Gus Wilson, proprietor of the Model Garage, the fictional series that appeared in Popular Science from 1925 to 1969 recommended that if you switched from non-detergent oil to detergent oil, it would be a good idea to change the oil at 100 miles after the change to detergent oil. There was a story about this in the December 1947 issue of Popular Science. I think after that oil change at 100 miles, a motorist could safely go 1000 miles between oil changes with this new detergent oil…
Also, in the early 1950s, advertisements used to appear in magazines for a porous bronze oil filter. The ad claimed that it wasn’t used in new cars off the assembly line because it kept the oil so clean that the engines wouldn’t break in for 25,000 miles.
I do remember my dad having real problems after he switched over to detergent oil in his 1949 Dodge. The oil consumption shot up immensely and on pulls up a hill, the oil pressure would drop almost to zero.
At any rate, it seems that history repeats itself only this time we are discussing the merits of synthetic oil vs. non-synthetic oil as opposed to detergent vs. non-detergent oil.
I may be living in the past, but I don’t recommend non-detergent straight weight API service SA for today’s engines.
Speaking of non-detergent oil, I can recall an incident from my gas-pumping days on The NJ Turnpike. A guy drove in with a '50s vintage Rolls-Royce, and I had my first look underneath the hood of a Rolls.
It turned out that the engine (a large six cylinder) was low on oil–by 2 or 3 qts–so I asked him which grade of oil he wanted. He told me…“I only use non-detergent oil”, so I had to scrounge in the back room, where I found a few ancient cans of non-detergent oil for this customer.
IIRC, we charged him 40 cents per qt for this stuff that probably was extremely outdated in terms of its SAE rating, but he was happy because he got his non-detergent oil. I can’t imagine what the internals of that engine must have looked like.
@VDCdriver–back in the old days, there was considerable debate about the use of detergent oil. Tom McCahill, in his book “What You Should Know About Cars” published in the early 1960s did not like detergent oil. “I prefer detergent in my bathtub, not in my crankcase” was his comment. My Dad bought a new 1963 Studebaker Lark V-8 and the owner’s manual called for non-detergent oil. That Studebaker had solid lifters and I suppose the thinking was that detergent oil was not necessary.
Multi-viscosity oil was also not recommended by McCahill. He suggested its only purpose was that service stations didn’t have to stock as many oil weights.
I would bet that the 1950s Rolls Royce probably didn’t have hydraulic tappets.
I did use 30 weight non-detergent oil in the 2 stroke Lawnboy mower–the manual called for 1/2 pint of 30 weight non-detergent per gallon of gasoline (16:1). We fogged for mosquitoes as we mowed the lawn. Today, I use a 50:1 non ethanol fuel in my snow blower and rototiller 2 stroke engines and pay $7 a liter for the stuff. I now have to swat mosquitoes in the summertime as I till the garden–this mixture doesn’t put out the blue smoke.
Tom McCahill, in his book “What You Should Know About Cars” published in the early 1960s did not like detergent oil.
If I remember correctly, he also suggested putting an extra quart in over the Full mark.
Maybe his book should have been titled: What I Claim to Know About Cars.
@Triedaq–Yes, I’m sure that the Rolls engine had solid lifters. IIRC, the owner was concerned about multi-viscosity oil, as well as detergent oil. I believe that I had to search for some very old cans of “straight” 30-weight non-detergent oil.
You can still actually find non-detergent oil pretty easy. Look at the cheapest no-name brand of oil at Wal-Mart or some of the overpriced quarts at convenience stores. It is usually API SA 30W. I wouldn’t put this in anything except if I was in dire need and would change it ASAP once I got a chance. With my luck I would overpump hydraulic lifters and burn some valves. I run synthetic in my mowers. I came across some of this while helping someone clean out a shed and used it as chainsaw bar oil.
I buy 30W non detergent for my electric powered air compressor. It is now more expensive than the 30w detergent oil I use in my 1978 I-H Cub lawn tractor. It has been cutting grass on the same engine since 1978 and I am not going to change oil type now.
When my air compressor (like this, but now ~30 y.o.) wouldn’t start on a 50ft extension cord I replaced the factory fill oil with 5W-20 oil and the reduced friction solved the issue.
It’s been about 20 years since I did that, so maybe it’s time for another change.