So today it was nice 60 degree weather and I finally got around to changing my leaky oil seals on the cooler lines and changed the oil. When I took the lines off, the oil coming out was like a long oil turd and very thick like jello. I then drained the oil in the pan and it too was very thick in spots. Very lumpy coming out of the pan. No metal shavings I could see but this oil definitely lost its ability to flow. Due to my race bearings, I'm running a thicker 20w-50 oil. I replaced it with Mobil 1 20w-50. Running E85 and maybe 1000 miles on that oil but it mostly sat over the winter in a garage.

Has anyone else had issues with Chunky or Lumpy oil? I've ran other brands with more miles before and never had this issue. Definitely has me concerned. I may send in an oil sample.

For now, I'm staying away from Brad Penn oil.

 

Me.

Years ago I was driving a '78 Trans Am back from Wyoming and as I approached home I remembered I had an oil change waiting in the garage. So, I pulled off of the road and immediately put the car on ramps. When I removed the oil filter and turned it over to drain, nothing came out.

Pennzoil hadl let loose a batch of oil without antioxidant and they were buying users new engines for awhile. I had disassembled my engine and cleaned it before I heard of the recall. You might want to pull the valve cover and see what you find there. I had black stuff in that location an inch thick.

 

thats strange.. ive gone through 2 cases of 20-50.. every one was just fine?

 

Hmm, haven't seen the problem or heard such a thing from anyone I personally know running Brad Penn. Have you tried contacting Brad Penn Racing directly about the issue?

 

Haven't contacted Brad Penn yet. This is the first time I have ran BP oil. I guess its also known as sludge. The stuff in the lines was so thick I was afraid to start my car with the condition of the BP oil so didn't drain the oil warm. Maybe it has something to do with the lacking of antioxidants or something. When draining the oil from the pan, it would sometimes stop then come out in a clump. Tore apart the filter and found no shavings or anything to be alarmed about.

 

Maybe the BP oil broke up all the bad sludge that was in there from before and thats what was left!? whats the milage on the car? i'm not saying thats what the problem is because i dont know how bad the sludge was!

 

Built engine only has about 5000 miles and the oil has probaby been changed 5 times. Because of the E85, and other mods like the ported head and different turbo's, the oil gets changed frequently. The BP oil had less than 1000 miles. Previous oil was Enos 0w-50 with about the same 1000 miles.

 

Due to the frequency of your oil changes I'm guessing you lucked out. My TA with the Pennzoil oil in it got oil changes every 3K but it could have been past that because of the long road trip. If this is another antioxidant problem like happened then, it would have gotten worse as you drove on.

I don't know how oil circulated in that Pontiac 400 but it got me home and the bearings were okay. The oil filter was packed with black chunks.

 

Run Amsoil

/thread...

 

This should not suprise anyone at all when running Petro based oil's, you see what eventually happens is that the oil deposites in areas like oil cooller lines, small oil passages like galleys and that is when the engine starts starving itself from oil, on the other hand 20W50 is way to thik for most engine out there, most shops reccomend it because most shops are usto running their cars all out, and they dont tailor the oil to the customer's application.

i wish you would see what happens to petro oil's when the weather is cold enough , on the other hand petro oil's do not have the ability to stay in viscocity range that well, they slidge up fast and sludge everything in its path you can see it quickly under the valve cover.

petro is a loose loose situation, always run a fully synthetic at the least a grouop 3 synthetic, keeps your engine clean and ensures your internals are properly lubricated.

 

Remember back then they built engines very very loose to acept the thick oil's engine internal clearances were big compared to todays engines specially engines like 4G63, 4B11 and honda engines which are very tight from factory and not much looser when built.

in your case of the Pontiac thick oil was ok, would you have wished synthetic were more comon back then i am sure every gear head back then would have wished to have synthetic simply because their engine internals would have stayed much cleaner and better lubricated.

 

Reply with BP's response to the coagulation issue and definitely send it in for testing. To happen above freezing with limited use seems strange.

 

It did dip below -15F many a night for a few weeks here in CO..

 

I don't mean to rag on Pennzoil. Back then they sold a premium oil. They just were the ones with bad luck.

I also had a Ford I drove that always had had Pennzoil in it. When I pulled the head for valve work at 140K the cylinder bores looked like new and the engine was clean inside. So, I'd say the additive package they used then was as good as anything out there today. The oil just wasn't refined the way they can now and contained wax that would solidify in winter causing pumping problems. Also, synthetic was around then. I ran it in winter to avoid cold starting problems.

As for thick oil, the TA manual called for 10W-40 the same weight I run in summer in my stock block Evo. The Evo service manual calls for 20W-40 for hot weather, something I don't find.

 

I run bradpenn, because my engine manufacture required(requested) it. Its likely just an oops on their end.