Valvoline VR1 for me and it's on sale at advance auto/carquest!

VR1 20/50 or Rotella 15/40 on the alky bracket motors...

Any. Don't use Brad Penn if you're running E85.

Anyone else seeing black residue on the bottom of the pan running VR1? I switched to this oil probably 4 years ago, and have ever since seen a black buildup on the bottom of the pan any time I have had it off. Filter looks fine as do bearings. Seems like something falling out of suspension.

VR1 20w-50 for me.

quote:

Originally posted by Bucky:
Anyone else seeing black residue on the bottom of the pan running VR1? I switched to this oil probably 4 years ago, and have ever since seen a black buildup on the bottom of the pan any time I have had it off. Filter looks fine as do bearings. Seems like something falling out of suspension.

I had the same thing when I ran Lucas race only synthetic, real thick in the bottom of the pan and also a black film inside the valve covers. Switched to Red Line racing synthetic and the engine is bright and shiny inside now.

Been using Brad Penn in my 6.40 bracket deal with outstanding results. Pulled out 414 after over 700 hits and all the bearings look great , one friend wanted them for a street build …...LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Bucky:
Anyone else seeing black residue on the bottom of the pan running VR1? I switched to this oil probably 4 years ago, and have ever since seen a black buildup on the bottom of the pan any time I have had it off. Filter looks fine as do bearings. Seems like something falling out of suspension.

I'm not getting that with Penn Grade, in the past with other oils, I did...………...

Ok not that unusual is sounds like.

Brad Penn or VR1. We have been running alky for almost 20 years.

I run whatever 10w-30 synthetic is on sale when it's time to change it.
I'll probably get a little pickier when the aluminum rod motor goes in the car, but so far this has worked fine for me for a lot of years.

Oil is Oil LOL

Scott

quote:

Originally posted by Bucky:
Anyone else seeing black residue on the bottom of the pan running VR1? I switched to this oil probably 4 years ago, and have ever since seen a black buildup on the bottom of the pan any time I have had it off. Filter looks fine as do bearings. Seems like something falling out of suspension.

Yes!!! Mines like dust. Get some up on top of the heads too.

Strange thing is my car does it but my wife’s doesn’t, both on VR1. Similar engines, same Moroso billet pump, different oil pan (Moroso steel vs Stef’s aluminum) and different heads (dart 355 on hers, CFE 350 on mine).

Good to see how many figured out Schaffer’s 110 single grade micromoly is unsurpassed in value.
I shared tons of test data proving that.

quote:

posted March 05, 2019 06:28 PM Hide Post
Good to see how many figured out Schaffer’s 110 single grade micromoly is unsurpassed in value.
I shared tons of test data proving that.

paul your input has been missed for sure

We miss you, Paul! Hope life is good.

First thing, I want to see if anyone can shed some light on the alky oil contamination deal.
Basically, is the milky oil thing actually alcohol mixed in with the oil, or is it water? Seems to me it is water, not alky. I could be wrong, but does the chemical composition (or the resulting combustion) of methanol produce a whole lot more H2O than gasoline? Or does alky contaminate worse because you are pouring 60% more volume of it into the cylinders? (Or...)?
The reason I started this thread, was because I had to back the car out of the trailer twice this winter, and both times I did not run it long, maybe 30 seconds to 1 minute, not enough to put any heat in the engine. So that was 4 starts, in cold weather, (30-ish degrees) and letting it sitting for several hours after each start. And each start required a lot more pump shot than normal race temps to get things going.
I recently pulled it out to go over things in prep for this year, and yanked the dipstick, it was quite milky. The oil was changed at end of last season. So I leaned it our, ran it up to temp, oil looked better, but I thought about all that moisture that had been in the oil for 2-3 months. So I drained it, pulled valve covers, adjusted lash, poked around with stuff for about an hour. Then I dumped the drain pan into a barrel, and at the bottom was about a quarter inch of water. It had separated out completely, the oil on top was not milky at all.
So here is my burning question: Should a good oil for an alky engine keep the moisture suspended/mixed with the oil? Or is it better if it separates? I don't know that what I saw should be any indication of a concern with the oil or not.
The oil I have been using for 2 years, is the Full-Synthetic version of VR1 racing oil. It is a clear blue color out of the bottle, and when it is contaminated, it actually turns to a green color, not like a milkshake.
Just bought 2 cases online at Advance Auto, the current sale price is $7.49/Qt, that is cheaper than regular dinosaur VR1, and they offer free shipping to your home. P/N 679082 for 20/50.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: FootbrakeJim,

my experience is that water turns it milky ,alky turns it brown.over rich at idle is the worse culprit.i also add the ambient air being cool and a aluminum valve cover being warm makes it rain water in there

As to oil and it’s ability to work with water/ methanol mixed in. I had always heard and verified on BITOG that a paraffin based oil is the best.
My 2 cents on preventing oil milking with Methanol race fuel.
1-Find a way to run on gas when idling warming up or lean the mixture till almost shutting of using a large manifold lean out valve. If injected a primer plus is hard to beat.
2-Adding a wide band O2 meter will help with the above. I collected data with my WBO2 and was on top of the tune up.
3-Anytime you start the cold engine absolutely run it up to at least 195-200F water so your oil temp has a chance at getting hot and burning off the water or methanol in it. An oil pan diaper helps as well as an electric heating pan. Add a gauge to read oil temperature. It’s actually far more important for consistency when going rounds.
4-You will know if it’s cooling water in your oil by the need to add any. If you have an internal cooling water leak, use a pressure tester both cold and hot to help find it. Intake water port to head is a pretty common but head studs or bolts and head gaskets can be the issue.

I have been running injected alcohol (Terminator) for 20+ years. Amsoil 10w40 and I change it every 60-75 runs in 900+HP BBC - You can still see the marks left on the bearings from checking clearances with dial bore gauge after 300+ runs.
1) use a good quality synthetic oil
2) get a vacuum pump
3) get your motor up to a decent temp
4) get your tune up right

quote:

Originally posted by FootbrakeJim:

The reason I started this thread, was because I had to back the car out of the trailer twice this winter, and both times I did not run it long, maybe 30 seconds to 1 minute, not enough to put any heat in the engine. So that was 4 starts, in cold weather, (30-ish degrees) and letting it sitting for several hours after each start. And each start required a lot more pump shot than normal race temps to get things going.
I recently pulled it out to go over things in prep for this year, and yanked the dipstick, it was quite milky. The oil was changed at end of last season. So I leaned it our, ran it up to temp, oil looked better, but I thought about all that moisture that had been in the oil for 2-3 months.

All the moisture came from the couple times you started it and didn’t warm the engine up. The oil in our engines never gets milky. Whenever we start one we always run it up to 190+ and also get the oil hot. At least 150. As rusty said the idle mixture is the biggest culprit. We run our terminators at idle with very little butterfly, .007-.008 and a lean barrel valve. This helps build heat quickly and also keeps the oil clean. Gas primer helps as well but if the alcohol idle mixture isn’t too rich the oil will stay clean as long as you get it hot.

I like to be 170-175 staging which usually gets me to about 185 on the return road. At the end of a race day I take it to 195-200 water temp on the primer and shut it off.

Some guys I race with say that’s too hot and they run a rich idle mixture and have to warm it up for an extended period for each run. Running a lean idle mixture and getting it hot works for us and also uses less methanol.