305 c.i.d life span

[gatoratoy227]

so my 93 caprice has almost 210,000 miles in it doesn't burn a drop of oil (its in dire need of a tune up tho thats what i get for buying a used car comes with the territory) sorry for the rant, but i've seen 305's run from 120,000 to 400,000+ miles as i said it needs a tune up and possibly an O2 sensor but other than that it runs great next to no blow-by and it starts up first crank seriously ,i hit the start position on my ignition switch and it starts with in 1 second

i know the biggest factor with engine life is how you take care of it tune ups oil changes ect.

given the best care i can provide with this beast oil changes every 2,500 miles (american V8 with 210,000 on the clock you can never be too careful)

i don't drive it hard at all i constantly check oil and other fluid levels

kind of off topic here, i get asked at least once a day "why do you check your oil so often and your trans fluid?" my simple slightly sarcastic responce to the question at hand "this is my car, this beast gets me back and forth to work school to the store doctor's office where ever i need to go, shouldn't i take care of my only method of getting to work in a timely fassion? ohh and if you checked your oil your car wouldn't sound like it has rocks in the oil pan"

"f*** you brian" thats usualy the only way they can attempt a come back

(sorry about the ranting again,... one of those days)


but yeah with matticoulous care how long should it survive i have a fairly educated guess of 75,000-125,000 miles granted i keep up on the routine maintnence and refrain from using the V8 under my hood to emasculate those 4 and sometims if i'm lucky 6 banger buzz boxes, its hard so hard to do but i try


any one have else have a sucess or diasaster story they'd like to share about the 305

[silicon212]

A well maintained small block can last forever. The 305 has definitely attained a legendary reputation for reliability. Just keep an eye on your oil pressure - this is the best indication of wear within the engine.

Use Mobil-1 oil - you can extend your oil changes to every 10-12k miles and actually save money (and have better lube oil performance). Change the filiter every 3k.

My own car has a 350 in it, and the 350 has 315k miles on it. Those aren't baby miles either - it's been run hard and put away wet every time I've used it since I built it in '93. Oil pressure specs at the recommended 45 PSI @ 2,000 RPM. Maintenance is key.

[gatoratoy227]

315k that gives me alot of hope i'm thinking of doing a couple things to it more for relibility than power

1 oil cooler, cooler oil is a more stable oil holds the film better
2 roller rockers and lifters. less friction- less heat more mpgs
does the 305 come factory with roller lifters or will i have to retro-fit a set
3 high volume oil pump. a smooth steady flow of oil is beter than an erractic flow of oil regardless of the pressure

i'm thinking of a comp-cams (or is it crane cams) economy cam, its based primarily around low end troque and i've heard that installing one will improve fuel economy with gas prices around $4 a gallon every bit helps

yeah sorry to get off topic here but the price of oil is $90 a barrel and in theroy that should mean the gas prices should be around $1.50- 1.75

ha ha go figure right?

[1968 Pontiac]

Ah silicon212 they may be reliable now, but remember the 305's of the late 70's? Every one that I know of had to have the camshaft replaced due to worn lobes; didn't matter if it was a car or truck. Of course I'm sure it didn't happen to every 305 in existence, but I'm sure it was quite a common problem.

[silicon212]

Originally Posted by 1968 Pontiac

Ah silicon212 they may be reliable now, but remember the 305's of the late 70's? Every one that I know of had to have the camshaft replaced due to worn lobes; didn't matter if it was a car or truck. Of course I'm sure it didn't happen to every 305 in existence, but I'm sure it was quite a common problem.

The cam issue was across the board, not just on the 305. And it also turns out that it happened almost always on cars that were not properly maintained. Once a lobe started to wear out, it would put metal in the oil which would accelerate the process. This happened on cars made from the late 60s through the mid 80s and is the main reason that we are running roller lifters now.

The car I drove when I got my license was a 1972 Impala Custom coupe with a 350 2bbl (L65) under the hood. The previous owner told me he changed the oil in it, exactly twice in 75,000 miles. The engine showed it and the cam had 3 flat lobes on it.

[bhw33191]

so the best thing for me to do is just change the oil regularly (of course). is there any special oil i should use?

['97ventureowner]

Originally Posted by gatoratoy227

yeah sorry to get off topic here but the price of oil is $90 a barrel and in theroy that should mean the gas prices should be around $1.50- 1.75

ha ha go figure right?

Not really. IIRC, when gas was $1.50 to $1.75/ gal, the price of a barrel of oil was probably in the $40 to $45 range. I remember not too long ago,(or so it seems ) when oil hovered around $25 to $30 a barrel and when it started to rise , at a not-so-fast-pace as it's has done recently, much press was given everytime it reached a new "benchmark",( about every $5 higher.)Back then a raise of $1.00 in the price of a barrel of crude would elicit the same response back then as a $10 rise today :. It's amazing how fast the price has risen over the years going from say 420-$25/barrel, then 30, then 35,40,50, then suddenly were over $100 a barrel in no time, (with predictions last Spring of potential prices over $200/barrel by the end of this year.
Also back then there was less speculation in the oil market and things like natural disasters(or even the threat of), or other things like refinery fires didn't affect the price of gas so much and so quickly as it does now. It seems now as if one of the OPEC ministers sneezes, the price of gas goes up ten cents a gallon, or there are some "suspect" clouds out in the Atlantic Ocean-might be a future hurricane, better raise the price now in case there is damage to the supply lines, etc. mentality in the oil industry. And we all end up paying for it. : ( sorry for the rant )

[gatoratoy227]

its fine i feel the exact same way, was going to work today and i saw regular for $3.59 a gallon and i got happy about it a few seconds later i thought "you know some thing is wrong when you get excited over $3.60 a gallon gas prices"

its true, right?

[bhw33191]

Originally Posted by gatoratoy227

its fine i feel the exact same way, was going to work today and i saw regular for $3.59 a gallon and i got happy about it a few seconds later i thought "you know some thing is wrong when you get excited over $3.60 a gallon gas prices"

its true, right?

its very true. the fact is that prices will probably never go below $3 ever again. I was happy to see 3.39 the other day. I heard in places they;re going back down to $1.50 i think it was but only from say 8AM-12PM. Heard people ran out of gas just waiting in line there were so many people. I think the event is sponsored by some bank or something of the sorts.

[luxeryvic]

castrol is preety good for the oil question, but silicon sais mobil 1 is good but what is so good that makes it better than other oils?

[Blue Bowtie]

The fact that Mobil 1 is not an oil is what makes it better. Do some research on polyalphaolefin and you might find your answer.

[j cAT]

Originally Posted by luxeryvic

castrol is preety good for the oil question, but silicon sais mobil 1 is good but what is so good that makes it better than other oils?

if you use synthetic in a new vehicle and have the oil changed before it is bad ,,,along with the filter ,, this is what synthetic is best used....as this prolongs the life of the engine ..


If you have a vehicle with an old high mileage engine, and start using synthetic you will require more frequent oil changes as the combustion gases and unburned fuel will contaminate the oil ....your gains will be limited as the damage has been done....


these synthetic's work better than conventional oils in high heat and extreme cold....they also resist mixing with water, and creating acid sludges... this acid destroys everything...when the cold and snow starts to fly this sludge becomes a problem...

[silicon212]

Do NOT use synthetic in a new engine with a flat tappet cam, not for at least 25,000 miles. DO use a fully zinc phosphated oil such as Rotella-T or full race motor oil as this will guard the lobes and lifters on a flat tappet engine during the critical break in period.

[Blue Bowtie]

The lack of ZDP in almost all oils has me afraid to build any more engines with flat tappet cams, not to mention the limits of lift versus duration. Rollers can have such a better ramp and short duration at a given lift. That, along with questionable cam cores coming from Crane and some of their competition, and the loss of EP additives in most oils, and it might not be worth spending much effort on flat tappets any more. I've replaced two Crane cams recently, one having lost a lobe at under 20K miles, and another having lost the fuel pump lobe at 10K miles, and losing a fuel pump lobe is almost unheard of. I'm not feeling really good about those.

[gatoratoy227]

i recently switched to Valvoline Syntec blends (its was on sale) and so far i like it i deffinently need a motor flush LOTS of sludge built up in the engine
it seems like the original owner didn't change the oil in the car since he bought it

any reccomendations on what to use to de-sludge my engine with out potentialy killing my bearings