Does anyone else remember ARCO Graphite motor oil?

[savatage1973]

This is related to and posted in another thread regarding issues with synthetic vs conventional oil, but just thinking about it, wondered if anyone else remembered/encountered this stuff 30 years ago.

The only oil that I have seen that once you put it in, you can't switch back to something else was back in the 80's when ARCO (Atlantic Richfield) Graphite was sold. "Once you go black, you can't go back"--and this is not a racial epithet--the oil was a conventional motor oil with suspended graphite in it, so it was black right out of the bottle--the theory being that the graphite reduced friction and provided better lubrication and fuel economy. In reality (and I have torn down several engines that had it in them) is that as the oil broke down, so did the suspending agent and you have all of this graphite deposited on EVERYTHING internally, and if you went back to a conventional motor oil with detergents, the formerly suspended graphite got cleaned off of all the metal parts and became an abrasive, rather than a lubricant--so if you put it in, you had to be pretty religious about oil change intervals and continue to use it forever, or risk serious damage.

 

[c.coyle]

I remember it. Black and shimmery.

 

[Christian B]

Sounds like that oil was developed by the marketing department, not the engineers. "What if we sold an oil that would blow your engine up if you stopped using it ?" Must have been an interesting meeting after that bomb was dropped.

 

[Pio1980]

I remember it, specifically not recommended for 4 stroke motorcycles with common oil sump as the graphite would find the clutch plates.

 

[EchoWars]

I remember it from about '79. My boss had used it in two of his cars. The engine simply needs a good flush: new regular oil and filter with 20-25% Ford ATF (one quart ATF in a five-quart engine). Stop and go drive the car for perhaps 50 miles, and change the oil and filter.

It is motor oil's job to keep particles in suspension until they can be removed by the filter. I cannot imagine that any graphite particles might be so large that the oil can't suspend them till the filter comes around. If the particles were too small to be caught by the filter (seems unlikely), then I can't see how they might be damaging.

I do know that my boss was still driving his Cutlass 3 or 4 years later with no problems. Never gave a thought to 'ruining' the engine after switching back to regular motor oil. Hadn't even heard of that...was working as a mechanic at the time, and all the old-timer mechanics just said to flush as I described above.

 

[nj pheonix]

I remember seeing it on the shelves. I don't remember using it.

 

[Eric H]

I remember it and I used it in my 68 Nova with the 230 six banger.
It would make a black stain wherever it seeped out (and back in the days of cork gaskets that was everywhere).
You could certainly go back though, i stopped using it and went back to Valvoline 30 weight, I ran that engine for 185k before I sold it, it still ran like new at that point.

I've pretty much wised up to gimmicks and additives, all an engine needs is good quality oil, synthetic or not, and regular changes.

 

[Mrv8q]

I bought a small Mitsubishi compact from a helicopter mechanic in the mid 80s, who only used the ARCO graphite in it. After a couple years, it was hard to find places that sold it. I had to buy it by the case from the distributor in the end days of that car...

I think I have one can left of that stuff, out in the garage...

 

[BrocLuno]

I was an interesting "social" experiment

 

[Wildcat]

We had tried it in our Pontiac when I was driving the "family" car to go to work and school. The engine ended up chugging (almost as though it were starved of oil) one time when I drove it, a week or two after the change. We ended up draining that and putting conventional oil back in. A co-worker had used it in their 4-cyl Pontiac (some little X-car thing, forget the name) and found their oil pressure gauge read way different than it used to.

I notice it didn't last long on the shelves locally...

 

[bashman]

I have a shop sign in my garage touting Castrol with liquid tungsten. My dad said its main function was clogging the oil filter. Somehow these wonder additives seem less than wonderful.

 

[mech986]

I used ARCO graphite for a number of years in my 77 Corolla SR5 without any problems. Used Fram or Toyota oil filters, changed every 5 to 6 thousand for probably 6-7 years. Later switched over to Synthoil Blueprinted oil, one of the more interesting semi-synthetics out there in the late 80's. Used that in my SR5, 77 Rabbit for a few years, then my 85 Jetta GLi through the mid 90's.

After that, switched almost all cars over to Mobil 1 Synthetic which I use through today.

 

[gadget73]

Remember Slick50 with the Teflon in it? Did a fantastic job of sludging things up. Amusingly, DuPont, the people who invented Teflon, say its not useful as an oil additive. Thats all I really need to know about it.