Home Forums Gear Hunting Trucks and Four-Wheel Drives Old Truck Engine Oil recos

hey Mr Mature with the Seafoam... you ever seen how much sludge is in a Brotha's repoed Duce n A'quatt'a that hasn't seen an oil change since it left the Tote the Note lot 5 yrs ago?... or an old farmers pick-up who heard that oil changes will ruin the motor, just add more when it's low wives tale from 60 yrs ago... you can scoop that schit up with your hand!... calls for drastic action, not 500 miles with a few ozs of Miracle additive... and any engine that has had regular oil changes with modern detergent oil don't need it either...

Just in case that was aimed at me....

As to the ghetto rats, I've not spent any time in that world for a reason...

NOw the old farmers etc.... I've been around that.. so I'll pass on a story about two brothers who grew up on a farm, in Mankato Mn. They still farmed the family farm, but they worked for our company as service techs. ONe covered from Mankato to the South Dakota State line, and occasionally over into South Dakota if needed.

The other brother covered east of Mankato to the Wisconsin State line. IN 3 years they both had put on @ or near 200K on their Dodge Pickup Truck. Their Uncle owned the Dodge Dealership in Mankato, so they each got a new truck after 3 years.
Base Dodge half ton, automatic, Cheap cap on the back with a 225 Slant 6. Half the time they never undercoated the trucks, because they could use the car wash at their uncle's dealership, any time they wanted... which was every day during winter.

One brother was religious about changing his oil every 3.000 miles with a new oil filter. The other used non detergent oil, and changed his filter every 3000 miles and just added. Sure both of these engines were 225 slant 6s, a one hell of a tough engine. But at the end of 3 years, when the new models came out, they got new trucks, same as before. The Bodies were shot due to road salt, but always the 2 engines were still running....

When I worked for the company, these two guys had been doing this for 20 years of so...so 6 to 7 truck each in a row.
Who knows if the one who just changed his filter and added non detergent, was luck as hell or that old 225 was that good of an engine. When they traded them in to their Uncle's Dealership, they were just towed off to the scrap yard. Even in Southern Miinesota or Northern Iowa, I doubt any farmer was interested in buying an engine with 200 K on it with no oil changes its whole, even with just a new filter and a top off....

It makes NO sense, but both guys doing it the opposite way, still got 200K out of their engines Had an uncle the same way, and he drove Oldsmobiles in the 50s and Cadillac in the 60s and 70s.. and his commute to work car was a 68 VW bug, living out of Dayton Ohio. Ran that to 140 K, and the body had rusted out. Uncle Kenny just added oil when it needed. Guess after x amount of miles, he was doing an "oil change" every 1000 to 1500 miles with that little bug, putting 3 quarts in during that period of time.

Funny side story with Uncle Kenny. He had a Sears Lawn Mower he never changed the oil on that either. At a family gathering I was teasing him in front of others, for being too cheap to pay 75 cents for a quart of oil , to change it in his lawn mower. He'd hard that mower 25 years. I even went down to the store and bought him a quart of 30 wt Quaker State detergent oil. We pour gas down the oil tube and sloshed it around to remove some of the sludge and a lot came out.

90 days later the engine Blew. To the day Uncle Kenny died, he blamed me for killing that mower engine, any time the subject came up....

There is always guys that works for, which I'll never understand....

Seafire.There was a Dino service station in Albuquerque that had a pump that pumped used motor oil. Probably had many different brands, weights, and detergent/non detergent oil. It was quite popular. I used it considerably in a 56 Chevy that needed a ring job. This was back when gasoline was 22-24 cents a gallon. Times were hard and that oil was less than 5 cents a quart.

I have a lawn mower that is at least 20 years old. It has had it's oil changed maybe twice. I still use it to cut areas that I don' t want to run the new mower in.

Worked at a service station off I 75 om No Georgia the summer of 71 and 72 while I was in College for a family member who owned it. This was near and during the time they filmed Deliverance, the movie.

We use to let what was left over in oil cans, drain into a big pan out on the islands. At midnight, we'd take the pan, pick all the bugs out of it, and put that oil in gallon milk jugs for a $1.25 each. We'd be sold out by 10 AM most mornings... people even wanted to put their name on a waiting list, and would pay extra for that. We did do it for customers who filled up a lot and gave us a lot of business.

Being a starving college student, I'd still buy 30 wt oil for 75 cents a quart in those days for my VW Bug.

We'd sell drain oil also for like a $1.00 a jug.. that never lasted long either... sold out real quick.

But then again, that was north Georgia 1971 and 72.. most people lived in house trailers there in Catoosa County.