I think I am running the wrong weight oil

[skyman51]

Well I just want to throw my two cents in if you do not mind. Really, the correct answer for what weight oil to run is in the bearing clearances. Most highend engine builders will tell you to run a certain weight oil and may even specify brand because of viscosity, ingredients, or longevity of the oil.

Larry Shepard runs nothing but 25w50 Pennzoil in all his Hemi builds. He told me to use that oil as well as a ZDDP additive a t every oil change. If you look at the specs for the Pennzoil vs the Valvoline VR1, it has twice as much zinc and phosphorus. I am not going to question the master.

 

[Bigal75]

I run 10w30 Royal Purple HPS. No issues at all. 40psi at idle and 80psi or so at 1800rpm+ It has all the Zinc and additives for non-roller cammed engines. One oil change per summer.

 

[loneagle]

I only use castrol gtx synthetic oil as it has been in my truck since day one and my truck gets oil changed about every 10k now in the volvo tractor and trailer its delvo synthetic( diesel ) it gets changed about every 50k I never had luck with valvoline or Pennzoil it brad Penn is good oil and is from Bradford pa about 2 hrs north of me weights and viscosity are important but all the oil being in oil pan at startup is very bad for an engine no matter what engine but use a type your comfy with but yes go with instructed weight and add if you have to

 

[RustyRatRod]

Larry Shepard runs nothing but 25w50 Pennzoil in all his Hemi builds. He told me to use that oil as well as a ZDDP additive a t every oil change. If you look at the specs for the Pennzoil vs the Valvoline VR1, it has twice as much zinc and phosphorus. I am not going to question the master.

Is that synthetic, carbon based or a blend?

 

[Cranky]

Larry Shepard runs nothing but 25w50 Pennzoil in all his Hemi builds. He told me to use that oil as well as a ZDDP additive a t every oil change. If you look at the specs for the Pennzoil vs the Valvoline VR1, it has twice as much zinc and phosphorus. I am not going to question the master.

And what kind of bearing clearances does Larry run? If you build a 'loose' engine then yeah, you need a bit heavier oil....

 

[coloradodave]

This is one of those questions where you ask 50 different people and get 50 different answers. What oil pressure one person gets with a certain brand and weight of oil means absolutely nothing to anyone else's motor. As someone above correctly stated, oil pressure is a product of bearing clearances and type, rod side clearances, crank end play, oil pump clearances and relief spring setting, pushrods, rocker arms and a few other specs. On top of this is viscosity of the oil. We all should be running an oil that still contains the 'slippery' additives, or adding the 'slippery stuff' to the oil we choose . Some oils do contain more zinc and phosphorus, but how much you need is anybody's guess.
As has been said, it sounds like JT's pressure is just fine. If you want to see more, either increase the viscosity of your oil or shim / change the oil pump's relief spring.

 

[Supershafts]

Larry Shepard runs nothing but 25w50 Pennzoil in all his Hemi builds. He told me to use that oil as well as a ZDDP additive a t every oil change. If you look at the specs for the Pennzoil vs the Valvoline VR1, it has twice as much zinc and phosphorus. I am not going to question the master.

Lol and Larry is probably running .002 more on the mains and rods than you, and much more oil volume and pressure than you and i'll bet you his oil doesn't see 2 miles.

I run all syn oil in everything, mostly redline oils in 10-30, 10-40 and 15-50 (these are the street oils). Since everything has street use i don't use the race oils since they have no detergents and leaving race oils in street motors for anything more than racing is not good.

race oils are for racing, not street use where you're stop and go and leaving it in more than a few hundred miles, the lack of additives to deal with the contaminants getting past the rings is not good for race oils, and why they shouldn't be in a street use motor.


.

 

[skyman51]

Been running the same thing in my HEMI.... no OP issues.....

Larry Shepard of Hemis Only rebuilt my 67 GTX Hemi. The only oil he uses and is adamant about always using, is Pennzoil 25w50 racing oil. In addition to that he puts in a 12oz. bottle of ZDDP additive at every oil change. Uses only the NAPA Gold 1515 filter. He was a Chrysler engineer and has been building and rebuilding Hemis for over 40 years. I am not going to question the master.

 

[Dennis H]

The only real synthetics (PAO) are Amsoil and Mobil 1. Race oil not for the street.

 

[daredevil]

I have always heard that 10 pounds per thousand rpm is acceptable.

 

[RustyRatRod]

It's better to run oil than not run it.

 

[Cranky]

Synthetics may allow for higher temperature operation and longer drain intervals but mineral oils have a place at the table, too, according to David Willis, Spectro Oils. “Mineral oils have made significant gains in the past several years and in some applications provide adequate lubrication at a more reasonable cost. Synthetics will outperform mineral oils in extreme heat and cold, but are not always the best choice.
Brad Penn’s Glady agrees: “Mineral-based oils, especially oils blended with Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil provide tremendous ‘wetability,’ sticks to engine parts and offers better shock load characteristics than synthetics. On the other hand, synthetics provide better heat dissipation characteristics than mineral-based oils, especially with industrial applications.”



More info at http://www.enginebuildermag.com/Art...bricants_the_great_zinc_debate_continues.aspx

 

[HT413]

At the recommendation of several on this board, i started using Shell Rotella T 15w40 in my 413. It's diesel oil and has all three friction modifiers (zinc, molibdenum and phosphorus) but it's a fraction of the cost of most of the others. not saying the other oils arent better, but since i'm 100x more likely to use it to take my kids for ice cream than go to the track, it's plenty of oil fo me. And the multigrade weight allows me to drive it in winter months here in Jersey.

Btw, this summer it was at 70psi idling cold, 80 when hammering and around 30-40 when idling warmed up.

 

[Cranky]

I was using Mobil 1 for awhile with the hopes of having longer change intervals. Didn't happen mainly because we short trip the car so much and it was getting too dirty to go more than 5000 miles. The plan was to change the filter every 3k and go 15k on the oil. The very slight wear benefit of using the synthetic wasn't worth the cost of it. Now if my cars were all mostly highway use, synthetic would be in them. Even my diesel keeps the oil clean when out on the highway. Now everything gets Rotella.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I'm no chemist or oil expert, but one difference I do KNOW and that's this:

Synthetics flow so much better than carbon based oils that synthetics will find a leak before the carbon based oils will. Seen it happen a good bit, especially in higher mileage engines that made the switch to synthetic.

Now, far as all this other hooha and BS goes, here's something else I know. Your engine caint tell from a hill of beans what weight, brand or type of oil is in it. All that's important is there IS some in the oil pan. Just choose the brand you like, the type and the weight based on your climate run it and shut up arguin about it. lol

 

[Cranky]

I'm no chemist either but worked in a refinery for 26 years and spent some time in the lab talking to chemists and oil experts about oil. They would disagree with you. Not all refiners use the same base stocks or the same additives package either. Heck, read that link I posted....near the end of the article, it goes in to some detail about the different base stocks, for example.

 

[RustyRatRod]

I'm no chemist either but worked in a refinery for 26 years and spent some time in the lab talking to chemists and oil experts about oil. They would disagree with you. Not all refiners use the same base stocks or the same additives package either. Heck, read that link I posted....near the end of the article, it goes in to some detail about the different base stocks, for example.

They can disagree, but they'd be wrong. I've seen what I've seen and it cannot be unseen.

 

[BIGSHCLUNK]

I'm no chemist either but worked in a refinery for 26 years and spent some time in the lab talking to chemists and oil experts about oil. They would disagree with you. Not all refiners use the same base stocks or the same additives package either. Heck, read that link I posted....near the end of the article, it goes in to some detail about the different base stocks, for example.

I m in agreement on the additive side of things, too many different companies out there. I run what I run cause its good stuff and WAS ON SALE... CHEAP so I bought a **** load. When I run out ... who knows what I'll use...

That being said ...this thread is too dam long already.. :ufo: