Engine Oils

Elvis_Pil · April 20, 2006

Guys just wondering.. what engine oil do you use in your pride & joy?? Does the oil really make a substantial difference? Which of the brands over here would you go for? Are the premium brands really worth the price and do they clean the way the branding/advertising promises?? Anyway how do you judge the better oil- by how long you can run it or by the way it performs? What are the key factors that make you bias to a certain type or brand of oil? Is there anything different to consider when it comes to forced induction cars?

Overdrive · April 21, 2006

Just something i read about the importance of engine oil...

"At the risk of repeating a cliché, I'll state categorically that oil is the lifeblood of an engine. The consequences of erratic oil delivery in a racing engine can be just as traumatic as the medical emergencies on television shows - but instead of comas and strokes, the likely results are broken connecting rods and catastrophic engine failures."

"I estimate that nine out of ten connecting rod failures are not the fault of the connecting rod. Almost invariably, a broken rod is the result of a spun bearing -and the bearing failure is usually the result of an oil system problem. If an autopsy of a blown engine reveals even the hint of a blackened crankshaft rod journal, that's strong evidence that a spun bearing was responsible, not the connecting rod. "

isurujosh · April 22, 2006

Now see thats why you irritate people.. this is just a discussion.

I dont know, and was just asking. I could find out for my self next time I shop a laughs..

BP's good oil just curious to know its grade and performance compared to the cheaper brands

Well that green can read summin like "visco 2000 multigraded premium" somewhere in the label, that's all that made sense to me.

---

strictly looking at from a engine's health point of view does it make sense to put synthetic oil to a normal car that usually runs fast often?

Lucian · October 26, 2006

I believe theres no straight answer to the question.

There are so many suggestions and answers. As it should it shows that ppl hold different views.

There are a few things to consider when selecting an oil. Each one has a different characteristic that pays. It is important to select the right engine oil for the right application.

Some question you should ask yourself are:

What is the temperature (mother nature)

Do you run your car 'hot' in revving-up or traffic, long runs 'just crusing',

What is your driving habbit

Is your engine new or worn out

all this plays an important role in selecting the most suited oil

Oils speak about viscosity,

Oil provides lubrication and cushion to the moving parts

It also aids in cooling

Look closely at the grades

For gasoline engines; the basic is API SL, better grades may have ILSAC. ILSAC GF-3 is the current standard, (soon will be replaced with GF-4)

For Diesel engines it is different as they need to work under harsher conditions

Do not fall prey to aftermarket oil treatments,

The wrong use of oil will cost you fuel, power and money.

There's too much to write just here so ..... use the best engine oil your pocket will pay it will reward you, and follow the oem manufacturer recommendations (oil change interval etc sooner or later is not going to help)

The Don · October 26, 2006

Hi Guys,

Nobody here has mentioned Caltex oils, especially their fully synthetic variety,

I was once reccomended the Castrol fully synthetic for my car by TP, though I have since made an engine change and gone back to semi synthetic and opted for more frequent oil changes since my car sits a lot,

I remember even a year back the 4L can cost 4500 and I bought the 10W50 variety,

my car reccomends 10W30, but even with 10W50 I had some tappet noise, but that turned out to be worn tappets, and semmingly due to oil starvation (it was running Mobil 1 before but from the looks of it the oil hadn't been changed in a while when i bought the car and the car has had periods of hard running and sitting which is why i opted for a new engine)

The Don

porkster · October 27, 2006

anyone using Castrol or Helix??

Hey Pila,

I use Helix Racing Oil, work damn awesome, before I was using the semi and mixed it every two changes with X-1R, I did not have a sludge issue, I always use the priginal Nissan Filter and my mechanic changes it, usually I leave it overnight for all the oil to drain in the pan and we raise it up on all fours, now I have switched to the Racing Oil simply because it is the best period.

Also the fact I am going boost I need an oil that can support the higher thermal reqs of a boosted system especially running Ceramic Dual BBs as it picks up heat very fast and the Helix Racing heat dissipation characteristics are amazing, blows aways the Indian refined Mobil.

For my recently converted LSD tranny I use Mobil LSD Tranny Oil but it is from Australia, ergo better refinining.

I have heard stuff like Royal Purple, Redline and Motul make awesome oils and lubricants but it has to be imported, I did bring down some Motul Performance 600 deg+ brake fluid and some Redline Water Wetter for my Radiator so I will post on their performance once I have upgraded the cooling and brakes.

Cheers, Porky

Hola · October 27, 2006

Hey Pila,

I use Helix Racing Oil, work damn awesome, before I was using the semi and mixed it every two changes with X-1R, I did not have a sludge issue, I always use the priginal Nissan Filter and my mechanic changes it, usually I leave it overnight for all the oil to drain in the pan and we raise it up on all fours, now I have switched to the Racing Oil simply because it is the best period.

Also the fact I am going boost I need an oil that can support the higher thermal reqs of a boosted system especially running Ceramic Dual BBs as it picks up heat very fast and the Helix Racing heat dissipation characteristics are amazing, blows aways the Indian refined Mobil.

For my recently converted LSD tranny I use Mobil LSD Tranny Oil but it is from Australia, ergo better refinining.

I have heard stuff like Royal Purple, Redline and Motul make awesome oils and lubricants but it has to be imported, I did bring down some Motul Performance 600 deg+ brake fluid and some Redline Water Wetter for my Radiator so I will post on their performance once I have upgraded the cooling and brakes.

Cheers, Porky

Forky!

I am converting my Civic into Helix next month. I rember the advice you gave me on draining the engine oil. Do i realy have to keep it 12 hours in the garage?

neXGen · October 27, 2006

Civic into HELIX??!! to speed things up you could spray some water ;-) lolz. jst kiddin!

btw.. porkster.. how much does this helix thingy come to eh? no idea bout oil, its viscousity etc.. lol..

Zz

Hola · October 27, 2006

Civic into HELIX??!! to speed things up you could spray some water ;-) lolz. jst kiddin!

btw.. porkster.. how much does this helix thingy come to eh? no idea bout oil, its viscousity etc.. lol..

Zz

Now whats wrong that my EK3 having Helix?

Blazin · October 27, 2006

If you have a performance engine, the best ones to go for are an ester based fully synthetic.

I used to use Shell Helix 10W-40, but now changed to Silkolene Pro-S 5W-40. There was a noticeble difference, the engine hits the VTEC a lot quicker.

They found that on a motor bike they got close to 4 bhp from changing the oil from a standard Fully Synthetic to Silkolene Pro-S.

I'n not sure if you can get it in Lanka, but for those of you in the UK, you can order online at www.opieoils.co.uk

I think they do international deliveries as well, but you have to call them.

Elvis_Pil · October 27, 2006

Hey Pila,

I use Helix Racing Oil, work damn awesome, before I was using the semi and mixed it every two changes with X-1R, I did not have a sludge issue, I always use the priginal Nissan Filter and my mechanic changes it, usually I leave it overnight for all the oil to drain in the pan and we raise it up on all fours, now I have switched to the Racing Oil simply because it is the best period.

Also the fact I am going boost I need an oil that can support the higher thermal reqs of a boosted system especially running Ceramic Dual BBs as it picks up heat very fast and the Helix Racing heat dissipation characteristics are amazing, blows aways the Indian refined Mobil.

For my recently converted LSD tranny I use Mobil LSD Tranny Oil but it is from Australia, ergo better refinining.

I have heard stuff like Royal Purple, Redline and Motul make awesome oils and lubricants but it has to be imported, I did bring down some Motul Performance 600 deg+ brake fluid and some Redline Water Wetter for my Radiator so I will post on their performance once I have upgraded the cooling and brakes.

Cheers, Porky

Yep I've heard a lot of good on Helix Silver in turbo charged cars - as they make the oil specially for em. Even the normal Blue bottle is pretty decent- I ran 10k on one oil change with it in the Premera and it still had some gold in it..

Right now though for my civic- I trust nothing but Mobil1 fully synth(silver bottle)- best oil I've used in terms of performance, smoothness and economy. Machan it aint Indian crap for sure!

Stuff like Royal purple come highly recommended- but waste of resources bringing it down really. Breaks run on Delphi which I prefer over Castrol- no issues to date.

Now whats wrong that my EK3 having Helix?

Nothing. Go for it. Blue bottle one is enough.

porkster · October 28, 2006

Forky!

I am converting my Civic into Helix next month. I rember the advice you gave me on draining the engine oil. Do i realy have to keep it 12 hours in the garage?

Ado-per,

Well you don't need to keep it overnight if you don't want what we can do is you can come to cmb in the morning, we can drop off your car at my mechanics, then in the evening you can go back to nmb. We need to get the original filter from Staffords or Tec or who ever has em also.

Though Pila has recommended the blue as being fine, and it is, I would put the non racing Silver fully synthetic, simply because for the extra bit of cash you will fork out you will get more mileage, that stuff doesn't coke easy bro.

Cheers, Porky

porkster · October 28, 2006

Yep I've heard a lot of good on Helix Silver in turbo charged cars - as they make the oil specially for em. Even the normal Blue bottle is pretty decent- I ran 10k on one oil change with it in the Premera and it still had some gold in it..

Right now though for my civic- I trust nothing but Mobil1 fully synth(silver bottle)- best oil I've used in terms of performance, smoothness and economy. Machan it aint Indian crap for sure!

Stuff like Royal purple come highly recommended- but waste of resources bringing it down really. Breaks run on Delphi which I prefer over Castrol- no issues to date.

Machang,

Just trust me one this once and switch to the Silver non racing fully synthetic for your Honda and see wha happens, and it is refined in India, they just will never tell you that. What you gotta lose bro? Just a few hundred bucks difference right? Afterwards it will be all gain, I have tried both and am recommending it from personal experience also some of my friends who race cars are running it (names withheld to protect the guilty) and the stuff just doesn't coke.

Yes Royal Purple and other oils are great but a bit of a pain, I only got the stuff down for my personal use as I needed the higher temp brake fluid for the larger rotors and 4 pot skyline calipers and better coolant for the all aluminum Racing Radiator. Also I got a bit of stock so that I have enough for another change.........Heck you never know if enough people want it I might even go into the niche performance lubricants business myself.....I think it high time the Sri Lanka performance enthusiasts and racers have equal access to the good shiznit!

Resources wise I didn't really spend that much more simply because I got it sent to my bro and he sent one bigass care package to me, only issue is it take about a month to get here and if sent sea freight it take 3 months.

Cheers, Porky

Elvis_Pil · October 28, 2006

Machang,

Just trust me one this once and switch to the Silver non racing fully synthetic for your Honda and see wha happens, and it is refined in India, they just will never tell you that. What you gotta lose bro? Just a few hundred bucks difference right? Afterwards it will be all gain, I have tried both and am recommending it from personal experience also some of my friends who race cars are running it (names withheld to protect the guilty) and the stuff just doesn't coke.

Cheers, Porky

Dude the bottle clearly says made in france packed in Hongkong :rolleyes: Also mobil is 5w-50 nice and thick and the helix is a bit thinner. Enough experimenting for the moment lol but will consider it at my next oil change around Jan.

ash · October 30, 2006

Used Mobil XHP in my Lucino. I really could recommend that. Previous owner has used Helix racing oil in the Primera, so thought of continuing with it. Heard good abt it. So thought of giving that a try. The only problem is I have to buy the Helix oil and go for the service at Pitstop, since they don’t have Helix.

gunat · November 23, 2006

To bring this Thread back guys...

So after using XHP for the last 3 years, i've moved to Mobil 1 synthy...

Question for all the synthetic users out there- does your oil change colour after the first thousand kms?

I'm not accustomed to how synthetic behaves long term...so any feedback would be appreciated...

cheers

Elvis_Pil · November 23, 2006

To bring this Thread back guys...
So after using XHP for the last 3 years, i've moved to Mobil 1 synthy...

Question for all the synthetic users out there- does your oil change colour after the first thousand kms?

I'm not accustomed to how synthetic behaves long term...so any feedback would be appreciated...

cheers

Yep the oil will change color since your switching from a semi/mineral oil. The change in color is due to the synthetic oil 'cutting through' or flushing out your engine.

nira74 · November 23, 2006

Yep the oil will change color since your switching from a semi/mineral oil. The change in color is due to the synthetic oil 'cutting through' or flushing out your engine.

Hi,

Thats right. That's probably the cause for the change in colour. You should also be a bit cautious if your car has a high mileage there may be a tendency to 'burn oil' a bit at low temp when you move to a thinner oil. I did experience this once when i switched to fully Synthetic on an engine with over 100k on the clock.

gunat · November 23, 2006

Yep the oil will change color since your switching from a semi/mineral oil. The change in color is due to the synthetic oil 'cutting through' or flushing out your engine.

Hi,

Thats right. That's probably the cause for the change in colour. You should also be a bit cautious if your car has a high mileage there may be a tendency to 'burn oil' a bit at low temp when you move to a thinner oil. I did experience this once when i switched to fully Synthetic on an engine with over 100k on the clock.

Thanks guys- i'm not worried about the high-mileage issue, since the engine was just rebuilt from scratch...

Dominic · November 23, 2006

Caltex 20SW - 50.

No complaints but will switch to mobil next change cos it came recommended from a guy driving a similar car.

The Don · November 23, 2006

Thanks guys- i'm not worried about the high-mileage issue, since the engine was just rebuilt from scratch...

Gunat when you say your engine was rebuilt, what do you mean, as in which components of the engine was rebuilt replaced or if remanufactured using what method (you know what I mean)

Could I ask who used to get this done,

I remember reading about your engine rebuild in another post, and you mentioning that you were able to order all the parts through Toyota Lanka, just curious how it got on and what the final bill was,

Thanks

The Don

Zak · November 23, 2006

A good oil has better detergent properties which cleans up ur engine and results in turning the oil black but also a car running a richer fuel mixture than required could blacken the oil sooner caused by bore wash.

gunat · November 24, 2006

A good oil has better detergent properties which cleans up ur engine and results in turning the oil black but also a car running a richer fuel mixture than required could blacken the oil sooner caused by bore wash.

Thanks Zak- thats sounds right, given that there is no oil consumption. I should look into the fuel mixture aspect...

Gunat when you say your engine was rebuilt, what do you mean, as in which components of the engine was rebuilt replaced or if remanufactured using what method (you know what I mean)

Could I ask who used to get this done,

I remember reading about your engine rebuild in another post, and you mentioning that you were able to order all the parts through Toyota Lanka, just curious how it got on and what the final bill was,

Thanks

The Don

Hi

the rebuild was the standard engine rebuild- no machining involved. New Rings, gaskets, bearings, seals etc.Anything that didn't look good, was replaced.

I didn't have to replace any mechanical stuff (Pistons, Conrods, cranks, cams)- as everything was in very good shape.

I believe some work was done at edirisinghe bros. since they have the necessary machinery. The only other non-standard work was a P&P on the head.

Nadheera Jinasena took care of my car...

As i mentioned before, Toyota Lanka was great. They had everything i needed for the car in stock- including the exact-fit spark wires and engine mounts. They also delivered everything to my office. Very competent, and professional. I've been to the Wattala operation for a service etc, and again...very impressed with their work.

Final Bill...lets just say it was on the other side of 100k, once you factor in labour..etc.

Cheers

Chris0628 · January 12, 2007

Hi Guys,

i have a Hyundai 2003 Model Accent. it has done 25,000KM. The engine oil i have been using is

Caltex 20W50....

i wanna know if i change to Mobil 1 10W40 will it improve anything ???

what do u think would be the best to use.... want a quiet ride :-)

Please specify the brand & the grade (15W40......etc)

Elvis_Pil · January 12, 2007

Hi Guys,
i have a Hyundai 2003 Model Accent. it has done 25,000KM. The engine oil i have been using is

Caltex 20W50....

i wanna know if i change to Mobil 1 10W40 will it improve anything ???

what do u think would be the best to use.... want a quiet ride :-)

Please specify the brand & the grade (15W40......etc)

As long as you change your oil at regular intervals (about 3500km's- original filters) even the Caltex you use will do. If you want to change- try Mobil XHP.

Edited January 12, 2007 by Pilawoos

Chris0628 · January 12, 2007

As long as you change your oil at regular intervals (about 3500km's- original filters) even the Caltex you use will do. If you want to change- try Mobil XHP.

What abt the grade 10w30, 15w40...etc... what should i use... i wanna reduce the engine noise if possible