[AT] oil for old engines---filters and age of oil

[hank at millerfarm.com]

Quoting John Hall <jthall at worldnet.att.net>:

> One thing I have found is that using the high performance oil filters on
> vehicles pays off. Wife's old car had lifters tapping when practically new.
> Of course it quit by the time it got to the dealership. Happened a few
> times, dealer guaranteed to take care of it if it died on the road etc..

With symptoms like that I'd never use anything but synthetic in the  
car.   Clearly it is borderline oil starved, so you need to give it  
the best you can give it.   I tend to run synthetic in any vehicle  
that doesn't use a lot of oil.    (I don't get much choice now, my car  
requires it because of the cam angles to the injectors)

>  How often do you guys change oil in your collector tractors? Two of mine
> haven't had an oil change in over 10 years while 2 others haven't had it
> changed in 20. It shouldn't be dirty considering how little they run. My
> only concern would be moisture. And none of these have replaceable filters
> ( 2 don't even have flters).

I'm more worried about the lack of lubrication causing the pistons to  
seize to the cylinder walls even if only a little bit.  Each time you  
start the engine it may start right, but you tear off the seizing and  
a little bit of cylinder wall with it.   The only good solution I know  
for that is fogging oil like boats use for storage.