Oil question

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volaredon

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I went to an auction yesterday and they had some oil on the sale bill. A mix of weights and brands, my question is on some of the oils in the pile.
As I go thru the stash I may have more questions.
It's all old, in the types of cans that you poke one of those spouts in that today's kids haven't seen...
First one... Not all, but some of it is 20w20. Weird. What would use such an oil?
What would is 60-HD oil used for? Is HD heavy duty or Harley Davidson? My first thought was aviation
But among other things this particular stuff says on the can "Also meets specs for 1967 and older vehicles". I didn't think they were running thY heavy of oil in cars ever.
 
So far there's 5-30, 10-30, 10-40, type f, and more.
I'm not home right now so don't remember brand/ weight but there's some gallon cans of some weight oil among the pile. I got about 20% of the haul in the bed of my truck, gotta take off work early one day this week when the other building is open and they can get the forklift to load the rest. All in oil cans that were common before they went to plastic bottles so probably decent levels of Zinc in it
 
20W-20 is is a straight grade that was pretty popular until the '80s. Straight grades were cheaper, so even though there were more advanced products they did their job and were a good value. The reason it looks like a multi-grade is because the SAE has both a maximum thickness when cold winter rating and minimum thinness when hot summer rating for grade 20. So an 20 oil that met both criteria could be labeled 20W-20 to show it.

HD can mean high detergent, heavy duty, Harley Davidson or whatever you want. Grade 60 was, and maybe still is, a popular oil for V twin Harleys and Indians, and Top Fuel and Funny Car racers. SAE didn't define a 60 until the '90s. So anything heavier than the spec for SAE 50 was called Grade 60. For cars 1967 and older probably means it has an API SC rating. Pretty low detergent levels. The current rating is SP. So that's a lot of updates since then. Pennzoil did sell a API SC grade 30 until the late '80s. We called it "regular 30." It also said for 1967 and earlier on the can. It wasn't a big seller and was discontinued.

If you can post up clear pictures of labels I can probably help you with a lot of your questions.
 
Ok I unloaded my truck just now, a handful of empties, (didn't go thru every case)
So far I have 38 cases here, 10 of which is type F, 2 of which is 60hd about a dozen 20w20, 3-4 10w30 a couple of 5w30, 1 10w40, (which has been my go to in everything car-truck related I have ever owned) and a couple of HD30 , and a couple of Heinz 57 mixes of various cans ... Now to go back later this week and get the rest....will probably leave that in my trailer and back it in the garage so I can roll it out easy enough when needed instead of hand-moving every case..... especially since I gotta put the trailer in my 2 post lift side of the garage....
 
S'cuder said:
20W-20 is is a straight grade that was pretty popular until the '80s. Straight grades were cheaper, so even though there were more advanced products they did their job and were a good value. The reason it looks like a multi-grade is because the SAE has both a maximum thickness when cold winter rating and minimum thinness when hot summer rating for grade 20. So an 20 oil that met both criteria could be labeled 20W-20 to show it.
If you can post up clear pictures of labels I can probably help you with a lot of your questions.
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Thanks. So what's the difference between an sae 20w20 and a straight weight sae 20??? Which temp is a straight weight rated at? Hot or cold? And what temp is the cold rating vs what temp is the hot rating?
 
What brand is it? Somewhere, I have 5 quarts of Gulfpride 30W oil hidden back! I've had it since the early 80's, but it would just be a conversation piece now, to display in the shop.
 
I still run 30 weight straight! Currently Brad penn oil. Used to run valvoline vr1 30 wt. Also have a case of Schaeffers 30 wt. So as you can see I'm old skool!! This weight oil works great. Just not in cold weather. Which is almost non existent here in Texas.
 
volaredon said:
Thanks. So what's the difference between an sae 20w20 and a straight weight sae 20??? Which temp is a straight weight rated at? Hot or cold? And what temp is the cold rating vs what temp is the hot rating?
Click to expand...
SAE 20W-20 and SAE 20 are both straight weights. The difference is that 20W-20 also meets the cold weather pour and pump tests. That earns it the 20W part, in which the W stands for winter. 20 is kind of unique in that it has both winter and summer definitions.
The tests for cold weather ratings are well below 0°F. The oil is chilled to 30 or 40 below, if I remember correctly. The hot tests are performed at 100°C. Those are viscosity and HTHS, and all four tests make up SAE standard J300. Let me see if I can find a write up that can explain it better than I can.
 
The 60HD is interesting. The HD "there" means heavy duty, not high detergent. My 75 F250 has a spec of 50HD motor oil for the Borg Warner T18 4 speed manual transmission. Right in the Ford service manual.
 
RustyRatRod said:
The 60HD is interesting. The HD "there" means heavy duty, not high detergent. My 75 F250 has a spec of 50HD motor oil for the Borg Warner T18 4 speed manual transmission. Right in the Ford service manual.
Click to expand...
Yup, SAE 50 engine oil was the lube used in truck transmissions for years.
 
QuickDart360 said:
I still run 30 weight straight! Currently Brad penn oil. Used to run valvoline vr1 30 wt. Also have a case of Schaeffers 30 wt. So as you can see I'm old skool!! This weight oil works great. Just not in cold weather. Which is almost non existent here in Texas.
Click to expand...
I mostly used 30 straight and race in 30wt and 40wt. But just changed to muti last 5 years or so but got a great deal on it.
Nothing wrong with 30w, 40wt at all.

My dad was manager of the auto section at GEX ( Goverment Employee Exchange ) like Sam's Club
They sold and used mostly straight grade.
We live in the south so mostly hot so most changes used 30wt.
Some asked and used 40wt summer as heavy weight.
Old motors are fine with 30wt and 40wt with no I'll affects, unless built with tight tolerance like a new cars motor
I would not hesitate to use it today
 
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