[T3] Stupid question #395 Oil change time?

[William Jahn]

was in autozone STP does not have any reference to zinc any where on the
label.

On Tue, May 28, 2019 at 11:56 AM William Jahn <willjahn975 at gmail.com> wrote:

> I did watch videos of a VW engine builder who does any thing one wants. He
> talked about synthetic oil , said it will make the oil temp in the case
> cooler yet it will make the heads run much hotter.
>
> here's a link
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM5_ZXyNVl0&t=302s
>
> On Tue, May 28, 2019 at 11:29 AM William Jahn <willjahn975 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> The W stands for winter and 30w-30 not sure.
>> Jim I only use 20W50 because 40 single grade is no longer available here.
>> I figure on start up say 70 degrees since it's multi grade it's not 50
>> weight until it gets hot. I thought I'd try the Valvoline 20W50 racing oil
>> just to have the zinc , Valvoline also has a 20W50 none racing oil that has
>> 830 ppm zinc and the racing has 1400 ppm as far as I can tell castrol has
>> no zinc at all. The racing has less detergent yet since I only drive 250
>> miles per year and changed it every year I'd be good. It does get hot here.
>> I also thought I might use 2 qt's of the racing oil and 1/2 qt of the other
>> just to get more detergent yet this may not be needed.
>>
>> William
>>
>> On Tue, May 28, 2019 at 10:45 AM Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:
>>
>>> I think there are a few basic rules we can apply to oil changes.
>>>
>>> 1) Change it every 3000 miles, or at least once a year.
>>>
>>>         a) Short trips are harder on an engine, but short means too
>>> short for the
>>>         engine to fully warm up.
>>>
>>>         b) Warmup happens faster in warmer weather. 50 F may seem cool
>>> to
>>>         you, but that's nothing compared to -20 F.
>>>
>>>         c) If you don't have the complete thermostat, linkage, and
>>> flaps,
>>>         installed, you should assume that your engine NEVER warms up.
>>>
>>> 2) If this car is going into storage for an extended time, change the
>>> oil first,
>>> so the engine sits with fresh oil, not contaminated oil.
>>>
>>> 3) Zinc, in the form of ZDDP, used to be an essential part of any engine
>>> oil,
>>> but it poisons catylitic converters, so it's been dropped. Cars with Cat
>>> Cons
>>> switched to non-ZDDP oils and roller cams, so now there are few standard
>>> oils that are good for flat tappet engines. I THINK that any oil out
>>> there that
>>> has the API seal on the front lacks ZDDP. You might find diesel oils
>>> that lack
>>> this seal. (This API seal has a zig-zag border and is always found on
>>> the
>>> front of the container, not to be confused with the smooth round Service
>>> Rating on the back.)
>>>
>>>         a) ZDDP is especially important during breakin of the cam. It
>>> may not
>>>         matter so much in a well broken-in engine.
>>>
>>>         b) It sounds like GM's EOS is a good source for ZDDP.
>>>
>>>         c) I'd be surprised if STP had ZDDP in it, as that would make it
>>> a very
>>>         bad choice for any modern engines. I'll check on that later this
>>> week at
>>>         my FLAPS.
>>>
>>> 4) Going to higher viscosity oils, like 20W-50 may seem like a good
>>> choice,
>>> but that can be misleading. It takes more engine power to pump a high
>>> viscosity oil and it may take longer for the higher viscosity oil to
>>> reach critical
>>> places in the engine upon startup. High viscosity oil is a poor choice
>>> for
>>> engines that spend a lot of time in warmup. This is not as simple a
>>> problem
>>> as it might seem.
>>>
>>> I used 20W-50 only one time, when I had an oil leak. That slowed the
>>> leak
>>> until I had a chance to fix it. My favorite oil would be 20W-40, but I
>>> haven't
>>> seen that available for decades. I'm now using 15W-40 diesel oil that
>>> lacks
>>> the API seal.
>>>
>>>
>>> I've never fogged my engines. In fact, I had to google it to find out
>>> what this
>>> meant. Seems like it's especially popular in the 2-cycle world, but it
>>> makes
>>> some sense. Anyone else out there do it?
>>>
>>> Quiz Question #1, for extra points: What does the W in 20W-50 stand for?
>>>
>>> Quiz Question #2, for extra points: would 30W-30 have constant viscosity?
>>>
>>> --
>>> *******************************
>>> Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
>>> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
>>> *******************************
>>>
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>>
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