Dodge51coronet Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Just wanted to know what type of motor oil that fellow 50's Dodge owners currently use in their cars? I own a '51 Coronet flat head six, and it is specked for non-detergent 10W engine oil. I appreciate your feedback! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reg Evans Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 Who specked it for 10W non-detergent ? Is it freshly rebuilt or well broken in ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACK M Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 You must be thinking of transmission oil at 10 wt.The engine should be 30 or so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge51coronet Posted February 13, 2016 Author Share Posted February 13, 2016 (edited) Yes your right. It was specked in the original '51 shop manual for 10W non- detergent for the Gyromatic tranny. It should be 30W non-detergent for the engine. Is that what you use for your engine or do you use modern standard detergent motor oil. Edited February 13, 2016 by Dodge51coronet (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted February 13, 2016 Share Posted February 13, 2016 This has been argued many times in these fora. Use a 5 or 10W-30 or 40 diesel oil (CI-4) to get the full zinc ration. CJ-4 has less zinc but is OK. Look for Richard Widman's paper on the fora about oil for his Corsair or try http://www.widman.biz/Corvair/English/Links/Oil.html. You want a 5 or 10W so you get rapid oil pressure buildup when starting from cold. The second number is for when hot. The W does not mean "weight" it means "winter", i.e. cold. It is a myth about non-detergent oil in the engine. If it has such oil, it will be filthy inside, everywhere, with buildups of muck in all the wear spaces (e.g. ring grooves) and there will be sludge in the sump. Clean out the sump and put in a detergent oil, change at 1000 miles or sooner if dirty and do the same again. After a couple of changes it will be much cleaner everywhere in the engine. The materials that will scour bearings are heavy and will settle out in the sump and if you have them your engine is in trouble and you have a serious problem anyway. The super-fine combustion products and other dirt won't harm the bearings and will drain out when you change the oil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil 32DL6 Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Clean out the sump and put in a detergent oil, change at 1000 miles or sooner if dirty and do the same again. After a couple of changes it will be much cleaner everywhere in the engine.And don't forget to change the oil filter each time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ply33 Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 And don't forget to change the oil filter each time.Only really needed on full flow filters: If they clog up an internal bypass opens and all the gunk they have collected goes into the bearing. Since you can't see inside the filter to determine if it is filling up, safe practice requires replacement at every oil change. That car was fitted with a bypass filter. If it clogs up then oil simply stops being filtered but the gunk the filter collected stays put in the filter. Good practice is still probably to replace the filter fairly often (5K or maybe 10K miles) but not necessarily more frequently. If the car is setup for using the disposable canister with a depth media (fairly common on Chrysler built cars of that era) then this is especially true as those filters are becoming a little scarce so throwing away one that is not totally used up is a waste. If it is fitted with a replaceable element filter, then those elements are readily available and you might as well toss a new one in on each oil change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodge51coronet Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 Thanks for the feedback everyone. Much appreciated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cahartley Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 I'm TOTALLY a detergent oil proponent but don't jump the gun just yet.Drive it first to determine whether or not it IS an oil burner.If you can comfortably determine the engine is tight by all means switch to detergent oil.If it turns out be something of an oil burner stay with non-detergent oil.Probably the only thing keeping it from being a BAD oil burner is crud in the ring grooves which detergent oil WILL remove after a time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearchoclatetown Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 51 coronet, google "non detergent oil zinc" and plan to read for a few hours. The best article I've read on this subject was written by Lake Speed's son and appears on Joe Gibbs site. It compares detergent to zinc.These old contraptions don't need zinc because the valve spring tension is not high enough to warrant it. Stay away from opinions and read what engineers say about this subject and then do exactly what you want. You will ultimately be paying the bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted February 14, 2016 Share Posted February 14, 2016 Compares detergent to zinc? That is like comparing chalk and cheese. They have different purposes in the oil. As has been said, you might burn a bit more oil when the wear spaces are not full of muck. You could go a grade higher on the hot side, say go to 5 or 10W-40 or 50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nearchoclatetown Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Compares might not have been the proper term, maybe compares properties or needs. Anyhow you probably didn't read the article or you would have understood. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spinneyhill Posted February 15, 2016 Share Posted February 15, 2016 Yes, they give a brief statement about those chemicals. Their purpose is to come to the conclusion that their BR-brand oil is most suitable. No doubt their statements are correct as far as they go, but they are very brief. Take care when reading marketing web sites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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