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OIL PREFERENCES... what oil do u use?

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EMGEBE

EMGEBE

Jedi Hopeful
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Have posted on here for a while now...

In my car i always have a spare bottle of oil in the boot, coz i have a leak somewhere around the oil sump or somethin, it doesnt seem serious, its always leaked and the car runs great.

The other day i went in to a automotive store to buy, what iusually buy....
Penrite 20w50
but they didnt have it, they had CASTROL 20w50 and a few other cheapies in stock, but i wanted to stick with penrite coz its a quality oil, but they only had 20w60!

Ive been topping up with this, so im sure by now the oil in the car is rather diluted to this grade...
I've noticed lately that the car's oil runs really REALLY thin, i was in the city last nite and it got down to about 12psi. Altho the idle dropps VERY LOW, around 600rpm... (i dont like SHAKKKKKKKKKKING at the traffic lights)

Is there any danger in this?

When the oil gets this thin, the car runs F'ing GREAT, can punch each gear out with heaps of pull. (especially in this cold weather)
But im just a bit worried i might be doing damage with an incorrect oil...

With that in mind, what does everyone else use?

Can you put a Thinner grade into a modified unleaded head?

Cheers Guys

Jarrod /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsup.gif
 
Hi Jarrod, Castor is a very good oil. Mixing oils is not the bugger it use to be since standards have been established.So when summer returns you will be spot on with 20/60 oil. Cheers---Keoke
 
well, mixing oils normally isn't a problem... I'm still weary of mixing synthetic oils with regular oils... is this still a problem?
 
HI Nunyas, Yes that is true regarding the pure synthetic oils.However, the synthetic blends and petroleum based oils are compatible.I would treat 20/60 as a good summer oil choice and use 20/50 as a winter oil.Using 20/60 to top up until the next oil change versus 20/50 or another vendor's 20/50 oil should not cause any problems I would think.---Keoke
 
Back up, Jarrod! If you are running 20/60 or 20/50 and your oil pressure is about 12, you have a problem and it isn't the grade of oil you are using! You might try removing the oil filler cap and sniffing for gasoline!
Can you run a tube down the dip-stick hole and remove some of the contents? Especially try to get contents from deep down. Could be WATER. Don't run that sucker if you can help it, until you have oil pressure./ubbthreads/images/graemlins/nonono.gif

Guinn
 
Jarrod, what does your cold oil pressure look like? Oil dilution from gasoline is indicative of worn rings. I would assume that your oil level doesn't increase, or you wouldn't be toppoing it up.
600 RPM is way to low of an idle. Does it do this if you are in neutral, or only when you are stopped with the clutch in? If it's fine at an idle in neutral, and drops with the clutch in, that is worn thrust washers, and, coupled with low oil pressure, sounds like worn bearings all the way around.
Not to be an alarmist, but just thought I'd make you aware of what could be happening.
Jeff
 
Oils are generally as good as the additives. One problem with wideband oils is they add to many additives to make it stretch and you loose oil properties. For instance, 20W50 is about as far as most people care to stretch their oil. 20w60 requires more additives and less oil.

Synthetics are good when it comes to heat but there are drawbacks as well. It does not adhere as well to parts as dino oil and 2 things happen. If you take a corner hard and you loose oil pickup, it will dry the bearings faster than dino oil. My brother lost the bearings in his Cobra this way. He changed the bearings, returned to dino oil and has not had a problem since. There have have also been problems with less adhesion in that parked cars with pure synthetics are the engine parts not stuck in oil overnight. This is common.

The 3rd problem with pure synthetics is Lead. We don't have lead in car fuels anymore but you cannot add lead. Pure synthetics have cause some serious engine failures and lawsuits in aircraft engines becasuse it cannot break down the lead. You cannot run PURE synthetic oil in piston power aircract and have the engines last to TBO (time to overhaul overhaul).

In saying that, most oils are as good as their additive package. You don't want too much additives (such as spanning an oil to far viscosity wise) but you want adequate properties such as Zink which protect your bearings when you pull a hard corner and your oil vacates your pickup momentarily.

Finally, oils all have slightly different cleaning (detergent) properties. Often the biggest problems had are when some one changes oil type. An engine will settle into it's own environment; making deposits of sorts here, and remaining clean there. When you change oil and you have a different detergent base, it knocks stuff loose un-disturbed by the other type of oil. Pick one oil and stick with it. Most modern oils will serve you well today.

Gary
 
20W-50 is the standard, factory recommended oil. But, what do you do in any older car that's starting to wear a bit? You put in a higher viscosity to take up the "slack" that's built up over the years! I've done it will all my cars (none were MG's) and haven't had a problem yet!
 
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/savewave.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/iagree.gif Factory Manuals do not know these cars are approaching 40ish years old and some may even be on the verge of expiring.---Keoke
 
When these cars were new, (as today), sports car owners were very conscious of what companies were participating and winning, in the sport. "Support the Sport" stickers were everywhere. We always used Kendall, Castrol or Valvoline brands for that reason. We often used a straight 40wt oil in our MG's, and replaced it with a 10w30 for the colder months.
Today, I use Valvoline 20w50, and their "MaxLife" brand has value for LBC engines that have gone a lot of miles since overhaul.
Chuck at New England Classic MG just freshened up an MGB for us. He swears by Castrol 20w50, so that is what went in it. Both are good choices.
 
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