oil

what kind of oil weight do yall use. i heard to use something like 20w-50. is this correct?

0w-30 or 5w-30

I am using 20/50 right now to help combat the leaking valve guide seals. I will soon switch over to 25/40 Mercury oil as it exceeds many brands on the market and is specifically meant for high reving engines.

But...as TSG says....those are the proper ones to be using.

TMD

i use Mobile 1 synthetic 15W-50. Apperantly some 10 and 11 second 3SI members use this as well, and like me, haven't spun a bearing yet, so its a great oil to use IMO.

i use Mobile 1 synthetic 15W-50. Apperantly some 10 and 11 second 3SI members use this as well, and like me, haven't spun a bearing yet, so its a great oil to use IMO.
thanks hotshot bought the mobile 1 synthetic 15w-50. runs alittle better and my lifters sound so much quiter. thanks!!!!!

what would be the downfall of running say 10-30???

what would be the downfall of running say 10-30???

Withoug getting onto organic chemistry in general, oil gets thinner the warmer it gets. The second number indecates what vicosity the oil has at 100 degrees celsius (ie: 30 weight oil for 10w30 or 50 weight oil for 10w50).

The vicosity is important because it determines the thickness of on the oil film when the engines are warmed up and running... Running a lighter oil means a thinner oil film.

10w30 is fine for NA engines but for turbo engines you will need a thicker oil for 2 reasons:

1) it provides a thicker oil film so that when that piston is forced down on the crackshaft there is more "custion" between the parts before you get metal on metal contact
2) Turbos run really hot and the oil has to be more heat resistant in order to lubicate it properly.

You can run 10w30 on a turbo with no side effects but you are lowering your factor of safety (sort of like driving a car with no insurance)...

20W-50 what I always run...if I buy the high mileage not cheap stuff + some engine flush I get no lifter ticker for 3000 miles.

The second number indecates what vicosity the oil has at 100 degrees celsius (ie: 30 weight oil for 10w30 or 50 weight oil for 10w50).

so what does 1st number indicate?

so what does 1st number indicate?

The 1st number indecated the "weight" or the oil at 0 degrees celcius. (IE: 10w30 the oil reacts like a 10 weight oil at 0 Degrees celcius and a 30 weight oil at 100 Degrees celcius)

So the 2 numbers combined indecate how flat the viscosity curve is over the temperature range.

Just so no-one comes to the conclusion that 5w50 is better then 10w30 in general the flatter curve the more viscosity modifiers that the oil company needed to add to the oil. The Viscosity modifiers are less stable then the oil stock it has been added to, and therefore more prone to thermal breakdown.

finally a straight answer on what those numbers mean...i'll have to read it a few times to get it for sure....but at least its there! thx 2old!

alright, trying not to sound like a moron or annoy anyone, but i am still a little confused. What oil should i put in my VR4 for the best protection?

i have heard some bad stories bout mobile 1 an what not.... It swells up the seals an all - an when or if by any chance u ever put a different oil in its a high danger to the engine for stuff to spin wrong break, or throw on the engine.... i just use a non-synthetic (castrol gtx in all my cars an never had a problem) drive hard!

lol


btw thanks for the oil lesson 2old very cool of u to take the time to do that for all of us thumbs up!

alright, trying not to sound like a moron or annoy anyone, but i am still a little confused. What oil should i put in my VR4 for the best protection?

It's simple really... It's all about temperature and how often you change your oil... IE:

Drive your car short distances in Boston in the middle of winter: 5w30

Drive your car long distances in Phoenix in the middle of summer: 20w50

Drive you car through any temperature and any length and change your oil pretty religiously: 5w50

Don't really like to be bothered to change your oil: 10w30

That is why the owners manual has those weird charts... The thinner the oil the better the start up protection, but the thinner the oil film when the oil is warm so less lubrication when the engine is pushed hard.

The bigger the range the range the more tolerant it is to different driving conditions but the oil has to be changed more often because it breaks down faster...

So "best protection" depends on how you define protection.

i have heard some bad stories bout mobile 1 an what not.... It swells up the seals an all - an when or if by any chance u ever put a different oil in its a high danger to the engine for stuff to spin wrong break, or throw on the engine.... i just use a non-synthetic (castrol gtx in all my cars an never had a problem) drive hard!

This is one of those "car urban myths" that is kindof-sortof true but for the wrong reasons...

In the 1970-80s they had problems with synthetic reacting with the rubber used to seal engines of that era but 2 things happened: Oil company reformulated the oil not to react with the seals and the car companies stopped using rubber to seal things.

That said, synthetic oils have a lot more detergent added to the oil then conventional oil so if you even think your engine has a oil leak, using synthetic will make it worse.

But if you are pretty sure that your engine does not have a oil leak it will not cause an oil leak and will clean up the gunk left in your lash adjustors which eventually gets rid of the dreaded tick.

Yeah, very good advice 2old. I'm gonna link it in the FAQ.

i finally completely understand...damn your smart 2old...thanks

yeah, mobil1 does tend to piss out of a motor that has any sort of leaks. I added a quart of mobil1 to my suzuki cuz that was all i had at the time, and the cam seal is bad as well as the valve cover gasket at the time. needless to say it only took about 100 miles for the mobil1 to leak out, and the synthetic oils smell different when they hit the manifold, so i could tell it was mostly the mobil1 coming out despite their clames it is solvent with typical oils. (idk if solvent is the right word to use here, but it sounds ok). But in general, i would never put regular oil in a turbo no matter how many quarts i go through between changes. and now that i changed the valve cover gasket, and lashed the mech. valves (some things shouldnt change), i even run it in the zuki, i changed it at 162k and plan on changing it next at 175k. right now i have 170k and have probably put 3 quarts in in 10k due to lost oil, but it dont burn much. and i figure those extra quarts means the oil is actually a little fresher than it would be otherwise. But back to the point, with the new mobil1 and the new gaskets its more likely to dry them out rather than over swell them, so i usually add some of that seal conditioner at every oil change and it helps make up the difference.