1998 k1500 silverado - 170k miles - new owner - maintenance

[michael hurd]

synthetic doesn't eat gaskets.....it's thinner viscosity finds the small crevices that petro doesn't fit through.......it's much better for heat and flows better in the cold. if heat isn't an issue (like on new Harleys) then a good oil change every 4K works well for ME......google Brad Penn......comes out of the ground in PA, OH and NY....is bottled there and sold here. USA made oil.........and it's green. it's in all 4 of my bikes.....and they make gear lubes too. I prefer the semi syn race oil myself...has zinc and phosphorus for air cooled motors.

my $.03 from the porch

oh hell, here.....huh, they changed the site and bottles.

http://www.penngrade.com/company/

If you have manganese bronze valve guides, I would refrain from using an oil that has zinc and phosphorus in any amounts.... it's not really yellow metal safe.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

It was mentioned that auto trans fluid has a detergent in it that will clean off varnish (and other crud). Well, back in the 60s, we used auto trans fluid to "tune up" our tired old V8s. The idea was to warm up the engine, then remove the air cleaner. We'd have one guy in the car keeping it running while we slowly poured about a half quart through the carb. The cloud out the exhaust was awesome by the way. Then, we'd dump the rest in quickly, which stalled the engine.We then let everything sit for about an hour (maybe three or four cold ones).

The idea was to clean the valve guides, top of pistons, and rings. After this, we'd do a compression test, then install new plugs. Of course, we all noticed a great difference in smoothness and power!

Of course, it coulda been the beer....

Around here we used Kerosene, or Diesel fuel. They never ran so smoothly after lol.

 

[shovelbill]

If you have manganese bronze valve guides, I would refrain from using an oil that has zinc and phosphorus in any amounts.... it's not really yellow metal safe.

I've been using custom made AV&V manganese bronze for evo valves (5/16" stem)in my shovelhead (normally 3/8" stem)for a LOTS of years with no adverse effects from Brad Penn race oil.......I did mention that because it's what I use in those air cooled motors, but they have other oils for other applications.......never heard this myself, i'll be looking into it.