Having now completed 1000 miles in my Mercury since the rebuild in August, I plan to change the oil.

American oils are not that easy to come by here in England.

I used 20/50 mineral classsic motor oil to do the first 1000 miles.

Whats the best oil. I can possibly get our local US parts man to obtain the right stuff.

By the way, the first 1000 miles passed without incident.

  Picture taken in 1960. Funnily enough it still looks like this!

1959 Mercury Monterey 312 Y Block.   NORFOLK, ENGLAND, UK.

The 20/50 you're using now should still be ok as long as it's rated for diesel engines too, it should have the zinc needed for the flat tappet lifters.

-Gary Burnette-

Shell Rotella T 15-40 (Diesel oil)

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Data Re: new Rotella formular.

http://www.ctci.org/membership/Gilsgarage/docs/3_Rotella.pdf

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Thanks.

I didn't realise that diesel oils contain the required zinc.

  Picture taken in 1960. Funnily enough it still looks like this!

1959 Mercury Monterey 312 Y Block.   NORFOLK, ENGLAND, UK.

20/50 sounds pretty thick, atleast when become sub-zero temp.


Hyvinkää, FI

Some additional oils



Chevron Delo 400 15w40

Castrol GTX Diesel 14w40

You may not have the oil problem we have over here as far a zinc is concerned. As one response mentioned, any oil with a SJ or less API rating is good, 20/50 is good. Stay away from any oil that says for gasoline engines only. These are usually 5w15 or the like, designed for more modern roller type engines.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Anyone used a Caterpillar Diesel Engine Oil???? I work at a Cat dealer so would be easy for me.

1957 ________________ Ford

\___((_______________))___/

(@)________V__________(@)

[________I_____I_________]

__[__]__ o_______o___[__]___



Y Blocks, The New Flathead!

Here’s the link to a previous thread regarding the API classification and how it affects the zinc / phosphorus content of the oil.

http://forums.y-blocksforever.com/Topic9285.aspx

Not all API rated oils with the ‘SM’ classification are low in zinc/phosphorus. Doing a search for ‘zinc’ on this site will bring up several different discussions regarding oil for the Y.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

I don't put a great deal of mileage on any of my Y-Blocks and as a result I only change oil twice per year.  I've had very good luck with 4 quarts of good quality 10W40 oil and 1 qt of Lucas oil stabilizer.  No rapping, no tapping, very little oil burn.  I also add 4 oz of Marvel Mystery oil in the gas tank for every 10 gallons of gas.  I can't offer any empirical evidence that it works any better than anything else but none of my engines have blown up yet!!

A.J.

South Jersey

SMSgt USAF Retired 
1955 Ford Ranch Wagon & a couple of old guitars...Life's Good!