Sprint 6 ----Oil

fastfarmall

Well-known Member
Back in 1968 i bought the dealers demo,a, 1967 Chev Caprice,327 -275 hp, a car that i liked, the small town dealer also sold Teaxco gas and oil products, so when it needed the first oil change, i bought Havoline 10W-30,which what he said it had in their! Well after about a 600 miles the lifters would start clicking making noise,especially at start up, i changed brands, Cenex is what i used in the tractors, so i put in Cenex,10W-30 kept the car 150,000, and never heard them click again, my question is does some oil just drain out of the lifters?
 
I used to have a 1997 GMC 1500 with a 5.0 V8. I bought it with about 97,000 miles and changed the oil religiously every 3000 miles and always used 10W-40 oil. I kept the truck until the frame was too rusted out to pass inspection at about 240,000 miles. I didn't have a brand preference for oil initially and used either what was on sale or there was a rebate for, etc. When I used Havoline or Valvoline oil I had no lifter noise and eventually started to use those brands exclusively. With other brands I had lifter noise. I had the worst lifter noise with Shell oil. Other than having to change the intake gasket because of a coolant leak I had no trouble with the motor the entire time I owned it.
 
I had a 71 GMC a long time ago. When my usual oil wasn't available I bought a case of Pennzoil. Like you the truck started clattering, sounded bad thought maybe time for a rebuild. Next time went back to Castrol or Valvoline and no more problems.
 
I've always assumed if the lifters make noise after an oil change, it's because the fresh oil loosened up gunk in the engine that caused a lifter to stick.
 
Sometimes oil can play a part. I built an engine for my 84 K10 that had variable lifters in it to bleed lift at low speeds for better idle with the high lift cam. I went through every name brand oil there was, but Castrol GTX was the only oil that could keep the lifter quiet.
 
Those darn Detroit Gaskets, they were not thick enough to stop the aluminum intake from reacting with the cast iron head and the steel sandwiched in the gasket. At least the 305s leaked externally. The 2.8 V6 leaked internally, usually the first indication was a broken rod. I replaced a number with Felpro and never had a failure. Back in the day I ran 30 wt Pennsoil in everything and I ran 40wt in my racecar. Now its Mobile One in everything except the tractors all get Rotella 20-40.
 
The only time I recall lifter noise from a Chevy V8 was on the Massey 510 combine. The 350 engine started to make a slight ticking sound at very slow idle speed. Not noticeable when working though. We opened it up to check and found one or more of the hydraulic lifters had hairline cracks in them that leaked enough oil to cause the problems. Replaced the lifters and it never did it again.
 
I spent 11 years at gm dealers, got their World Class Technician status. Recession killed dealer mechanic money, so I have been a self employed shop owner since 2010. Been at this since 1994.
 

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