I use whatever is on sale every 3000 miles. Now and again I mix in a quart of Lucas oil stablizer or Marvel Mystery Oil with the change. I haven't had the truck long, a 1990 v6. Whoever had it before me neglected a lot of things...like the steering linkage and U joints were dry. I grease these every other oil change. Seems like a well made truck, though. She stood up to the neglect. I've never had to add oil between changes. I'm taking better care of her and hoping she rewards me with another 100,000 miles.

 

Years ago, there was a recommendation to pick one brand of oil and stick with it and to NOT change brands and types.

I have used Quaker State in all of my engines for years, and I make an effort to change every 3000 miles.

 

please do so?

 

I rebuilt my engine and Im at 700 miles ready for my first oil change to what oil???

I started with 10W30 should I go back to the same?

 

RockGuardedDak, You said there is blue smoke. If its coming from the tailpipe, that usually means that you're burning coolant, which in turn means you have a cracked block. If its not coming from the tailpipe, then I have no idea, and you might want to do some research.

 

Sure, why not. 5w-30 would be fine as well.

 

Im currently using a 10w30 regular oil but pretty soon going to switch to a 15w40 oil. Trucks getting older and oil pressure light comes on when its hot at idle lol.

 

 

Greeting! I saw the post and decided to throw my 2 cents in. The last three vehicle's I've owned have been older school Pushrod engine. A Jeep with an AMC 4.0.. A Cadillac with a 4.9... and this Dakota. That being said, I run 10W30 Delo or Rotella. My reasoning behind this is 2 fold. A: 10w30 is the weight these engines are recommended for. Secondly, 'Heavy Duty Engine Oil' (AKA Diesel Stuff) Has higher concentrations of zinc dialkyldithiophosphate (ZDDP for short, more colloquially, but incorrectly called 'Zinc'). ZDDP penetrates and 'hardens/seasons' internal mating surfaces, which is a boon in a push rod engine. The reciprocating mass associated with OHV engines (Valves, rockers, lifters, pushrods) Requires higher valve spring rates to push back. This puts increased pressure on the cam lobe and lifter. This is where the ZDDP earns its paycheck. Modern, overhead cam engines can get away with lighter springs because of the reduced reciprocating mass and thusly are served quite well by any modern motor oil - Conventional to boutique (Your Amsoils/royal purples, Joe Gibb's Driven) Back in the old days, when everything had pushrods, ZDDP was used in amounts (IIRC, don't quote me) such as 1100 -1300 PPM in conventional, car grade motor oil. It's been reduced now to about half of that or a third of that for emissions reasons. It can be hard on Catalytic Converters and O2 Sensors. That's why manufacturers started to reduce it's content for warranty reasons. Diesels have no such issue so they can continue to use it in useful amounts. GM's DEXOS Requirement is basically substituting the ZDDP with other flow characteristics because of GM's love of pushrod engines. That's why I use diesel oils in my push-rods (I also use it in my motorcycle, but thats more for the clutch/transmission's sake). Lastly, a word about Lucas oil stabilizer. I USED to use it, but I gave up on it and just switched to Diesel/Heavy Duty oils. I know it's kind of neat to pour it in your tired old engine and watch the oil pressure gauge stand up for the first time in forever (I imagine it's kind of like Viagra for engines). It is 120 weight oil. To put that in perspective, the axle in our trucks calls for oil thats only 90w. That is all it is. It actually has little to no additives in it. If you pour 4 quarts of good quality oil in, and 1 quart of lucas oil stabilizer, you've simply diluted the oil's additive package by 20%! This is a link to an analysis performed by a lab on a virgin sample of it.


Nothing that will actually help with an engine. Nothing that will treat your seals or help metallurgically. Nothing that will help counteract acid production in the oil. Just 120w peanut butter. In closing, skip the additives, run a good oil and change regularly. It's the best thing you can do for your engine. Second best thing is regularly flush your coolant system and use properly mixed coolant with distilled water. Distilled water isn't conductive. Over time coolant becomes conductive, and as your engine is grounded, electrolysis takes place and the inside of your engine starts to break down metallurgically. Bits of your engine break away from the casting on a beyond microscopic level. Over a long enough time line, you can degrade the material enough to lose clamping force and that is where head gaskets fail.

 

A simple question deserves a simple answer: Look in your owner's manual to find what type oil your engine requires. In this case (3.9 V6) it is SAE 10W30 conventional. This is the oil type you use if there are no problems with the engine and it has been serviced properly through it's life- no matter the mileage. If you do not know the service history of the engine but the inside is clean (under the valve covers), it has good oil pressure, and there are no obvious lubricating factors present, you can safely assume the engine is being properly lubricated. Folks talk about using "high mileage" full synthetic oil at a certain mileage point - what is that mileage point? 100K; 150K; etc? As stated before, it doesn't matter as long as all is still good. It is ok to use a synthetic "blend" oil as the valve seals wear over time and this helps (I use synthetic blend with 180,000 miles - never an issue). The main deal with using full synthetic oil is that once you start using it, you must ALWAYS use it. Full synthetic oils are designed to swell seals, and are good for engines with worn seals - also good for racing engines (that will get an oil change every run anyway). You should not use a full synthetic oil until (if) the engine begins to show signs of worn seals (smoking) - then you must use it ALWAYS. Reason I say ALWAYS is because once you begin to use full synthetic, and the seals swell, those seals must remain swelled, or you will have a much bigger problem.