oil question...

[moveoverGM]

My 73' is still burning some oil. I am currently running straight 40W dino oil in it. At this time it supposedly has about 1500 to 2000 miles since a total tear down and rebuild. But that was done in 2010. Then I believe the truck sat for a while. Consensus is that for some reason the rings did not seat properly. I plan to have the engine pulled from the truck in the spring and have a new ring job done to it as well as a couple of other things. But until then, should I treat the engine like it is high mileage and switch to something like Castrol 10W-30 HM until the work is done? All in all I really love this truck and I feel that the engine work will be more than worth it. And other than that there are no other issues.
Any suggestion appreciated. Donald

 

[SuperCab]

If you're running straight SAE40 in it already I don't imagine you'll do better on anything else

 

[fatherdoug]

I believe high mileage engine oils simply contain more detergent to clean and/or keep the engine clean. I'm not sure it would do much in the "leaking oil" department.

 

[cbaker65]

My dad had rebuilt an engine one time an used STP to lube the cylinders &
rings ,he drove the car for a year ,but the rings never seated an eventually
started to smoke.
Then he sold the car to a friend an he drained half the oil out ,an put diesel
in its place an let it run through the engine ,that seated rings ,it made my
dad sick because it was a 69 nova with a balanced an blue printed 350/mod.

 

[moveoverGM]

Baker, what kind of "diesel" was it? Was it engine oil for diesel engines or diesel fuel? Thanks for the replies guys. I plan to do another more involved compression check in a few days. Should be interesting...

 

[cbaker65]

Baker, what kind of "diesel" was it? Was it engine oil for diesel engines or diesel fuel? Thanks for the replies guys. I plan to do another more involved compression check in a few days. Should be interesting...

Diesel fuel ,infact ,when I changed my oil ,I drain it half way an put
it in the crankcase an let my truck sit an idle for 30 minutes ,it helps
clean the top end from sludge..my dad use to do it all the time on his
old engines when he changes the oil.

I don't know what it does to the newer engines in todays cars ,I'm not
recommending it for those ,but its good for my old engine ,an it runs
great!...