dashpot oil

[Woodie]

I have followed all the advice 20/w50 in the engine and the dashpots. Until tonight. Drained them and put 3in1 machine oil. It is -4 Celsius (25 F) here in the morning and only reaching about +6 (42 F)in the afternoon. The mornings have been a real bear with choke on and smoke out the back end etc etc. The afternoons have been better but not by much. Lets see what tomorrow brings. When the weather warms I will switch back.

Anybody else use lighter oil in colder weather. ? what are your thoughts?

 

[arfamoe]

I used some Marvel's Mystery oil and it worked out fine.

 

[regularman]

I aways used dextron ATF in my dashpots on my mercedes when I lived in England. Its very slick stuff and worked well. It was what my neighbor said to use.

 

[tosoutherncars]

Another vote here for ATF. Used it in the 175CD in my Volvo 240 wagon. Worked just as well as anything else, and more stable / less viscous at lower temps.

 

[Woodie]

It snowed here today !!!! needless to say Sparky stayed home today. Tomorrow will be +2 and light rain so I will try the 3in 1. If no better (to Light Maybe even when cold) I will switch to ATF on saturday. Its still gonna be cold...and I thought it was spring..

 

[Woodie]

And this morning the car ran the best it has this year. Smooth idle and smooth pull through all gears what a nice ride to work.

 

[jlaird]

Way to go.

 

[leecreek]

Been using 3 in 1 oil in the dash pots for years.....

 

[Hap Waldrop]

The weight of oil that is in the dashpots directly reflects the rise rate of the piston/slide, so for that reason I always used ATF, but any light oil like 3 in 1 would work well too. I've always been somewhat puzzled by some of the LBC experts like John Twist who recommends 90wt gear oil. I want my throttle response to be quick and snappy and that's what a lighter oil will do, plus a heavier oil, like 20/50 or 90wt will make for extemely slow piston rise rates when it's cold outside. To give you an example as for rise rate and what's in the dashpots as for oil, we don't use any oil in race SUs, because we want them puppies opening lightening fast.

 

[GreenHornet]

Just curious as to why you wouldn't use the SU oil. I got a small bottle. It wasn't outta sight price wise. Is there something I missed out on?