thread and get one, leave feelings aside and see the science. I'd do it after your current combo, and if you want to know more about oil change interval, you have to add tbn. Do you have an interval in mind, 5k miles or more?

I am planning on changing it in 5k miles, but your advice is much appreciated.

 

[HEMIMANN]

Back in GM's soft cam days,guys yell about the cams in todays Hemi's,i replaced more GM cams in the late 70's early 80's ,then Carter had pills

The oil's no good!
Mobil Rep. rolls eyes again.

 

[Sherman Bird]

GM was making some seriously bad engines back then.

Remember the all aluminum HT4100 V-8 in the Cadilliac? People paid a fortune for those cars, only to have the mains crap out between 25K and 50K miles.

Of course, there was the great V8-6-4 before that, or the diesel made from an Oldsmobile V-8 gas engine.

Or, when GM started putting Chevy engines in any car it would fit, no matter the brand. My cousin bought a new Pontiac, and was ticked when he got it home, started really looking at the engine, and it was a Chevy.

Ford had it's debacle with the "new" 1.9L engine in the 1981 Escort. This car rocketed to one of the best sellers of all time! They came that year with a 12/12 warranty (remember those?).

Problem was, the timing belts would crap out at 30K miles or so. People were having to foot a bill for a new engine due to bent valves/ broken pistons resulting from the timing belt failure.

Fast forward to about 1984. An Attorney had bought one of those 1981 cars, new, for his college aged daughter. The timing belt crapped out. The engine was toast. Said Barrister went over to the indie shop where he had traded for years to look at aforementioned bad engine; torn down into pieces.

Eagle eyed attorney casts attention to the plastic timing belt cover and notices a sticker on it with Ford insignia and reference numbers of sorts. It said: " Replace timing belt at 60,000 mile intervals"!

THAT implied a warranty that the belt actually LASTED that long! Attorney began a class-action lawsuit. Ford had to reimburse many folks millions of dollars for that "oversight".

I almost forgot: As a result of the class action, ford redesigned the engine to be a free-wheeling design so the pistons didn't hit the valves when the belt broke.

 

[Yardbird]

Ford had it's debacle with the "new" 1.9L engine in the 1981 Escort. This car rocketed to one of the best sellers of all time! They came that year with a 12/12 warranty (remember those?).

Problem was, the timing belts would crap out at 30K miles or so. People were having to foot a bill for a new engine due to bent valves/ broken pistons resulting from the timing belt failure.

Fast forward to about 1984. An Attorney had bought one of those 1981 cars, new, for his college aged daughter. The timing belt crapped out. The engine was toast. Said Barrister went over to the indie shop where he had traded for years to look at aforementioned bad engine; torn down into pieces.

Eagle eyed attorney casts attention to the plastic timing belt cover and notices a sticker on it with Ford insignia and reference numbers of sorts. It said: " Replace timing belt at 60,000 mile intervals"!

THAT implied a warranty that the belt actually LASTED that long! Attorney began a class-action lawsuit. Ford had to reimburse many folks millions of dollars for that "oversight".

Ford has made all kinds of stupid designs in its day, up until now.

How about the 4.0 SOHC?

3.8 engine that blew head gaskets religiously because of bad head bolt placement.

AXOD transmissions that a $15.00 part required a complete transmission teardown to change, yet Ford never updated the design or part.

Early 5.4 3 valve engines.

I almost forgot...

The stupid, stupid design of the 3.5 engine in Edge, Explorer, and others, that the water pump is completely built inside the timing cover.

When it lets go the whole engine is flooded with antifreeze, usually resulting in total destruction.

Our Edge 3.5 pump let go at 56k miles. The only saving grace was it let go as my wife had just pulled into a parking space, and was in the process of turning the engine off.

We made it out with a new water pump, engine flush, plus an alternator. The weep hold from the water pump drains onto the alternator, which got soaked when the pump suddenly let go with no prior warning of any kind. That was something I watched for.

I had planned to replace it at 75k as a precaution, but it decided to go out while I was in a touch and go situation, laying in a hospital with a major heart attack, 100 miles from home, which is where she was when the pump went out.

I coudld go on.....

 

[JonAdams]

Glad I traded in my 19' for my 23'

Glad I traded my ‘19 for a ‘24 I feel you!

 

[Sherman Bird]

GM was making some seriously bad engines back then.

Remember the all aluminum HT4100 V-8 in the Cadilliac? People paid a fortune for those cars, only to have the mains crap out between 25K and 50K miles.

Of course, there was the great V8-6-4 before that, or the diesel made from an Oldsmobile V-8 gas engine.

Or, when GM started putting Chevy engines in any car it would fit, no matter the brand. My cousin bought a new Pontiac, and was ticked when he got it home, started really looking at the engine, and it was a Chevy.

The HT4100 engine was originally designed for front wheel drive. Due to production woes, the FWD chassis that the engine was designed to fit was delayed. The then-recent debacle over the musical engine idiocy had GM in hot water. The engineers needed an out. Why of course! Let's put a 4.1 L all aluminum wheezer into a 5000 pound slug-mobile! What could possibly go wrong!?

It was so effete, that they had to use a vacuum pump to overcome low intake vacuum. I will admit, though, I made boo-koos of money fixing them. I mostly replaced flat cams.

Later on, they increased the displacement to 4.9L IIRC. Those engines, in FWD, gave some problems, but not to the extent that the original 4.1's did.

 

[Yardbird]

A good friend of mine bought a low mile FWD '83 or '84 Cadilliac.

He called me up wanting me to listen to his engine.

When revving you could hear a deep rattle, and feel the thump with your hand on the intake. I told him it was main bearings. He couldn't believe it.

He believed it when he took it back to Cadilliac, and they put in another engine under warranty.

 

[Sherman Bird]

A good friend of mine bought a low mile FWD '83 or '84 Cadilliac.

He called me up wanting me to listen to his engine.

When revving you could hear a deep rattle, and feel the thump with your hand on the intake. I told him it was main bearings. He couldn't believe it.

He believed it when he took it back to Cadilliac, and they put in another engine under warranty.

.... and look how long it took the domestic makers to get the friggin message! Toyota and company were kicking A$$ and taking names. Today, all of theses cars seem to be equally cruddy, each in it's own ways.

 

[mdc1990zr1]

GM was making some seriously bad engines back then.

Remember the all aluminum HT4100 V-8 in the Cadilliac? People paid a fortune for those cars, only to have the mains crap out between 25K and 50K miles.

Of course, there was the great V8-6-4 before that, or the diesel made from an Oldsmobile V-8 gas engine.

Or, when GM started putting Chevy engines in any car it would fit, no matter the brand. My cousin bought a new Pontiac, and was ticked when he got it home, started really looking at the engine, and it was a Chevy.

I had a 1984 Cadillac Seville with the HT4100. It had a goofy engine with an aluminum block, but the heads were cast iron. It had an intake gasket recall/problem early in its life, but after that, it was smooth sailing till 100K when I sold it. It was even a lower end Caddy as it had crushed velour seating, not leather.

 

[Hemi395]

Ford has made all kinds of stupid designs in its day, up until now.

How about the 4.0 SOHC?

3.8 engine that blew head gaskets religiously because of bad head bolt placement.

AXOD transmissions that a $15.00 part required a complete transmission teardown to change, yet Ford never updated the design or part.

Early 5.4 3 valve engines.

I almost forgot...

The stupid, stupid design of the 3.5 engine in Edge, Explorer, and others, that the water pump is completely built inside the timing cover.

When it lets go the whole engine is flooded with antifreeze, usually resulting in total destruction.

Our Edge 3.5 pump let go at 56k miles. The only saving grace was it let go as my wife had just pulled into a parking space, and was in the process of turning the engine off.

We made it out with a new water pump, engine flush, plus an alternator. The weep hold from the water pump drains onto the alternator, which got soaked when the pump suddenly let go with no prior warning of any kind. That was something I watched for.

I had planned to replace it at 75k as a precaution, but it decided to go out while I was in a touch and go situation, laying in a hospital with a major heart attack, 100 miles from home, which is where she was when the pump went out.

I coudld go on.....

Yeah Fords had some great ones. The good ol 4.0SOHC. They took the relatively good OHV 4.0 and shoved OHCs on them. Because the block wasn't designed with OHC in mind, the timing components of one bank was on the BACK of the block.

I had one in a 2002 Exploder back in the day. It ran fine and had decent power, but one day it started rattling on startup. 70k on the clock. Found out it was the timing chain guides on the BACK of the motor and changing them out requires pulling the motor. Traded it in and never went back to Ford.

All of the big 3 have had some pretty bad motors over the years TBH...

 

[ramffml]

All the GM engines in my family have been flawless. We grew up as "GM rulez Ford suckz" so everything we had was all GM. 1980's caprice 305, a few 4 bangers, several 3.1/3100's, two 3400's, my 3800 after I sold it went almost to 400k KMs before the car was wrecked. Brother had a 97 Silverado with a 5.7(?) and it was flawless until the truck was scrapped I don't remember the mileage.

Apparently the 3100 and 3400 engines sometimes had head gasket issues but we never ran into them. The buick 3800 is one of the greatest engines ever built, they are indestructible.

The only issue that was even slightly engine related for us was in a 3100 corsica which had a bad computer and left someone (guess who, ... yes) stranded once.

Transmissions... well they weren't so hot unfortunately.

If you look hard at any engine being built today in 2024, they all have stuff that makes me gun shy one way or the other. Whether its some form of MDS, turbo charging, direct injection etc. The one that comes closest to my ideal engine is the Ford 7.3; no MDS, no turbo, no DI, just old-skool pushrod v8 with a massive displacement. Unfortunately it was eating cams really fast when it came out so I'm not touching that for a few years anyway until they sort that out.

But then OK, you got your perfect engine with the 7.3, but what do you about what its bolted too. A crummy 10 speed that jerks around, and you're basically driving a shoe box with some glowing C clamps stuck to the front grill. It's truly hideous.

 

[Sherman Bird]

I remember my Grandfather(s) and uncles, etc. talk about "good" cars from their pre WW2 perspective. My Mother's father's father (read Great Grandfather) had a 1925 Studebaker. I saw photos of him and that car on deer hunts here in the area I now live in, which was way out in the country back then. One picture shows him with 2 deer tied across the hood of that car, him brandishing his long rifle.

He kept that car for many many years. During WW2, his family and friends kept at him to buy a new car; to which he'd reply "After the war". Sure enough, in 1955, He bought a new Buick Special 2 door hardtop, v-8, with 2-tone orange over white paint. So, yeah, he bought a car after the war.... 10 years after. That car got recycled, so to speak when I was a youngster. Mom needed a car, and Great Grandfather and wife were getting rather feeble.

Ever the negotiator, he proposed that he sell that car to my Mother for a dollar, and she would see to their doctor trips, grocery store runs, hair appointments, and so forth. When I got to driving age, the Great Grandfather had recently passed away at 88 years of age, and, as a part of my privilege of "getting" to live under Mom and Dad's roof, I would be required to pitch in and help with these things for Great Grandmother. It was a lot of fun, however. I got to know my family history in depth from all the stories she would tell me. That was/is priceless.

That 1955 Buick was eventually traded in on a new Pontiac Catalina, much to the chagrin of my brother and me.
It was a very good car, but when a water pump and sway bar bushings were not to be found, the handwriting was on the wall.

 

[CanuckRam1313]

GM was making some seriously bad engines back then.

Remember the all aluminum HT4100 V-8 in the Cadilliac? People paid a fortune for those cars, only to have the mains crap out between 25K and 50K miles.

Of course, there was the great V8-6-4 before that, or the diesel made from an Oldsmobile V-8 gas engine.

Or, when GM started putting Chevy engines in any car it would fit, no matter the brand. My cousin bought a new Pontiac, and was ticked when he got it home, started really looking at the engine, and it was a Chevy.

Was that the same GM engine put in the Caddy's that had the cooling system shut down thingy to protect it from overheating? I think it was called the Northstar?

Funny you mention the Caddy's with the 8-6-4 engine shutdown feature. Brings back another memory when a friend back then had a brown sedan de ville with this engine in it.

Frequently the engine would misbehave and cause issues for us when we would go touring about. Good thing we had herbal cigarettes and road beverages to help with the trips. Oh, the good ole days indeed!

 

[Burla]

At the turn of the century me and the wife had 3 chevy's, all three were legal lemons and not for drivetrain stuff, just stupid stuff. I won 13k against one of them in court. Malibu, Silverado, and an avalanche, all serious melons with dangerous moldy AC in all of them. The Malibu actually leaked gas in the neck, lol. Never again, Chevy is a cus in my house, the wife feels the same. Now, with everyone going to cvt we cant find our next vehicle, cause I really don't want that. Anyone know an entry level SUV non cvt under 30k? In this town, same dealer Chevy and dodge, bought two dodges and other then hemi tick and a lil shudder in trans it has been a good truck, and of course we found some fixes not too much pain. My other ram was great but bad knee prevented me from using a manual, now the knee is fixed, damn. 2500 Cummins with manual, damn. True story, I bought from dealer and traded it for more then I paid by 500 bucks.

 

[Sherman Bird]

Was that the same GM engine put in the Caddy's that had the cooling system shut down thingy to protect it from overheating? I think it was called the Northstar?

Funny you mention the Caddy's with the 8-6-4 engine shutdown feature. Brings back another memory when a friend back then had a brown sedan de ville with this engine in it.

Frequently the engine would misbehave and cause issues for us when we would go touring about. Good thing we had herbal cigarettes and road beverages to help with the trips. Oh, the good ole days indeed!

I was a GM tech at Master level up til 1999. Up until that time, if you cut me, I bled GM emblems! LOL! The trash that they were producing was something that shamed me. I went back to Ford and did very well. The only reason I didn't go to Dodge, was that during the interview, I overheard the Service director refer to technicians as "Dogs" when he was what he thought out of earshot. I walked out, and as they say, it's all in the history books now.

Nowadays, I'm more Asian leaning as far as daily drivers. I'm on the look out for another truck, but am being patient in that endeavor. ( my neighbor has a nice Ram 1500)

 

[Stefan N]

Heavy truck V-8 diesels have been tried in the US many times in the past, and have all failed. They can make ferocious horsepower... for a little while. The only two that were worth a darn were the Mack E9 and the 3408 CAT. The 3408 was known for breaking crankshafts. Pretty much every Cummins attempt was a flop. In marine and stationary applications they all did much better. This excludes the Detroit 2-strokes, which were freaks of nature, and pretty much worked in any configuration.

I know the Scania is all the rage in Europe.

Scania V8 is over 65 years in the making and the new ones don't even have EGRs, no Jake brake, they are using an hydraulic thing called a Retarder after the gearbox for braking without noise! The gerbox is a manual with robot shifting = automatic.
Marine variant of the engine makes 1.150hp

1993: Scania Retarder made history

In 1993, the unique Scania Retarder was launched. Controlled by a dash-mounted lever or via the brake pedal, the automatic downhill speed control was an innovation much appreciated by drivers.

www.scania.com

 

[Stefan N]

Sweden are aiming for longer trucks in the future, standard have been 24Meters / ~79 feet for a loong time, but now 34.5 meters / 113 feet on the bigger roads

2021 Scania R770 V8 - The longest truck in Sweden

#scania #770 #v82021 Scania R770 V8 - The longest truck in SwedenScania R 770 V8 - 8x4*4Length: 34 metersGross weight: 98 metric tonsAxles: 12https://www.ins...

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