Does anyone remember ARCO Graphite Oil? (Motor Oil)

This oil was real popular in the 70's, then it seemed to just vanish.
What ever happened to it?

Did you use it? If you did, what was your opinion of it?

Although it cost a little more that plain oil, I bought it, since it was
supposed to be a superior lubricant. I never had any problems with it,
and I was using it on some high milage old cars that lasted almost
forever. So, I was pleased with it.

But all of a sudden it just disappeared from the store shelves and I
have not seen it sold in years.

Wasn't old enough to remember advertisements
for that product back then. But synthetic oil
costs more per quart than regular, and it's stuck
around, so apparently it wasn't just price that
led to 'graphite's demise.

On 2/5/2016 6:28 AM, wrote:
Wasn't old enough to remember advertisements
for that product back then. But synthetic oil
costs more per quart than regular, and it's stuck
around, so apparently it wasn't just price that
led to 'graphite's demise.


Right or wrong, I've always believed that changing oil
at the proper service intervals and using an oil with
the proper API service rating was all that mattered.
The rest is just marketing fluff.

On 2/5/2016 7:50 AM, murray@1 wrote:
On 2/5/2016 6:28 AM, wrote:
Wasn't old enough to remember advertisements
for that product back then. But synthetic oil
costs more per quart than regular, and it's stuck
around, so apparently it wasn't just price that
led to 'graphite's demise.


Right or wrong, I've always believed that changing oil
at the proper service intervals and using an oil with
the proper API service rating was all that mattered.
The rest is just marketing fluff.


The oil of 2016 is far superior to the oil of 1956. Synthetics are
better than dino oil. It is a real difference, not just fluff.

The real question is: Do you need it? In most cases, no. As you say,
use the correct oil and change as needed. Most car engines today will
easily top 150,000 miles if cared for. High performance engines will
benefit from synthetics. Corvette comes with it from the factory.

Many years ago my brother and I did some testing on small displacement
air cooled 2 cycle engines. (model aircraft and race car). With regular
lubricants they would run in the 12,000 to 15,000 RPM range. With
synthetics, we could get 15,000 to 18,000 RPM.

On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 09:11:03 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote
in

Many years ago my brother and I did some testing on small displacement
air cooled 2 cycle engines. (model aircraft and race car). With regular
lubricants they would run in the 12,000 to 15,000 RPM range. With
synthetics, we could get 15,000 to 18,000 RPM.

Just curious, How did you measure the RPM? When I was a kid (55 years
ago) I use to fly those model airplanes with the small gas engines (we
call them "U-control", they were at the end of 60' of double wire). I
used to read all the model airplane magazines and don't recall ever
seeing a device to measure RPM. Not that I would have been able to
afford it.

But I don't remember much anymore.
--
Web based forums are like subscribing to 10 different newspapers
and having to visit 10 different news stands to pickup each one.
Email list-server groups and USENET are like having all of those
newspapers delivered to your door every morning.

On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 07:50:27 -0500, murray@1 wrote in
om

On 2/5/2016 6:28 AM, wrote:
Wasn't old enough to remember advertisements
for that product back then. But synthetic oil
costs more per quart than regular, and it's stuck
around, so apparently it wasn't just price that
led to 'graphite's demise.


Right or wrong, I've always believed that changing oil
at the proper service intervals and using an oil with
the proper API service rating was all that mattered.
The rest is just marketing fluff.

+1
--
Web based forums are like subscribing to 10 different newspapers
and having to visit 10 different news stands to pickup each one.
Email list-server groups and USENET are like having all of those
newspapers delivered to your door every morning.

On Friday, February 5, 2016 at 8:18:42 AM UTC-6, CRNG wrote:
On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 09:11:03 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote
in

Many years ago my brother and I did some testing on small displacement
air cooled 2 cycle engines. (model aircraft and race car). With regular
lubricants they would run in the 12,000 to 15,000 RPM range. With
synthetics, we could get 15,000 to 18,000 RPM.

Just curious, How did you measure the RPM?

We (small engine repair) used a moving-magnet gauge that directly touched the output shaft. It had a rubber cone to fit the shaft drill-center.

On 2/5/2016 9:18 AM, CRNG wrote:
On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 09:11:03 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote
in

Many years ago my brother and I did some testing on small displacement
air cooled 2 cycle engines. (model aircraft and race car). With regular
lubricants they would run in the 12,000 to 15,000 RPM range. With
synthetics, we could get 15,000 to 18,000 RPM.

Just curious, How did you measure the RPM? When I was a kid (55 years
ago) I use to fly those model airplanes with the small gas engines (we
call them "U-control", they were at the end of 60' of double wire). I
used to read all the model airplane magazines and don't recall ever
seeing a device to measure RPM. Not that I would have been able to
afford it.

But I don't remember much anymore.


My brother borrowed a strobe from work that counted revolutions. I
don't recall the exact instrument, but it was not very large.

In the 1970's I worked for Sullivan Products (Pylon Brand) and they made
those wires you used. We flew radio control planes from the
Philadelphia Naval Yard air strip. For me it was a cheap hobby as I got
a lot of stuff either free or very cheap.

On Fri, 05 Feb 2016 05:05:11 -0600, wrote:

Does anyone remember ARCO Graphite Oil? (Motor Oil)

This oil was real popular in the 70's, then it seemed to just vanish.
What ever happened to it?

Did you use it? If you did, what was your opinion of it?

Although it cost a little more that plain oil, I bought it, since it was
supposed to be a superior lubricant. I never had any problems with it,
and I was using it on some high milage old cars that lasted almost
forever. So, I was pleased with it.

But all of a sudden it just disappeared from the store shelves and I
have not seen it sold in years.


ARCO's Graphite Oil, marketed back in the 80's as a fuel saver
(supposed to give 5% better fuel mileage)...This stuff was withdrawn
from the market due to a basic problem they couldn't solve - how to
keep the solids (graphite chips) in suspension. I also always looked
"dirty" which didn't help it's ales any.

Any hydrocarbon (oil) and most synthetic base stocks are all LIGHTER
than Water, as in a specific gravity of "less than" 1.0 - that is why
they float on the top of water. Graphite has a specific gravity of
"greater than" 1.0 and with our normal gravity here on Earth it will
find it's way to the bottom of the container and stay there! This made
for some really neat, tough, sludges in engines that caused over
heating and restricted flows..bad news.
You have to have what is called "gel strength" in a fluid to
"suspend" any higher specific gravity solids within it, when the
movement or flow is stopped.

On Fri, 05 Feb 2016 08:18:41 -0600, CRNG
wrote:

On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 09:11:03 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote
in

Many years ago my brother and I did some testing on small displacement
air cooled 2 cycle engines. (model aircraft and race car). With regular
lubricants they would run in the 12,000 to 15,000 RPM range. With
synthetics, we could get 15,000 to 18,000 RPM.

Just curious, How did you measure the RPM? When I was a kid (55 years
ago) I use to fly those model airplanes with the small gas engines (we
call them "U-control", they were at the end of 60' of double wire). I
used to read all the model airplane magazines and don't recall ever
seeing a device to measure RPM. Not that I would have been able to
afford it.

But I don't remember much anymore.
Photo-tachs were the old way. Audio tacks also work today (can be as
simple as a program on a laptop and a microphone - or I assume, an app
on a smartphone.

On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 06:41:19 -0800 (PST), bob_villain
wrote:

On Friday, February 5, 2016 at 8:18:42 AM UTC-6, CRNG wrote:
On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 09:11:03 -0500, Ed Pawlowski wrote
in

Many years ago my brother and I did some testing on small displacement
air cooled 2 cycle engines. (model aircraft and race car). With regular
lubricants they would run in the 12,000 to 15,000 RPM range. With
synthetics, we could get 15,000 to 18,000 RPM.

Just curious, How did you measure the RPM?

We (small engine repair) used a moving-magnet gauge that directly touched the output shaft. It had a rubber cone to fit the shaft drill-center.
They don't work too well on glowfuel engines at 18000 rpm though - -
- . I do have an older Veeder Roote optical (photo) tach with an
attachment that allows you to use it as a shaft tach or a surface
speed indicator (for belt speed)

On Fri, 05 Feb 2016 05:05:11 -0600, wrote:

Does anyone remember ARCO Graphite Oil? (Motor Oil)

This oil was real popular in the 70's, then it seemed to just vanish.
What ever happened to it?

Did you use it? If you did, what was your opinion of it?

Although it cost a little more that plain oil, I bought it, since it was
supposed to be a superior lubricant. I never had any problems with it,
and I was using it on some high milage old cars that lasted almost
forever. So, I was pleased with it.

But all of a sudden it just disappeared from the store shelves and I
have not seen it sold in years.

Assuming it wasn't taken off the market because it was clogging oil
filters I would guess they just weren't selling enough of it to be
worth the trouble anymore.

On Friday, February 5, 2016 at 5:07:12 AM UTC-6, wrote:
Does anyone remember ARCO Graphite Oil? (Motor Oil)

This oil was real popular in the 70's, then it seemed to just vanish.
What ever happened to it?

Did you use it? If you did, what was your opinion of it?

Although it cost a little more that plain oil, I bought it, since it was
supposed to be a superior lubricant. I never had any problems with it,
and I was using it on some high milage old cars that lasted almost
forever. So, I was pleased with it.

But all of a sudden it just disappeared from the store shelves and I
have not seen it sold in years.

Popular Science May of 1978 http://tinyurl.com/zk4xxcv

On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 16:46:42 -0800 (PST), bob_villain
wrote:


Did you use it? If you did, what was your opinion of it?

Although it cost a little more that plain oil, I bought it, since it was
supposed to be a superior lubricant. I never had any problems with it,
and I was using it on some high milage old cars that lasted almost
forever. So, I was pleased with it.

But all of a sudden it just disappeared from the store shelves and I
have not seen it sold in years.

Popular Science May of 1978 http://tinyurl.com/zk4xxcv

I dont know what kind of scripts or crap they are using, but that site
refuses to load for me. I tried 2 browsers. But I only have older
browsers on my Win98 machine. All I see is their header and the other
browser froze up.

I dont know what it says, but I never understand how sites can make some
simple text so damn complicated they dont work at all, without using a
half million watts of power to load the damn thing....

On 2/5/2016 6:05 AM, wrote:
Does anyone remember ARCO Graphite Oil? (Motor Oil)

One friend used this oil in his Mazda RX-7 Wankel rotary engine. He
claimed it was good for the rotor seals.
Steve

On Friday, February 5, 2016 at 8:05:22 PM UTC-6, wrote:
On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 16:46:42 -0800 (PST), bob_villain
wrote:


Did you use it? If you did, what was your opinion of it?

Although it cost a little more that plain oil, I bought it, since it was
supposed to be a superior lubricant. I never had any problems with it,
and I was using it on some high milage old cars that lasted almost
forever. So, I was pleased with it.

But all of a sudden it just disappeared from the store shelves and I
have not seen it sold in years.

Popular Science May of 1978 http://tinyurl.com/zk4xxcv

I dont know what kind of scripts or crap they are using, but that site
refuses to load for me. I tried 2 browsers. But I only have older
browsers on my Win98 machine. All I see is their header and the other
browser froze up.

I dont know what it says, but I never understand how sites can make some
simple text so damn complicated they dont work at all, without using a
half million watts of power to load the damn thing....

Chrome worked fine...I think their (popsci) archive is pdf.

On Fri, 5 Feb 2016 20:09:37 -0800 (PST), bob_villain
wrote:

Chrome worked fine...I think their (popsci) archive is pdf.

Normally a PDF will just download onto my harddrive. But now that you
said it, it's one of those online viewers. Not the first time I had
problems with those. And since I have my own viewer, who needs it
online. The web has gotten too complicated!

Chrome is not made for Win98. I have Firefox, and also a real simple
browser called Off By One. I have a few others installed too, but I gave
up when it locked firefox, forcing me to use the 3 finger salute.

On 2/5/2016 8:21 PM, wrote:
Normally a PDF will just download onto my harddrive. But now that you
said it, it's one of those online viewers. Not the first time I had
problems with those. And since I have my own viewer, who needs it
online. The web has gotten too complicated!

Chrome is not made for Win98. I have Firefox, and also a real simple
browser called Off By One. I have a few others installed too, but I gave
up when it locked firefox, forcing me to use the 3 finger salute.

At work I use a $4000 graphics workstation loaded with memory and fast processors
yet there are some websites out there that are so loaded with scripts, flash,
silverlight and banner ads that it crashes/hangs my browser.

Makes me wonder WTF they are trying to accomplish.

On Sat, 6 Feb 2016 06:49:49 -0900, Larry wrote:

On 2/5/2016 8:21 PM, wrote:
Normally a PDF will just download onto my harddrive. But now that you
said it, it's one of those online viewers. Not the first time I had
problems with those. And since I have my own viewer, who needs it
online. The web has gotten too complicated!

Chrome is not made for Win98. I have Firefox, and also a real simple
browser called Off By One. I have a few others installed too, but I gave
up when it locked firefox, forcing me to use the 3 finger salute.

At work I use a $4000 graphics workstation loaded with memory and fast processors
yet there are some websites out there that are so loaded with scripts, flash,
silverlight and banner ads that it crashes/hangs my browser.

Makes me wonder WTF they are trying to accomplish.

I wonder the same thing. If a company wants to sell products, or a
person wants people to view their website, shouldn't it be usable by
EVERYONE. I dont have any choice. I'm stuck with dialup internet because
that is all I can get which is affordable. If I want to buy a car part,
I want quick access to the parts being sold, description, price, and a
small picture or two. What else is needed?????

Seems some sites have gone crazy with useless features. They may create
some fancy looking effects, but in the end, they are hurting their
sales. I personally wont wait very long for sites that take forever to
load, and if sites cause my browser to freeze or other problems, I wont
go to their site ever again. I also think that videos are overused these
days. I was looking at pool cue sticks, and some of them had videos.
WHY? Just show me a clear photo of the stick and some text to explain
what it's made from, and it's weight, size, and so on... Same thing when
i was trying to find a wiring diagram for my farm tractor. I found a
video, which took over an hour to download, and it showed 5 minutes of
the guy walking to his garage to get his tools, 2 min of the guy
pointing to the generator and telling me that this is the generator, and
so on.... One simple photo, with the parts labelled would have given me
more information...

posted for all of us...



On Fri, 05 Feb 2016 05:05:11 -0600, wrote:

Does anyone remember ARCO Graphite Oil? (Motor Oil)

This oil was real popular in the 70's, then it seemed to just vanish.
What ever happened to it?

Did you use it? If you did, what was your opinion of it?

Although it cost a little more that plain oil, I bought it, since it was
supposed to be a superior lubricant. I never had any problems with it,
and I was using it on some high milage old cars that lasted almost
forever. So, I was pleased with it.

But all of a sudden it just disappeared from the store shelves and I
have not seen it sold in years.


ARCO's Graphite Oil, marketed back in the 80's as a fuel saver
(supposed to give 5% better fuel mileage)...This stuff was withdrawn
from the market due to a basic problem they couldn't solve - how to
keep the solids (graphite chips) in suspension. I also always looked
"dirty" which didn't help it's ales any.

Any hydrocarbon (oil) and most synthetic base stocks are all LIGHTER
than Water, as in a specific gravity of "less than" 1.0 - that is why
they float on the top of water. Graphite has a specific gravity of
"greater than" 1.0 and with our normal gravity here on Earth it will
find it's way to the bottom of the container and stay there! This made
for some really neat, tough, sludges in engines that caused over
heating and restricted flows..bad news.
You have to have what is called "gel strength" in a fluid to
"suspend" any higher specific gravity solids within it, when the
movement or flow is stopped.

+1 Didn't it used to clog up and ruin bearings and the graphite would tend
to clog some filters...fast.

--
Tekkie

replying to Paintedcow, Ouisie wrote:
I used Arco Graphite oil in my first car, a 1972 Ford Maverick with a 200
cubic inch straight 6 cylinder engine and 3 speed manual transmission. I
seemed to work well, nothing fantastic, just worked well, except for one
problem - the viscosity of the oil seemed, visually anyway, to be far lower
than anything I'd ever seen before but I figured that that was the idea, so
the graphite could do the work of lubricating with minimum viscous
resistance/damping, which sounded great. But in practice, this combination of
the 'super' lubricant, graphite, and the very low viscosity of the oil allowed
this SOOT BLACK oil to slowly but surely seep out everywhere - the gaskets
that easily held back higher viscosity conventional motor oil didn't do very
well holding back Arco Graphite and while it didn't actually leak in the
conventional sense, such as by dripping oil, it did succeed in a few months,
in coating the entire engine compartment with a filthy, sticky, greasy jet
black graphite luster which ultimately resulted in total dread at the very
though of opening the hood much less having to actually touch anything under
there. Even after getting the engine and engine compartment steam cleaned and
changing back to nice, CLEAN conventional oil, that filthy black liquid Soot
refused to be completely removed, and I suspect that THAT was the reason for
its disappearance, and GOOD RIDDANCE!!
Of course, now I'm scared to try any kind of 'new' 21st Century oil because of
my Arco Graphite experience, although I do use oil additive Restore.

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...il-869775-.htm

replying to Paintedcow, Steve wrote:
Yes, I used it a time or two. It didn't seem to do anything any different than
other motor oil, except for looking horribly dirty right out of the can.

--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...il-869775-.htm

Steve m wrote:

Yes, I used it a time or two. It didn't seem to do anything any different than
other motor oil, except for looking horribly dirty right out of the can.

Can't recall the timing exactly, but I think it was Arco's response to Mobil 1.
Kind of a cheap alternative. I agree, it wasn't particularly beneficial.

replying to Paintedcow, Jeffrey L Pollak wrote:
Hello, I changed my engine oil several times with ARCO graphite engine oil in
my 1972 Chevrlet Nova. Graphite, a form of pure carbon can either be a
lubricant ( as in dry graphite to lubricate lock tumblers, pins , and internal
parts (micro pulverized into minute micron size), or an abrasive in larger
size. Obviously ARCO got the graphite to flow and go where the liquid oil
carrier would flow. In addition, casr iron engine blocks are porous, alowing
a lubricating element to fill a void mocroscopic space. It also passed
through oil filters with no blockage. I had NO problems with it other than it
making oil changes more messy. It was also impossible to judge oil being
durty or due for an oil change by looking at the dipstick. Jeff, J.D.


--
for full context, visit https://www.homeownershub.com/mainte...il-869775-.htm

replying to Paintedcow, Ron wrote:
yes, I used it in my 1968 Cougar. It ruined the engine.

--
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