It's as good a theory as any at the moment. I did drain the mineral oil completely and change the filter, but of course that wont remove the oil housed in the lifters so, yeah maybe. It will be interesting (possibly painful) to see what happens from here.
Your supposed to taste the oil - I think You can have the same type of motor and yet one will react totally different to a different oil and/ or a different grade! Gone are the days when you had your favourite oil for a particular motor and stuck with it - I have found that you have to find the right oil that suits that particular motor - which can only be done with trial and error and invariably is subject to change over time. I got rid of a lifter ticking noise a while ago in my current engine by changing oil a couple of times - but not before I went through the unpredictable guessing game on which brand / viscosity / colour / smell and taste :rofl: that I was going to get lucky with! What's that old saying "Oils ain't Oils - sole" I hope you get lucky with the right oil soon Marcus - maybe smelling and tasting it can guide you as well! :rolleyes2: JC
Sorry mate, but you just ruined an otherwise clever come-back line("Oils ain't oils, Sol.."). SOL...short for Solomon(Jewish/Italian/Mafia inference). Oi vay!
Any motor oil, mineral, full synthetic semis and synth/mineral blends, specificallly specced for automotive use are backwards and forwards compatible. Its a romantic thought that the plain old mineral oil might "gum up" with the new fandangled oil but its not going to happen. Id be saying that the issues was always present with the lifters but the olde minerale oile was just masking the issue until the modern stuff was added. Id say the issues would have appeared no matter what oil you used sooner or later. If the lifters are the culprits, due to sludge from a badly maintained engine that they originally came from, then theres a good chance that the check ball is not seating correctly in the housing and allowing oil to pass backwards. If it were my car, i would just be adding whatever oil you feel like using. I dont care what weight oil I use. Its NEVER made a difference to me in ANY vehicle i have driven or raced in over 40 years. I use valvoline Duroblend and buy whatever is on special at the time and just drive on and see what the outcome is in the mid term. They might come right, they might stay the same, they may get worse over time. E
I'm jumping in late, half cocked, only reading the last 30 or so posts (been following on and off for a while). Also on a PC atm, which means I dont have to battle withe the tablet's keyboard. How many kays has the current oil been in the car? I'd suggest taking a small sample from the sump and getting it tested by a lab. You will find out whether there is any issues (residual materials from worn bearings, etc). Might be worth getting professional advice on this- speak to a few local mechanics / engine builders to see who they recommend. You can then weigh up your options for the next step- this could be a simple engine flush additive, or a pull-down of the motor to inspect the main caps, rod caps, etc for signs of oil starvation. Any wear in bearings or other components will cause flow on effects for engine components which reside downstream of the problem part. Refer to the oil system diagram in page LC-4 of the FSM. The hydraulic lifters are on the end of the line as far as oil feed goes. It goes : Oil pan/strainer/pump/filter > Main gallery > Check ball > cyl head gallery > Lifters > return to sump. Pending oil analysis, check your oil filter. It is possible for contaminants to be so small that they pass thru the filter, but still collect and lodge in other engine components. I watched an interesting youtube video about this, check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rdolOvBOP4
Whilst I have the utmost respect for your experience/knowledge, Tas, I feel I must point out that the "non-compatibility" of some engine oils goes back well before the present crop of chemical concoctions now on offer as "lubricants". I am ancient enough to remember race engines running Castrol R(a vegetable-based lubricant)having huge problems when changing to mineral oils(without having completely dismantled and cleaned prior to said use). I 'threw it in' as 'food for thought' not as an iron-clad solution/reason.:zlove:
Indeed. Now, we are now displaying our respective ages for the whole zed community to giggle at Lloyd! look, Im hearing what your saying but what your saying is hardly relevant here. However, the likes of Castrol R/Shell M et-al are not (relatively) modern motor oils and dont carry such designations. They are pure castor/vegetable oils, in use as lubricants since before internal combustion engines were invented. They just happened to serve a purpose along with being a pretty handy thing to relieve constipation, provide pleasant massages AND good to cook/fry food with!!!!!! That fact that mineral engine oil hadnt been invented yet is irrelevant.....!!!! The veggie oils are superior to anything science can concoct up, lubricant wise and indeed are still the benchmark that motor oils are judged against but castor oils have both a few advantages and drawbacks. Compatibility with metho fuels as a 2 stroke lubricant is a plus, superior engine lubrication another. However and gumming and particularly, piston ring sticking in the longer term are very real minus issues! Matters not in a race engine. they get stripped before gumming becomes an issue. Bottom line thos is they are not specified as a motor oil in passenger cars. I was specifically referring to "modern" motor oils specified for petrol passenger vee-hikkles and anything made in the relatively recent past, carrying appropriate designations is forwards and backwards compatible with plain old mineral oils. Not some old cooking oil!!!!!!! The only real compatibility issues that would concern us is between diseasel and petrol oils. Petrol soecific oils dont like the residues of diesel combustion and shit themselves. However, diseasel oils are perfectly suited to petrol use. Cheers E
I only chucked it in as a "What if", given all the dead ends that Marcus was encountering(I personally have not had any oil related issues in my Z since the rebuild many moons ago)and as I don't keep altering the oils I am currently using, I am not expecting things to change markedly in the foreseeable future(famous last words....). Cheers...Lloyd:zlove::br:
