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

[Ironhead]

Well, a quart every 3 thousand miles with 300,000 miles ain't exactly awful. Sounds like he followed a good maintenance routine with the vehicle. The dino oil sure did the job, no question. On the other hand, the synthetic is obviously either going down the valve guides, or past the rings, not unusual after 300,000 miles. Maybe, the lube is getting to the right places?

Finally, wondering why he changed lubes after such a good result.

 

[lovell11b]

Transmission fluid has a minor detergent in it that when replaced in a non-regularly maintained tranny cleans the varnish off of the internals. Older transmissions like ours may seem to be high tech and precise but compared to today's tolerances it day and night. (yes i know they still use the 4l60e) Anyways that build up of varnish and and other material on the separator plates and other areas actually help the balls and pins seal as they wear over time. So removing it with new fluid will cause leaks and overall a decrease in holding pressure in certain areas intern causing undue stress killing the transmission.

 

[thz71]

Never seen a problem changing to synthetic in an engine that previously ran dino oil. Maybe I've been lucky, or maybe the stories about eating gaskets and dissolving crud in the engine oilways are just more old wives tales.

The cold flow advantages of synthetics are probably the single most important factor in reducing engine wear, which mostly occurs on startup.

You been lucky I can assure you those warnings are true.

 

[jmaple]

That's power steering. Mine just started leaking

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[SLmateo]

Pvc valve is a $3 maintenence part as well... I switch the syn... makes we feel like I should have stayed.

 

[GL1500]

Regarding the switch to synthetic oil, I own a '95 Honda Goldwing w/~95,000 miles. It's had dino oil since new ( bought it from a friend). First thing I planned on doing was changing to synthetic but read too many folks that have developed leaks after doing so. First place to show up is usually the shifter seal. Most reported that the leaks stop after returning to conventional oil. Apparently the older seals shrink with synthetic oil.

I chose to stick with Delo 400LE in all my bikes and have never been disappointed. Shifts are smooth and quiet and the Goldwing sounds like a sewing machine.

 

[shovelbill]

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/

 

[shovelbill]

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[Ironhead]

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....

 

[shovelbill]

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....

and some guys ran Borax through the carb to help "reseal" rings......twas a last ditch effort for a few extra miles