Oil Advice And Recommendations Here

[Johnny]

Hi Simon,

What do you make of this...

Simon, if you are going to comment on that thread, can you post within that thread, so we dont end up with 19 pages of crap in this one please.

And While you are here, what would you recomend for a 1.8 Normaly asperated ford diesel engine 1998. .... no mods ... just want it to trawl up and down the motorway all day everyday, summer and winter

[oilman]

I assume that the Valvoline oil is not an ester because it’s relatively cheap but do you think it’s too thin? Also why would a 5w ester offer better protection than a 5w MC/HC oil?

I think 5w-40 is fine but an ester is much more stable and tougher.

Quote:

WHY ARE ESTERS SO GOOD?

They assist the additive pack in a motor oil formulation because they are surface-active (electrostatically attracted to metal surfaces), so they help to reduce wear and friction.

They are fluid at very low temperatures and at high temperatures they are very chemically stable and have low volatility (don’t evaporate away).

They also help to prevent hardening and cracking of oil seals at high temperatures.

Like many others on the board I have a mildly tuned 200 and realise with a turbo charged car the oil is working in a more extreme environment. My consideration now is should I use the Silkolene PRO S ester oil and increases the mileage between changes or is it better to change it more frequently and use a lower quality synth oil? Is suppose it’s a £ / performance trade off but I would think a few of the board members are thinking the same. I have emailed a request for a price list.

I've sent you the price list and you need to compare but if you change the ester every 6000+ miles I think you'll see that you're quids in by running on a better oil

Cheers
Simon

[oilman]

Rumour has it that mixing the two oils is unwise. Is there any truth in this ?

Modern oils actually mix pretty well as long as you follow a simple flushing procedure. DON'T use flushing oils though!

Why use 2 different oils when one will do the job?

Use a good 5w-40 all year round!

Cheers
Simon

[oilman]

Simon,

I work for Ford so use their own brand 5w40 synthetic (which i believe is Havoline) I have the 2.0 DOHC Turbo (with roller bearing turbo running around 15psi, estimated 270 bhp) and do about 20k a year (mixed main roads and round town) is this suitable?

Cheers

5w-40 is good, can't vouch for the quality of this one though

Cheers
Simon

[RohanC]

DON'T use flushing oils though!

Cheers
Simon

Errr, can you elebaorate for the less mechanically aware among us please!

Do you mean the engine oil flush stuff (like Wynns) that you add to you oil before doing a change?

Thanks

[Jonny]

Having just spoken to Simon on the phone, he's a top guy - very knowledgeable and very helpful...

I've got 10 litres of Silkolene Pro-S 5w40 turning up on Monday, should keep me going for a while, and works out way cheaper than getting mobil1 from somewhere like Halfords

[oilman]

Hi Simon,

What do you make of this...
http://www.sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.php?t=93665

OK, here goes, into the lions den!

A WORD OF CAUTION ON ADDITIVES!

This is the transcript of an AA article published in Motor May 10th 1986.

The widely-advertised oil additive Slick 50 has been soundly slammed by the AA’s Technical Services.
The AA claim that their tests show Slick 50 provides no fuel savings when it is added to a cars engine oil – and there is no evidence of any other benefits under normal operating conditions.
The AA have made no press or public announcement of their report, but have produced a leaflet for the benefit of any paid-up members who apply for one. An AA member on Motor’s staff applied for a report in the normal way.
The report states that whilst there is no evidence the product will do harm to the engine, one good point is that most of it will be very rapidly removed by the oil filter. “At about £12 per treatment”, say the AA, “it is a very expensive way of coating your oil filter element”.
The AA performed tests by taking three identical cars and carefully running them in, splitting the driving equally among their test drivers. Oils were changed at 1500 miles, the cars were run a further 500 miles to stabilise the oils’ viscosity, the cars’ tuning was carefully checked and steady speed fuel consumptions and power outputs were measured.
The report says: “The procedure is so sensitive that, for instance, leaving the headlamps of the car switched on will make a nonsense of the results due to the extra drag of the charging system”.
Engineers added Slick 50 to two of the cars in the recommended way at 3000 miles.
After a further 2000 miles, further dynamometer tests were carried out. “One car should show the sort of gradual change expected of a car in good condition” says the report, “whereas two should show a noticeable improvement . Here came the big disappointment. After our several months of careful testwork, we could not distinguish any difference between the three cars.”
The AA claimed that all cars were performing well, but performance was remarkably consistent , within a few percent.
The AA say that a detailed examination of the claims made for the product will explain what happens when Slick 50 is added to an engine. Of one gallon of petrol burnt in an engine, says the report, some 60 percent of the energy will be lost as heat from the exhaust and cooling system. That leaves 40 percent and some 25 percent is used to drive the car and its accessories. The remaining 15 percent goes to losses such as pumping air into the engine (6 percent) and some 9 percent is lost as engine friction. Of that 9 percent, 6 percent is lost in churning the oil and only 3 percent of the total input goes into the sort of “boundary” friction that a solid lubricant could affect. “If tests of Slick 50 did show a 16 percent decrease in this friction, as claimed in current advertisements”, says the report, “it would only affect the car’s overall consumption by a half of one percent”.
The AA also claim that their tests show there is no evidence that Slick 50 produces a surface layer on the engine wearing surfaces, let alone one that could last for 100,000 miles.

On questioning John Rowland, Silkolene/Fuchs Chief R&D Chemist for 40 years about additives, I received the following reply.
Quote:

The AA report encapsulates my opinion of Slick 50, it is an expensive way of blocking your oil filter, Believe me, it does precisely nothing beneficial. It has been proven time and time again that it just blocks oil filters and oilways.

For all other “magic” additives, most are based on 1930’s technology corrosive chlorinated paraffins. (synthetic anti-seize compounds originally made 70 years ago. They are cheap, toxic and corrosive. We use them in certain types of cutting oil!) Do not touch them with somebody else’s bargepole!

UCL’s on the other hand can be useful. After all, 2-strokes in effect run entirely on UCL. So……the best UCL’s are 2-stroke oils! I always tell people to use a decent 2-stroke at 0.5% or 1%, because they are superior to the UCL’s sold as UCL’s if you get my drift. A litre of Super 2 Injector or Comp-2 will be better than a cupful of cheap mineral oil dyed red (no prizes for guessing the name) any day.

Vee engines (twins, to V8’s) benefit from UCL’s because the upper walls of the RH cylinder bank, looking from the front, always run dry. Think about it!

Unquote:

UCL = Upper Cylinder Lubricant


So, there you have it.

Cheers,
Simon Barnard

[oilman]

Thanks for the info. You've already stated that the top Silkolene oil is Ester, what are Mobil1 / Castrol RS?
Jon

Looking at the data sheets they don't mention ester so they will be PAO's

Cheers
Simon

[oilman]

And While you are here, what would you recomend for a 1.8 Normaly asperated ford diesel engine 1998. .... no mods ... just want it to trawl up and down the motorway all day everyday, summer and winter

What car is it, Make, Model, Year etc.

Cheers
S

[Chiffs-boy]

I think i will be coming up to see you very soon as i only live in penzance.

Mate of mine came up to see about oil for his scooby and said you where very helpfull and had a rx8 i think?

Will be up there this afternoon. See you later

[oilman]

Errr, can you elebaorate for the less mechanically aware among us please!

Do you mean the engine oil flush stuff (like Wynns) that you add to you oil before doing a change?

Thanks

Yep, don't waste your money, they do more harm than good.

For Flushing follow this procedure:

Warm up engine to get oil circulating

Turn off and drop old oil

Fill to min on dipstick with new oil (you will be wasting this oil)

Warm up engine to get oil circulating

Turn off, drop oil and change filter

Fill to mark on dipstick with fresh new oil

Hope this helps,

Simon

[oilman]

I think i will be coming up to see you very soon as i only live in penzance.

Mate of mine came up to see about oil for his scooby and said you where very helpfull and had a rx8 i think?

Will be up there this afternoon. See you later

Yes that's me and I do run a stock RX8

We're on the Cardrew Ind Estate, Redruth (Scorrier end)

You'll save the carriage too!

Cheers
Simon

[Vez]

You get my PM?

[Iain s14]

I've sent a PM

[Johnny]

What car is it, Make, Model, Year etc.

ford escort van 75
1.8D 1998
40000 miles ont the clock

thanks

[SM]

I spoke with Simon yesterday by e-mail, and by phone for about half an hour. He is a very knowledgeable person. He gave me detailed info about certain oils and backed it up with hard facts, while still chatting on the phone. I have a slight advantage over the average SX owner being a chemist by trade and having worked for Fina oils (Heavy oils / Bitumen) before it became TotalFinaElf for just over 2 years. After this discussion I have decided to swap from Castrol 10w60 to Silkolene Pro S and to increase the oil life from 4000 to 6000 miles. This may seem in contradiction to what many of us do and belive but I can highly recommend a detailed discussion with Simon as to the reasons behind this. Ester Fully Synths are the way to go, not all fully synths are the same. I will be at Mascrat as usual if anyone wishes to discuss with me why and for what reasons I have changed my oil requirements.

Like many others on the board I have a mildly tuned 200 and realise with a turbo charged car the oil is working in a more extreme environment. My consideration now is should I use the Silkolene PRO S ester oil and increases the mileage between changes or is it better to change it more frequently and use a lower quality synth oil? Is suppose it’s a £ / performance trade off but I would think a few of the board members are thinking the same. I have emailed a request for a price list.

[ratdat]

Okay, time to wade in with my questions I'm currently rebuilding an S13 engine (CA18DET) which will be eventually putting out around 240hp. It'll all be new... rings' bearing seals etc etc. What oil would you recomend for running it in with and what running in procedure aacn you recomend if any?. And what oil should I use thereafter. I like the sound of the Silkolene Pro-S and I want to use the best I can get with this engine.

Secondy, any recomendation for an oil to use in a FWD transaxle (Nissan Sunny ZX) that has a viscous limited slip diff??

I really welcome the opportunity to learn a bit about oils and lubrication as it's an area I have been somewhat ignorant about for too long. I think my days of "some good 'ole Castrol GTX will do" are over

Cheers for all your advice

-Eddie

[PhilMorrison]

Engine: 2.0 SR20DET Turbocharged 310bhp

I have a Mocal oil cooler, and use Mobil 1 MS 15w50 and swap every 1500 miles, the car is a daily driver, making frequent short journeys, I'll quite often just reach a safe high load driving temerature as I pull into the carpark at work . The car is always warmed up and cooled down properly. here's the problem though, weekends are often spent drifting, that basically is high load, high rpm, relativly low speed driving, and due to the angle of the car, the radiator intercooler and oil cooler don't really see enough airflow. I quite often find that I have to end a run short (after 4-5minutes of driving) due to disturbing oil temperatures. What do you recommend?

I also run a clutch pack racing LSdifferential, I'm supposed to only use Nismo LSD oil in it, but it's hard to get hold of, can you help?

Cheers

Phil

[--lorien--]

I also found Simon to be very knowledgeable and he gave me many good reasons to run Silkolene Pro S especially for short cold start journeys! So I ordered 2x5litres to be delivered monday!

Good effort.

[oilman]

You get my PM?

My automatic PM notification was not switched on

All replied to now

Cheers
Simon