VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND NEWER 1949-1954 Best oil 1950 Chevy with Powerglide

The new oils have detergeents added. As I recall the oils fromt the 1950's did not contain degergents.

Should I use oils with detergents? If no what oils do you suggest.

Thanks

I use 10W30 detergent in all my Vintage Chevrolets and have had no problems.

10/30 works well. In 1950 or possibly 1951 the station I worked at sold to Union 76, from Shell. We had a meeting with the 76 folks about introducing the new Purple Royal Triton to our custmers, to my knowledge this was one of the first heavy duty detergent oils. Lifter problems in some of the new V-8s and other cars were the reason. Up to then we used a lot of Rislone and CD-2 additives.

"GOOD" oils in the early 1950's did contain detergents. This was mainly due to the fact that more engines were equipped with hydraulic lifters which your 1950 Power Glide engine does have. There were also many detergent addities sold at that time. . While the early detergents were not as good compared what is available today never the less they were used.In 1950 #20 was the recommend oil for normal temperature operation, 10W-30 was introduced in 1954 and became the recommended oil for temps between 10 Deg below zero up to and beyond 100 Deg.

Gene is right on My dad bought a new 1953 Dodge V /8 it had hyd lifters he was told by the dealer thar his problems was the oil needed to be HD. Dad started using Quaker State HD . When I aquired a 52 Chevy belair with a PG 235 (( (hyd lifters) I started using they same oil Dad was now using (Amalie HD) . I got a summer job with Phillips 66 as a drilling engineer. My driller saw me add a qt of Amalie to the Chevy. He told me "that oil is not allowed on a Phillips 66 rig " I had the oil changed to Phillip's oil and next week the lifters started clicking awfully, I went back to the Amalie and after a few hundred miles the engine smoothed out. Phillips soon came out with Tropartic their HD oil

I worked at a Sinclair station while in high school so, I used their new "Extra Duty" 10W30 oil in my '47. On the advice of an experienced Chevy mechanic, I also added a pint of ATF at each oil change (every 4,000 mi). The oil drained clean and beautiful. A kid that worked there caught my used oil and put it into his pristine '31 Chevy coupe! The '47 216 would go 2,000 very hard miles before needing a quart added.

Further, for hyd lifters, I added a pint of ATF to everything I owned for the next 50 years. The ONLY lifter trouble I ever had was if and when I neglected to add the pint of ATF during an oil change.

There are millions of opinions about oil & additives. I am NOT attempting to change anyone's mind on the subject. I'm only sharing my experience.

To each his own - - -

If you are still using the ATF I'm curious which one you are using as ATF specs have changed a lot over the years. You are not alone in your use of the ATF and a lot of folks use MMO, which by coincidence? is very similar in color and consistency.I'm not a chemist but perhaps Chipper will read and share with us his technical opinion.

For whatever reason, I quit using ATF in engines when I began to drive Ford Crown Vic's and Grand Marquis some years ago. These have 4.6 OHC engines. I had been usiing type F til then.

I use Mobil 1 in the 4.6's.

I agree MMO is good stuff.

When time to change oil&filter in the '41 Chevy, I'm likely going to Penzoil or Castrol 10-30. It is completely rebuilt (by PO). I may also add a pint of ATF to it.

I use Wal-mart 10-30. The little circle on the back of the can or container indicates that it is the same thing as the more costly major brands. I don't using Synthetic get you any added value.

I change every 1000 miles 'cause by that time enough has seeped out that it is just about low enough that it will take about three quarts anyway. Just kidding.

As Gene has advised many times, todays oils are far superior to anything that was available back in the day and that most any of the current regular 10-30 are sufficient.

Charlie