QuestionQUESTION: Howard,
Last time we talked I was putting in the stakedown kit, I masked off most of the head as I drilled each hole and vacuumed up the shavings. As a precaution, I changed my oil and filter after, was wondering if you have an opinion about using oil additives ? The shop who sells me my triumph parts always told me to put a bottle of Lucus oil stabilizer in my Spitfire and TR7, the Jag shop I deal with says to use BG MOA, what do you think ? I always use Castrol GTX 20W50 in my british cars...
Speaking of oil - do you have a procedure for flushing the transmission (BW 66) ? I read it can be done by disconnecting the exhaust side hose, run the engine, drain out 2 quarts, stop engine, pour in 2 quarts, start engine and repeat process until total quantity is replaced...
Finally, is there a big difference in performance and maintenance between the series 3 xj6 and the xj12 ? There's a nice one for sale in my neighbourhood but I'm not sure if it may be alot more work than the xj6 !
Thanks again,
Steve.
ANSWER: Hi Steve,
I have no experience with either the oil stabilizer nor BG MOA so I can't comment on either one.
The only additive I have done any research on is the STP oil additive.
Viscosity is the thickness of a oil and viscosity index is it's ability to maintain it's viscosity when heated. STP was designed to be a viscosity index booster. However it has other features that I liked. When I worked in a dealership in FL I seen the demonstration of STP having the ability to enter clearances where 10w oil would not fit even though STP looks thick which has nothing to do with the size of it's molecules. That was impressive but not why I started using it. We often rebuilt engines and they sat on the floor for a week before we would get back to put them in a car and run them and we knew that engine oil will run off of cylinder walls and out of bearings so we tried several different types of lubes to build an engine with and some had bad results. So I covered several bare sheets of metal with all the lubes we normally used to build our engines with. Then we set these sheets of metal outside in the weather for several weeks. Only one protected the metal from rust and that was STP. Meaning it stayed on the metal for long periods of time.
At the time I had a small plane that I only flew once a month so I used it in it too.
As far as Castrol oil, I used it for over 50 years and believed in it, but recently I decided to try Castrol Syntec oil in a fresh built engine I was installing in a show car. I only painted the rods and mains with a 50/50 mix of Castrol GTX and STP and painted the cam lobes with Kent Cam lube. No STP was added to the oil. Less then a teaspoon was used in painting the bearings. The engine was run on a test stand for less then 20 minutes and the oil drained and saved. The engine was installed about two months later and the pan was removed to add a splash pan to keep oil off of the crank in hard turns and on acceleration and I found a black hardened blatter in the pan that I could pick up like a sheet. The oil also had turned ink black in only 20 minutes of running. I first inspected the engine and bearings and found no damage and then contacted Castrol to see if they would test the oil to see what happened to it. They refused to even look at it and said they do not recommend Castrol oil be used in a modified engine and not to add any additives to it.
Over half of the engines I have built in the last 50 years were modified and I always used Castrol oil. It proved to me to never use Castrol oil again, not because the oil is not any good but because this proved to me that no matter what problem I can have will oil, they (Castrol) will NOT stand behind it nor even look at my problem. I had told them that I examined the engine and there was no damage in the 20 minutes of running, I just wanted to know what happened to the oil and they just brushed me aside.
I don't know if it has anything to do with them being under BP ownership or not but it was clear they couldn't care less about their customers.
I am now running some tests of my own by just pickling Castrol Syntec oil with combinations of a small amount of STP, Kent Cam lube, GTX oil to see if there is a chemical reaction and there is with the cam lube and the STP. I am working on a method to see if it is affected the ability of the oil to be a lube.
It is obvious that something is wrong and they are hiding something.
I have a couple of Castrol banners to dispose of if you know any one who might want them.
Howard
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Howard,
You are an amazing source of information ! That's very interesting about the reaction with the oil - so it was the syntec with one or both of the 2 additives that created that sheet in the pan...
You haven't seen anything like that with conventional oil and additives ?
You mentioned this problem when you gave me the instructions on the install of the stakedown kit. I've only used castrol with my cars because it's usually the only one I can find in 20w50. I've been told additives help keep the oil on the metal longer or make is stickier so cold start ups cause less wear since there is oil there. I may try STP in the future.
Regarding the transmission flush - is my procedure ok ?
Thanks again Howard,
Steve.
ANSWER: Yes it is for sure a chemical reaction because I was able to duplicate the ink black response in a jar but it did it with the cam lube and/or with STP.
The results are that I will not give up STP even though they will not respond to me either, but will give up Castrol because of their clearly stupid remarks in response to my request for a diagnosis of the oil. They advertise racing as they have for decades but send me an e-mail telling me they don't recommend using their oil in a modified engine. How stupid is that response?
If they will brush aside a loyal supporter of their products for over 50 years, what do you think they will do with anyone with a oil problem? It just represents the mind set of management. (Castrol and BP)
For me to not use or endorse their product anymore means absolutely nothing to them as they will continue to sell Castrol even with their attitude toward the public. Too many large companies have this attitude.
Your cleaning procedure sounds good. Most transmission shops have equipment and methods also to flush transmissions and torque converters that don't have drains. Even tough I attended three different automatic transmission classes while working in dealerships. We always either had a automatic transmission specialist in shop or we sub-letted the work to a transmission shop so I never got much experience in automatic transmissions. The only one I am experienced on are the over drive units, which are just a two speed auto transmissions.
Howard
---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------
QUESTION: Howard,
It is incredible how Castrol responded to you ! Talk about zero customer service ! You'd think they would be extremely interested in what you found to prevent problems with other customers.
Have you ever used the other additives that help restore compression like slick 50 or zmax ?
Any opinion on the XJ12 vs the XJ6 ?
Thanks Howard,
Steve.
AnswerI have not tested any of the additives that claim to restore compression but the design of pistons and rings make it only possible to restore any lost compression for only a short time no matter what the additive does.
I was factory trained on the rebuild of both engines. Both have some pros and cons but unless you have deep pockets the 6 is far more practical. It is cool to have a V-12 but the small amount of power increase and the excessive expense to maintain it makes the 6 a much more desirable engine.
Howard
