Best Oil

[NOVASH]

its time for me to do an oil change and get some new spark plugs and aa oil filter...
whats the best oil to use on my 92 sri engine? been told that magnatec is good!

[Aragorn]

if your not planning on doing regular changes (ie 3-4k) then dont use magnatec - it has a lot more ash in it that other oils and if u run the oil to the recommended service interval ill will have seriously gunked up by then

i'd recommend mobil1 for prolonged use although ive just been using motorfactors (granville) stuff and changing it every 3k

u prolly want 15w40 semi synth although its sometimes a bit difficult to find - vaux and my motorfactors would only do 10w40 semi and 15w40 mineral so i used the 10w40

[DUNOVA.]

2nd that Mobile1

[Adam]

Is the weight of oil, like 20W/50, specific to use in certain engines. Do you get any benefits of buying oil of like 10w/40 oil, what weight do most people use?
(sorry for hi-jacking your thread Novash)
Cheers

[ollster]

5/50 valvoline fully synthetic, ive run all my cars on this and its quality stuff. It had done 2000 miles in the nova before i took the engine out this winter and it still looked nearly as good as the day i put it in on the chrome dipstick.

[Adam]

Am i right in thinking that the lower the number, as in 5, then the thinner the oil?

Because me dad just wacks any old crap in his engine(its an old car though), its normally just 20w/50, ?2.99 for 5litres,LOL.
As long as it starts,stops and goes, thats all he bothers about.
How much oil do you need for a complete service,5Litres.
And finally how much do you normally pay for decent synthetic oil.
Cheer guys

[Aragorn]

5/50 would piss out most 80-100k vaux engines as its so thin it leaks past all the seals etc

[Adam]

What do most people usually run?

[2litreturbo]

15W40

The two numbers refer to the different viscositys af different temperatures. At cold the oil will be 40 and at hot the oil will be 15.

If you live in the artic you will want 5W30 as if the oil is too thick then it wont get around the engine when it is cold

If you live in a desert then you want 20W40

[Richyb]

if you are looking for serious performance oil use silkoline.

I use the specialist fully synth 10 50 in my 2l turbo i have tried nearly all the different other makes and this by far the best.

The silkoline synth gear box oil is also the best, it makes f20's last much much longer and they dont clamp up when youve been doing over 100

[ollster]

5/50 would p**s out most 80-100k vaux engines as its so thin it leaks past all the seals etc

rubish, all my engines have been over 80k (apart from my new baby xe thats only done 6k :D ) and i have never had problems with oil leaks. Remember the oil is only that thin when cold, its actually better for the hydraulic lifters, as they dont get clogged up.

[NOVASH]

:o so thanks for the replys but now i dont have a clue becuase you all have different views on the subject.
in the Haynes manual i think it says 10/40?

[Adam]

Just get some 15/40,that seems to be around the choice of most people.

[Nath]

pop into halfords and they can tell u which is the best to use. 15w/40 semi synthetic is the recomended i think.

[Will]

standard engine?

cheapest halfords stuff you can find

i filled mine with sum stuff i had in the garage but i wouldnt spend more than a tenner for 5L worth

3L to do a change in a 1.2 - 1.4

3.5L in the 1.6 blocks

always good to change the filter as well and when you do smear so old oil round the rubber part of the filter to give it a good seal :)

enjoy

[rgv_stu]

that granville fully synth is good stuff and cheap too
i ran it in my sr for about 60,000 miles changing at 3-4k intervals
it never leaked oil and when i stripped the engine down after 100000 miles there was virtually no bore wear at all.

i use vaux semi at the moment which seems ok and the price is right on tradeclub :)

[j1400]

"Viscosity

This is the most well-known, and probably most important of oil properties. Oil of SAE (Society of Motor Engineers) 10 is thinner than SAE50. But that stands for single-viscosity oils. Manufacturers tend to recommend multi-viscosity oils, like 10W40. This means that as you start the engine in the winter (when oil wants to be 'thicker') this product will perform like a straight SAE 10 and at operating temperatures (when oil wants to be thin as Kate Moss) it will behave as if it were a straight SAE 40." (taken from www.max-boost.o.uk)

Just use what the book says on a std engine. You may consier monig to a thicker oil, like 20-50 beacuse thicker oils are dense so can absorb and loose heat better, good for high revving/turbo engine.

I found 5-50w valvoline fully syn to be good for std engines as it will give good cold protection, however it also means it can flow out the head quicker when it's cold too, (bad news for the cams/lifters on start up) so if you ise your car infrequently a high cold weight may be better, also the wider the change in weight better hot and cold the less like it will survive stress.
Hence why I run 20-50w racing oil in my 14XE tb's nova (it doesn't get driven much, but get rev'd when I do) But racing oils do not contain the detergents that normal oils do so changes should be a little more frequent.

[robb]

Remember the oil is only that thin when cold, its actually better for the hydraulic lifters, as they dont get clogged up.

Erm a few posts ago it said that the oil is thinner on smaller numbers, and also says that it is 5W(when hot)/50W(When cold) So surely it is thickest when cold and thins as it warms up.

So I would agree with Aragorn that it is too thin and will just p**s out of any seal and prob burn some some too.

You wouldn't rev a 6K old XE till hot anyway.

I run 15W/40W Castrol (the one in a white bottle) ?7 from motorfactors and is fine. You don't rev much till oil is hot anyway, unless you wanna kill your car!!

[Ste_Nova]

i use 10/40 vaux semi

[j1400]

[quote="j1400 Oil of SAE (Society of Motor Engineers) 10 is thinner than SAE50..[/quote] It's the other way round. yets more viscous as it warms up but becuaseit's warms it's more runny if you get me.

[benji]

i use 10/40 vaux semi

me too. 5l for less than a tenner

[Gunzi]

I use 5w/40 magnatec on my rebuilt 1.6 not oil leaks there and there weren't any before the rebuild