I read AE Haas, now what oil? Still have a question...

[Spaniard]

OKAY guys...I read Motor Oil by AE Haas!

Wow. What an experience, to know that I have been running some fucked up oil in the past. hehe. But as thorough as the classes were, I still have some questions.

Little background...

My motor has 2000 miles in it. It is broken in and has plenty of dyno time on it. I run a 10w-30 mineral based "autozone" oil in there still from break-in period to now and have changed it three times to be sure of proper break in and when I was injecting too much fuel I wanted to be sure to change the oil in full cause you could smell the gasoline in the oil when it was drained. That was messed up.

Also, the machinest told me that he put a tighter tolerance on my internals than recommended so that my motor could take some more high-rpm stress.

So...

I want to switch to a 0w-30 or 40, cause I think that will do my new motor some good, along with its tighter tolerance. I live in Florida and it gets hot as we all know in the summer, but the winter coming up it's not bad at all outside.

Some people have said that 0w-30 gave them some lifter noise? and went to 5w-30?

Also I'm concerned, I will be using the car daily to go from school to work, school home, and the occasional long drive to Tampa from Daytona Beach. But I do drive the car hard from time to time, and like to do the occasional burst of petal to the metal and the 1/4 mile track fun on the weekends.

Do I really need to switch oils when I go to the track? Is there an oil that offers good daily driving along with the occasional weekend fun? That offers good start up characteristics along with high-temp protection?

Thank you.

 

[jdub]

Yep...the motor oil lessons by Dr Haas is eye opening
For those that may have missed it: http://63.240.161.99/motoroil/

There are numerous oils discussed in this section that will answer your questions (read this: http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38768), but here are the Cliff Notes:

The "best" is a subjective thing BTW

IMO, the synthetics are the best to use...in a turbo or NA motor...it's irrelevant. What I like, in order:

Red Line 5W-30 (Ester based...Group V)
German Castrol (GC) 0W-30...(PAO based...Group IV)
Pennzoil Platinum 5W-30 (not a "true" syn oil...highly hydrocracked Group III...still an excellent oil)
Amsoil Signature Series 0W-30...(PAO based w/ ester adds...Group IV)

Advantages of the above:
- Highly resistant to breakdown from heat.
- All have excellent additive packs.
- Excellent flow characteristics, especially cold when you need it the most.
- You can go 8,000 miles easy between changes...just change the filter at 4K and top off the oil.

Disadvantages:
- Expensive...especially Red Line and Amsoil
- Ester or PAO does an excellent job of cleaning deposits in a motor. On a high mileage car that may have worn seals, with such deposits around them, you may get a leak. The deposits are the only thing stopping the leak (you should not have this problem).
- GC is getting harder to find...AutoZone is the only store carrying it. It may or may not be available in your area.

Use a Wix or PureOne filter.
http://www.supramania.com/forums/showthread.php?t=42763

I did experience valve train noise using the Amsoil...you may or may not have the same experience...you'll have to try it to see. I switched to GC (it's a bit thicker at ops temp for a 30W) and the noise all but disappeared. You will not need to change oils for the track, but track use would lead me more toward the GC as my choice...it being a bit thick at ops temp will help if your oil temps get above 100 deg C at the track.

 

[Spaniard]

Thank you. Big help you have given me.

What about Royal Purple?

 

[jdub]

RP is a good oil...a "boutique" oil in that it's a Group IV & Group V blend of PAO and ester base stocks. However, RP is more slanted toward race applications and as a result does not have as good as an add pack as the oils I mentioned above. You can use it no problem...in fact, Supracentral is using it with excellent results. Take a look at the "Your Favorite Motor Oil and Why" thread...it's the 1st oil talked about

 

[Spaniard]

I read it. So basically it has less detergents in it like a race oil that is straight 10? So it can be used daily, maybe up to 3000 miles, but not like mobile 1 or penzoil platinum that would do 5000 miles easily. great results, but shorter lifetime on the oil. Please correct me if I'm getting this wrong.

 

[jdub]

You've got the right idea

Most syn oils can go 8K easily between changes...I would change the filter at 4K and add make-up oil. RP has less additives, so it is possible it will have a shorter service life between changes...it will still go 5K easily. It's going to depend on the condition of the motor as to how fast the additives get used. If you do oil analysis, you can run it longer and change when the additive levels/TBN drop to min levels...this applies to any oil.

Don't get me wrong, RP is an excellent oil...for daily use, I prefer an oil with a more robust add pack.

 

[Spaniard]

Nice. I'm glad I read that thread on AE Haas. More people need to read that, cause it certainly changed my perspective on oil. I just changed my dads oil in the corvette to redline (wow! it's a lot of oil!) and the car starts up faster and seems to have some pick up, like the response is faster. I think.

It would be cool if there was a machine that could take engine bearings and test them with different kind of oil to see how they wear at various temps.

 

[supramike7m]

yep i took the time to read it as well, then again, and again. man i really learned so much about oil, more than i thought there was to know about the stuff. if people acutally read that there would be not be so many crazy questions or bad advice goin around.

 

[Spaniard]

Oh yeah. I was trying to explain to some of my friends using 20W-50 oil that they have it all wrong. They were stunned at the notes I showed them. hehe.

 

[Spaniard]

By the way people. I just switched to Royal Purple 5w-30 (expensive oil!), but my temps are lower, my turbo seems more responsive and runs a lot smoother. This stuff is great, first time I put synthetic in it and its awesome. I am going to do an oil analysis at 3K miles.