sea foam

[copperjohn]

Is it recommended to use sea foam or mystery oil in tha old straight 8's? What about the lead additives?

[mrspeedyt]

just follow the directions. i've used them with gas... haven't added them to oil yet.

Edited August 28, 2010 by mrspeedyt (see edit history)

[unimogjohn]

I would only use Seafoam or any other additive in a rebuilt engine. Seafoam is highly detergent and I am sure Marvel Mystery Oil is too. It will break loose just about anything in an old engine. If you have an old engine that has not been rebuilt I would just use non-detergent 30 weight. You can still get it a tractor supply stores. I use 30 weight detergent oil in all my rebuilt engines.

[jscheib]

I think this question should be a two parter.

Seafoam or other product added to gas tank?

Seafoam or other product added to oil?

To my mind this is two distinct ideas. If adding Seafoam to gas, that is not going to have an effect on your oil system as would an additive such as mystery oil to your oil.

John

John

[Bob Engle]

There have been tons of discussions about gas and oil additives. Modern gas and oil is so much better than anything that existed when these cars were new. Even leadfree gas has a track record of working well in prodution engines. Highly modified engines are a different story. Alcohol in gas can damage rubber parts in carbs and fuel pumps.

As to oils without Zddp, only high compression engines will have a problem with cam wear. It would be good to use Zddp during the breakin period on newly rebuilt motors.

Unless there is something unusual in the oiling system, such as on 32 Buicks with the oil heater/cooler system that works off of oil viscosity, or low pressure oiling systems with rod dippers which will perfom differrently with multiviscosity oils,I would just use a 10- 30 oil in most all other applications. I know of a 35 Buick with 80,000 miles on 10-30 and no additives. I personally would not add Marvel Mystery oil because is will change the viscosity on your oil. With old engines that have not been rebuilt and have not had detergent oils used them ( such as barn finds) Stay with the non detergent oils. I can remember when detergent oils came on the market in the early 50's. I dropped a lot of oil pans to remove the sludge that was accumulated from one oil change to detergent oils.

Modern engines do well with oil changes at 3,000 to 5,000 mile intervals. We change our oils once a year or at 500 to 1,000 miles. Our engines should easily outlast our lifetimes.

Bob Engle