Re: Engine oil

Posted by Tim Cole On 2008/2/7 18:41:32

Wow!

Tim Cole (that's me) has really made a lot of friends here at the Packard Forum.

I guess I won't give out my phone number.

I had a Packard come in with a stuck choke and after a few adjustments added 60 more horsepower. The owner took it out on the highway and promptly blew it up.

The reason I contacted oil companies was because I have to advise customers how to interpret what is stated in the official Packard Lubrication Guidelines available on this website.

When I take a 5000 mile old engine apart and find the pistons falling out of it I want to know why.

When I compare original Packard engine parts to aftermarket replacements I can see there is no comparison. So I won't argue that 50 years ago you could get a lot more out of a Packard then today.

I knew a guy years ago who had a Packard Speedster and drove it at high speeds up to 90 mph. It held up fine. But he owned a gas station and did a full lubrication service before each extended trip. He had the car for 40 years and drove it about 1500 to 2000 miles per year. As the years went by he didn't drive it as fast because the traffic was getting pretty heavy.

My other source of information besides oil companies are handbooks on petroleum engineering.

Over the years I have seen a number of low mileage Packards taken out by new owners, driven like crazy, and then blow up.

Do what you want, but I am not going to take a nice 1930 Packard out on the road, open the throttle and see how much I can get away with.

Nor am I going to dismiss the Packard Service Manual as just so much nerdy non-sense.

If I want that kind of advice I will take my car to grease monkey.