Oil and Fluids

​

I am asked often what oil do we use, well the first thing we must have in our oil is Zinc, there must be enough in the oil to keep parts from wearing out, especially cams and lifters but we have also noticed that lack of Zinc will cause gear teeth in even late model engines to wear out. The government in its wisdom, or lack of, has decided we no longer need Zinc because most new engines have roller cams. So now we can't use the standard oils available for our older engines. The solution was to switch to diesel oil, that worked for a while until we started hearing about how Zinc was also being removed for diesels too. The choice for us now was to use racing oils, intended for off road use but also an excellent choice for these older engines. We like Valvoline Racing oil and as for which ones we suggest, the lighter oils like 10/30 for new engines and 20/50 for older engines with more miles on them.. Always add a Zinc additive or special break in oil for a new engine so parts break in without damage. Yes I know many love the synthetics, you can filter out dirt but not chemicals that contaminate the oil from the fuel so I am not a lover of them, I just don't like the same oil in an engine for 10,000 miles,.. Synthetics have also been causes of oil leaks. On oil filters, most oil filters are good, even the cheaper ones, the worst filters are made by F-R-A-M!! never use their oil or air filters! I have seen engines ruined by them many times. They claim they filter out smaller particles but doing so causes the oil to bypass the filter more so your oil does not get filtered enough. To make things worse the oil filter is made entirely of paper and can collapse. Coolant.. very simple, use 50% water and coolant mix, change every 3 years. I prefer the old green stuff and always run a thermostat!