Oil

[Joe-JDC]

I have a '86 GT, 89 GT, and 91 LX, and had a 88GT.  None used oil.  Ported heads and EFIs for hundreds of 5.0s and have never heard of oil consumption being an issue in this area.  Haven't read anything in the popular magazines of the era, either.   SA TX.  Joe-JDC

[Nightmist66]

My old 88 T- Bird started to use oil around 190K and finally pulled the motor out at right before 250K when I scrapped the body and rest of drive line. I started to use conventional 10W30 and it slowed down oil consumption to maybe about a quart in 3,500 miles. My dad's 85 GT never used oil but has low miles. It was driven hard from the first day. The T-Bird block is going in the Mustang now, the old block was sleeved once, but done incorrectly so it was a good thing I kept my old block. It will live a gain

[woodboatwayne]

I got real interested in oils several years ago and read every test on line. Mobil 1 was first in every independent test. In the sponsored test it was 2nd behind whoever sponsored the test. I was especially interested in how heat affected the various brands. I use the appropriate weight Mobil 1 in everything I own including my 390 and 292 Y block

[Autoholic]

I've seen more than one independent test that put both Amsoil and Royal Purple above Mobile 1. I'll try to find them.

Here is an independent without Amsoil...

http://www.animegame.com/cars/Oil%20Tests.pdf

Here is one sponsored by Amsoil but take a look at where Mobil 1 ended up and Amsoil wasn't always the top performer in these tests.

https://www.amsoil.com/lit/g3115.pdf

[fekbmax]

Iike useing the goldish brown slippery stuff in my bus conversion.  LoL.

[woodboatwayne]

The tests I remember put a lot of emphasis on breakdown due to heat and used a test involving either 3 or 5 steel balls. I believe they had the balls in a tube and rolled them for and extended period of time and either measured the oil retention, heat or perhaps the metal
particles in the oil. The first test with new oil had all brands closely grouped, but subsequent test with used oil exposed to high heat (as
in air cooled motorcycle) showed Mobil 1 with a clear advantage. I wished I had saved the articles in favorites but didn't. I think I surfed onto the site from "Nightrider" a Harley semi technical site. After posting this I am going to try to find it. Net result was that I changed oil pump and chain tensioners on an older twin cam Harley to a later style and started using Mobil 1 excluseively. Both the test and the method were interesting

[Stangman]

Hey autoholic a lot of people say that synthetic is not great to use in an FE but that test  you would think it would work pretty well considering the FE like to run a little on the warm side

[woodboatwayne]

Autoholic. Went back and read the tests you quoted. Very interesting. I liked the first test better. I used Royal Purple dino oil years ago when I could find it. After going back to Nightrider I see that the do have an interesting oil article, but no link to others anymore.

[Autoholic]

Something that the articles don't go into is gasket material comparability. I believe some gasket materials work better with synthetics than others but I need to research this more. If you look online, you can also find oil filter comparisons. I would go with an oil brand that also has high performing oil filters. Everyone has their own brand loyalty but I'll put my loyalty where I see recent results. I personally think Amsoil and Royal Purple are at the top of that list.

http://www.gmtruckcentral.com/articles/oilfilterstudy.html

[woodboatwayne]

Found a consumer reports test that used metropolitan cabs for 2 years and 60,000 miles. They found that no measureable difference in wear based on any major brand of oil exist. This was the only oil test I could find surfing for 20 minutes not sponsored by an oil company.

[Nightmist66]

I'll throw Schaeffer, Alisyn, and Brad Penn into the mix.

[machoneman]

Found a consumer reports test that used metropolitan cabs for 2 years and 60,000 miles. They found that no measureable difference in wear based on any major brand of oil exist. This was the only oil test I could find surfing for 20 minutes not sponsored by an oil company.

Saw that too. It is a fact that heavy diesels (boat, truck, powerplant, etc.) and gas engines in taxis, limos and police cars hardly ever have wear on critical parts. What's the reason? No cold starts with attendant moisture burn-off, fuel getting past cold rings/pistons and no rich choke cycle that tends to wash cylinder walls before the engine warms fully.

[woodboatwayne]

That's a great point. 

[Autoholic]

The first link I posted that compared many different types of oils was independent and it showed the various levels of wear. That point about taxi cabs being a rather bad choice for wear is a very good point. 80-90% of the wear on an engine happens before the oil gets up to temp. Which means the far more important aspect of an oil is its cold viscosity, rather than its operating temp viscosity. The issues oils face at cold temps is far more important than what they face at operating temps, unless your engine will be used exclusively for racing and will always be warmed up before firing.