davebugs Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Food for thought. An old engine builder told me this years ago. His main business was race engines (and why we were there). He had a 50's Ford pickup seemed all original including engine. My buddy generally ran straight 30 weight. He recommended straight 10 for most uses. And actually preferred the lower viscosity stuff. His overall theme was basically this. It's the part of the engine that doesn't get the oil that fails. Rather than a part that gets oil and the oil not being thick enough. I must admit when they started with 5w30 and stuff I was sceptical too. But I keep this old timers thoughts in mind. It does make some sense. I've had many vehicles go atleast 150k before I sold them using the recommended lighter oils. I do believe it's more about routine maintenance than the brand often. My current DD has 220k and is in excellent health. Then again it's diesel and I use 5w40 fully synthetic in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 I have NEVER used anything other than 10w30 in every single car I have owned and never had an issue... but I didnt know any different because thats what my parents do. But then again, Im going with a rebuilt motor and a synthetic oil. A few of "different types" of vehicles I used 10w30 in: 1968 Buick Skylark 1983 Subaru GL wagon 1992 Subaru Loyale 1998 Mitsubishi Mirage 1991 Chevrolet S10 I just... I want this motor to last so that when Im done with it, I can pass it on to someone who needs it and they can rest assured that it is still "Like new" I may seem a little off my wall because I havent decided on an oil :-\ but I really appreciate the opinions and the knowledge that is passed on. thanks guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Okay, I went to Google for my ignorance... so I could see what the difference was.... Is this correct: Multi-weight oils (such as 10W-30) are a new invention made possible by adding polymers to oil. The polymers allow the oil to have different weights at different temperatures. The first number indicates the viscosity of the oil at a cold temperature, while the second number indicates the viscosity at operating temperature. This page from the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ offers the following very interesting description of how the polymers work: At cold temperatures, the polymers are coiled up and allow the oil to flow as their low numbers indicate. As the oil warms up, the polymers begin to unwind into long chains that prevent the oil from thinning as much as it normally would. The result is that at 100 degrees C, the oil has thinned only as much as the higher viscosity number indicates. Another way of looking at multi-vis oils is to think of a 20W-50 as a 20 weight oil that will not thin more than a 50 weight would when hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obk25xt Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 5w30 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Sweet Spencer, thank you! Gotta see if I can find 5W-30 in T6 Rotella! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebugs Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Sweet Spencer, thank you! Gotta see if I can find 5W-30 in T6 Rotella! The full synthetic Rotelly relabeled T6 a year or so ago in the blue bottle is 5w40. I've bought over 50 gallon jugs and that's what it used to day (before T6 was added) and what it says now in the fancier jug that says T6. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 I thought I saw 5/30 in it but maybe not lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyfun Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Big fan of the Mobil-1 5w40 Turbo Diesel Truck oil myself. Run it in all my vehicles, summer and winter. Can be found on sale for about $23/gal. But since it's full synthetic, you run the risk of getting leaks if you switch to it from petroleum based oil (probably why my valve cover and rear main gaskets are hemorrhaging on my ej22). In that case, I'd stick to Delvac, which is crazy cheap at like $12/gal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Big fan of the Mobil-1 5w40 Turbo Diesel Truck oil myself. Run it in all my vehicles, summer and winter. Can be found on sale for about $23/gal. But since it's full synthetic, you run the risk of getting leaks if you switch to it from petroleum based oil (probably why my valve cover and rear main gaskets are hemorrhaging on my ej22). In that case, I'd stick to Delvac, which is crazy cheap at like $12/gal. The engine that I will be putting full synthetic in will be rebuilt before the oil goes in, so I should be golden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyfun Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Very nice, perfect candidate for the switch to synth. Read up on the Mobil 1 5w40 TDT if you're interested. Mobil 1 and I believe Royal Purple are the only true fully synthetics, the other's still having some petroleum based processing. Very popular in European cars, too, as Euro spec often calls for 5w-40 with special additives. With a fully synthetic oil you can go much further between oil changes as well, as they resist sludging and breakdown better. They say you can do about 12-15k, but I changed mine at 10k cause it'd been almost a year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Very nice, perfect candidate for the switch to synth. Read up on the Mobil 1 5w40 TDT if you're interested. Mobil 1 and I believe Royal Purple are the only true fully synthetics, the other's still having some petroleum based processing. Very popular in European cars, too, as Euro spec often calls for 5w-40 with special additives. With a fully synthetic oil you can go much further between oil changes as well, as they resist sludging and breakdown better. They say you can do about 12-15k, but I changed mine at 10k cause it'd been almost a year. Which is something I may consider... But when I see the price on those oil change jugs Im like my poor already flat broke pocket book haha. I had heard that the T6 was great because walmart has the jugs for like <$22 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyfun Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Yeah, it does seem expensive at first, but remember that you can go two to three times as far between changes, and that's also saving you money on filters. Plus, spending an extra ten or twenty bucks a year is a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds or thousands you save by having a well maintained engine. That's the problem with preventative maintenance: you never know if you prevented any problems, but you sure as hell know if you failed to! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Yeah, it does seem expensive at first, but remember that you can go two to three times as far between changes, and that's also saving you money on filters. Plus, spending an extra ten or twenty bucks a year is a drop in the bucket compared to the hundreds or thousands you save by having a well maintained engine. That's the problem with preventative maintenance: you never know if you prevented any problems, but you sure as hell know if you failed to! Total noob question: Do I need to buy some kind of "synthetic oil filter" to last that long? Ive never re-used an oil filter, so Ive always assumed they go about 3K miles and mine get changed at 2500-2800 miles. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyfun Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 No special filter needed, but it's important to get a good one. I wouldn't wish a Fram filter on my worst enemy. They seal the ends of the filter with cardboard, which ends up in chunks in your engine and then lets oil go by unfiltered. When I first got my EJ22 GLW, I went to do the initial oil change, and about flipped ************ when I saw a Fram on there. When I drained the oil there were little fibery chunks in it. I decided rather than putting in my good oil right away, to put in some cheap oil and cheap filter, drive it for a week, and then change it again. Glad I did, cause there was still more stuff in there. Wix is the way to go for all filters. Microgard got bought by Fram so I don't trust them anymore. Mobil1 makes very nice filters but they're a bit pricey. Incidentally, even with conventional oil, you can typically go well beyond 3000 miles between changes. The quick lube companies try to push that number on you to increase business, but in reality you can safely go 4000 to 5000 miles. Of course you should still use common sense and keep an eye on your oil. If it seems to be getting pretty dirty, might as well change it no matter what the mileage, especially if you drive pretty hard (city stop-and-go, offroad, dusty climates. And as a rule of thumb, changing it just before winter is the best time cause the cold is the harshest on your engine and that's when it most needs good oil, plus dirty oil can be more viscous and make the car harder to start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 No special filter needed, but it's important to get a good one. I wouldn't wish a Fram filter on my worst enemy. They seal the ends of the filter with cardboard, which ends up in chunks in your engine and then lets oil go by unfiltered. Wix is the way to go for all filters. Microgard got bought by Fram so I don't trust them anymore. Mobil1 makes very nice filters but they're a bit pricey. Just changed my buddies new foresters oil last night... at 1030pm because it had a FRAM on it Ive heard good things about WIX may have to use them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davebugs Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 WIx are excellent. Have you though about breakin oil for your fresh engine? Most symthetics warn AGAINST using them first thing before stuff gets seated and broken in a bit. I've heard folks claim lots of stuff including piston rings never really settling in when putting synthetic in new engines. I have no wisdom. Just wondering if you'd thought about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Breaking in the motor: in my thoughts (this could be dangerous) Taking it easy (oh god this will be hard) for the first 3-5k miles? Havent thought of break in oil yet... I use chevron 10W30 in it now since its like 2.69 a quart... would this be acceptable? Maybe a half/synthetic? Im with you... no knowledge of break-in oil as Ive never had something with 0 miles before (other than shoes) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cyfun Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Something 0w or 5w is probably where to start. You should probably research that a bit. As far as break-in driving style goes, it varies from engine to engine, but I keep hearing that the first half hour is the most important. As soon as you get it running, you wanna get on a road where you can do some highway speeds. Get into 3rd gear, floor it to about 4500rpm, then completely let off throttle and coast down to about 2000rpm. Repeat that for about 20 minutes. I don't remember precisely what it does, something about being under hard positive and negative loads smoothing out the hone marks in the cylinders and the sharp edges on the piston rings before one wears further than the other. And after you've done that, you don't necessarily need to be easy on it for a few hundred or thousand miles. But you should change your oil after I think 200 miles, aka a tank of gas. After that, it's about as broken in as it's going to get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
92_rugby_subie Posted February 7, 2012 Author Share Posted February 7, 2012 Thank you Cyfun! Sounds like Ill get to unleash my horsepower beast sooner rather than later I currently have a carbed EA82 (86 GL) and Im going with a SPFI EA82, so Ill get a little compression boost, plus Ive got a weber 32/36 on it, and Ill be sending my cams to Delta for a torque grind... I may see like 95 horsepower Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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