Packard Forum Index » Post-War (1946-54)

Tobs, providing your Packard's engine in good mechanical shape, you're better served by 10W/30. Look in any MoToR Manual, Packard manual, et al from the '30s and '40s. Every make, including Packard, suggests 20 in winter, 30 summer. Full synthetic is fine. Some characters still warn about "leaky seals" but that was from the esters abandoned by all synthetic motor oils decades ago. Fire in a theater is extinguished slowly, apparently.

The above, any major brand, is precisely what Chevron, Conoco Philips, and other oil engineers I spoke at length with use in their own high performance flat cam engines with valve spring pressures vastly higher than our lawn mower engines.

There's a lot of frenzied over-thinking about gear and motor oils. Keep it simple. These queries have been posed and answered dozens of times here and on other respected vintage car forums. No gain. Enough already.

We hear too much blame for worn units, slothful or no maintenance, cast on fluids; brakes, engine, driveline. No mechanic in a can. Turn off computer, fix car, drive car.
Happy fourth day of Christmas.

Anyone interested in Richard Michell's book, the title is "Which Oil?: Choosing the Right Oils & Greases for Your Vintage, Antique, Classic or Collector Car".
It is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, ebay, etc. in both paper and digital format.