Motor Oil

Cord Oil Changing Instructions

Women:
1. Pull up to Giffy Lube when the mileage reaches 12000 miles since the last oil change.
2. Drink a cup of coffee.
3. 15 minutes later, write a check and leave with a properly maintained
vehicle.

---

Men:
1. Go to O' Welly auto parts and write a check for 50 dollars for Mobile One oil, concrete cleaner, (AKA kitty litter), hand cleaner and scented tree.
2. Discover that the used oil container is full. Instead of taking back to
O'Welly to recycle, dump in hole in back yard.
3. Open a beer and drink it.
4. Jack Cord up from center spring perch. Spend 30 minutes looking for jack stands.
5. Find jack stands under kid's pedal car.
6. In frustration, open another beer and drink it.
7. Place drain pan under engine.
8. Look for 5/8" wrench.
9. Give up and use crescent wrench.
10. Unscrew drain plug.
11. Drop hex drain plug in pan of hot oil; get hot oil on you in process.
12. Clean up.
13. Have another beer while oil is draining.
14. Check for leaks in hubs, fuel, brake lines.
15. Give up; Start again, make list.
16. Beer.
17. Buddy shows up; finish case with him. Finish oil change tomorrow.
18. Next day, drag pan full of old oil out from underneath Cord.
19. Throw concrete cleaner (AKA kitty litter) on oil spilled during step 18.
20. Beer. No, drank it all yesterday.
21. Walk to 7-11; buy beer.
22. Check coolant level, brakes, make sure no shorts in Startex, remote control, no major gas leaks.
23. Dump first of eight quarts of fresh oil into engine.
24. Remember drain plug from step 11.
25. Hurry to find drain plug in drain pan.
26. Hurry to replace drain plug before all the quarts of fresh oil drains
onto floor.
27. Slip with wrench and bang knuckles on frame.
28. Bang head on floor board in reaction.
29. Begin cussing fit.
30. Throw wrench.
31. Cuss for additional 10 minutes because wrench hit Miss December(1982)
in the left boob.
32. Clean up; apply Band-Aid to knuckle.
33. Beer.
34. Beer.
35. Dump in additional 7 quarts of oil.
36. Beer.
37. Lower Cord from jack stands
38. Accidentally crush floorboard on one of the jack stands
39. Push Cord back, apply more concrete cleaner (AKA kitty litter) to fresh oil
spilled during step 23.
40. Check bayonet oil level, check electric needle oil level , check oil pressure gauge for 30-40 lbs, listen for any noises or knocks, select gear, use starter gear, cross fingers, release clutch, drive Cord

It's a joe k , never take a Cord to a real lube shop!!!!!!!!!!!

Good material, Mike. But he doesn't refer to the leakage issue that I'm concerned about.

Josh see the stuff I faxed you.
Mike

Personally, I think synthetics are great. Use them in my everyday cars. But I have heard that synthetics will leak thru spaces where regular oils will not. (Smaller molecules, maybe?) My Cord leaks enough, so I don't use synthetics. Anybody have hard info from SAE, API, professional tribologists, or other authoritative (not common wisdom) source?

I wanted to ask you, Josh, or anyone else who would like to comment, about your thoughts of using Mobil 1, or any of the other synthetic motor oils in an ACD engine.

Tom Clarke

Check general discussion area about engine oil.
Mike

Thanks a lot for the reference to the #6, 2004 Newsletter, Josh. I went right to upper closet shelf where I have my stack, pulled it out, found the article and read it. I will admit that I didn't read it when the Newsletter came out, and reflecting, suspect it appeared to be too "heavy" at the time. Nonetheless the info was important and valuable. Others were probably more diligent than I, but it also showed me the additional value of the Forum on the website.
I envy you folks in the warmer climate. Put my '36 Westchester away for the Winter this past weekend. Did not drive it nearly enough this Summer, but have promised myself to do better in 2007.
I sincerely appreciate the effort you go to as Editor of the Newsletter, which I know is not an easy job, but I suspect for you, a labor of love.

That's the way! My Cord went shopping last week too. A fella parked next to me with an $85,000 Mercedes asked "Aren't you afraid to take it out on the road?". Answer: "Nope".

Josh, your point is well taken. And, as I drive mine a couple of times a week, even took my 34 Auburn to WalMart for grocery shopping yesterday, I want to protect my engines and transmissions with the best of the new technologies while still keeping my car original.

They also used cotton-covered wire, leaded gasoline, 600 weight "steam oil" in steering boxes, and sponge rubber that melted onto the tops of Cord radiators. Fortunately, we have better products. Nostalgia as a criterion only works if you never plan to drive your classic. If you do, tho, best to learn about current materials and practices. Then you can make your decisions based on what seems to make good scientific sense.

Seems to me that straight-weight motor oil should be used in these cars; that's what they used back in those days. (I suppose most guys change their oil based on age of the oil, rather than mileage.) I would think that a modern detergent oil wouldn't be right for Auburns or Cords.

Just my opinion, not based on any science.

Mark

See ACD Newsletter #6 for 2004 for a complete article on motor oils, written by Bill Kennedy, Technical VP of the (Rolls Royce) Silver Ghost Association. It specifically recommends Shell Rotella T. It's available in most auto supply stores. I've been using it in my Cord for about three years.

See also the lead article in Skinned Knuckles magazine of October 2006, which suggests we not get crazy about the zinc thing. It too suggests diesel motor oil like Rotella T. (This article was reprinted a couple of weeks ago in Old Cars Weekly.)

Cheer up guys. The sky is not falling (yet).

At the International Meet of the Studebaker Drivers Club last month, it was brought up in a technical panel, that the modern 10/30 motor oil, shown on the container as "Energy Saving" is not good for collector car engines. Reference was made to the "roller" technology of the modern engine for which this oil is formulated, but the real problem with the modern oil was identified as a [u:19ddt1c9]lack of zinc.[/u:19ddt1c9] One of the technicians said he knows there are users of modern oil that swear by it, but that it will ultimately cause problems in our older engines, and specific reference was made to engines made before 1986.
It was suggested that we should be using "compression" oil in our collector car engines. That used in diesel engines, like Rotella T, 15-40.
This was the first I had heard of this and wanted to throw it out for ACD members for any comment you might have.