Miller Oil??

[Harry Lime]

So I'd run out of engine oil in the Lime Cave. And it's been a while since I changed the oil in a couple of my 1970s bikes.

So I wandered down to the auto shop and saw, for the first time there, Miller Oil with all it's advertising stuff for "classics", for which read "older machines", I guess.

To be fair to the lady assistant, she was somewhat embarrassed to quote me a price of ?38 for 5 litres of the stuff ( the mineral version, not the semi-synth ), which I politely declined. (needing 15 litres of oil, this was not the Saturday morning bill I had planned......)

Given that the price for 5L commodity mineral 20/50 runs at about ?12 around here. What's so good about this stuff?

I zoom around enthusiastically on my bikes, but I ain't racing, and my oil changes are driven by a sort of "It's been a while and maybe a thousand miles or so."

[ I don't care about how cheap I can get Miller oil elsewhere. The auto shop in question is a good local outfit where you can browse around out the back for the bolts, gasket paper etc. you need. Priceless these days, methinks. They're welcome to an honest margin as far as I'm concerned ].

Whatever

H.

 

[Rusty Spokes]

Most of the boutique "classic" motor oils are non-detergent. Not the best choice. Won't hurt the engine until you change the oil and use contemporary motor oil with a detergent. Looking at the Miller web site, their classic oils are non-detergent.

The debris that normally would be held in suspension, and that debris was not using "classic" motor oil will be in the bottom of the crankcase and will be stirred up by detergent oil. This can cause some damage.

Old air cooled VWs had no oil filter, like our Laverda engine. Our local VW shop, back in the 70s did many engine repairs when the customers changed from using non-detergent to detergent oils. It made a mess of the bearings, pistons and camshaft.

Problem was VW specified a non-detergent oil till about 1972. Then it became hard to find as most oil manufacturers started using detergents.

If your in a bind and need an engine oil when on the road, use any good HDEO (truck) oil. Here in the USA, Rotella works well. On your side of the pond, try Shell Helix or Mobil 1300 Super .

 

[chrisk]

Leave the oil and buy 5 litres of Millers beer, you can sit in said Lime Cave drinking, looking at bikes and thinking about oil. Would join you, but dry July remains.

 

[Grant]

I paid 42 euros for the most basic of oils the other day.
WTF has happened to oil prices, eh?
Hey, could make a(nother) intersting thread maybe...