The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Oil Change

Hi All, This is all new to me, But I have a 1953 3600 3/4 ton truck that I'd like to change the oil on. I bought the filter from the Truck shop in SoCal, My ? is what type of oil should I use. thanks Cardo

What engine is in it?? If its a 235 and in sunny California I personally would run 10w30 if it is a fairly new rebuild.....if its and old engine with miles on it then I'd run a 30wt.....

I use 10w30 Mobil synthetic motor oil in my firetruck with a filter and the oil gets changed once a year with about 2,500 miles on it. It is probibly over kill but it only costs me 27 bucks once a year includeing the filter.

What Achipmunk said Reason is, if it is old it's waxy. Back in the day they didn't have detergent oils and if you take an old engine and run the detergent oil it will wash the wax(Sludge) out of it. leaving you unhappy. I'm sure others can shed better light on this

Thanks Guys It's a 216 all orginal

What are you saying KC, it's better to leave the sludge in there.
While it is true that detergent oils will start to clean things in the motor, it is not going to happen overnight,nor would it be like putting a solvent in the motor.
The clean up inside the motor will be slow and I have not experienced a problem running detergent in place of a non-detergent oil.
Aside from that, today it's not easy to find non-detergent oil, so what's left to run in it......detergent oil.

I would run a straight weight oil like 30w or 20w. I don't know about your area but straight weight oil is getting hard to locate on the shelf also.
A multi-vis oil like 10w-30 is a little thin to run in some old motors because of the greater tolerances and wear.
I'm not saying you can't run a 10w-30, but I think a heavier viscosity oil would be better.

Dan

Virginiafiretruck said "I use 10w30 Mobil synthetic motor oil in my firetruck with a filter and the oil gets changed once a year with about 2,500 miles on it. It is probibly over kill but it only costs me 27 bucks once a year includeing the filter"

I use Mobil Synthetic in everything and all I can say is your brother must be a Mobil Distributor if you getting it that cheap.
I pay about $6 a quart for it so that's $36 where I went to school plus the filter. Can I place an order with you?

I always have run 30 wt. oil in my 216's or 235's, also in my GMC 248. I get Valvoline 30 at Pep boys.

53moneypit: No brother in the oil business in my family.

I buy it at the Advance Auto parts store in Virginia Beach on Princess Anne rd every January. I know the M1-301 filter is $12 and each mobil 1 quart(I get 5) goes for $6.95 but they have a sale every single year for a total filter and oil at $27 bucks for the "self oil change." They sell it as a package. Why? I don't know but I have done it three years in a row.

yeah, and around here they have been running regular oil changes with 5qts oil plus a purolator or Fram filter for $16 bucks. One month its Penn, next its Castrol,ect ect.... thats cheaper than with my employee discount these days.