Oil viscosity - What to use

[Golberg]

Alright, over the past few years I have heard varying opinions on what viscosity oil one should run in a 4AGE.

From memory the factory spec is 15W-40. Tried looking it up in the 4AGE book but couldn't see it, so I think that's right.

Anyway I have a recently rebuilt Bigport 4AGE which is going into my AE71 and I cant decide what oil I'm actually going to run. The car is going to be a daily, and will see both plenty of around town and highway driving.

Now I've heard people say to run the factory grade oil and nothing else. I have also heard people say that running a a fully synthetic oil of 0W works really well in a 4AGE. Some people have also said to me that a thinner than factory spec 10W-40 (semi-synth) is another good option.

So I really don't know, running 0W synth on a 25 yo design motor sounds a little bit crazy to me.

I'm also planning on changing the oil every 5000k's if that makes any difference.

Basically just after peoples opinions, and I'll probably go with whatever the general consensus is.

[driftke70]

i feel the change in weight between temps is more important than the temps they hit per se.

id keep it a little lighter than 15 40, semi synth.

[Nikkojoe]

I'd probably go for 10W/15W-40, switch between thinner and thicker depending on the season. Ive just got a rebuilt bigport running now. For the first couple 1000km it will be run on mineral only, but will be run on semi-synthetic 10W-40 (or 15W-40 during summer months).

[Nic19]

what about a fresh 4agte?? i am using mineral to run it in. im going for the proper tune friday. and i will prob run mineral oil till 5000kms maybe. what mineral should i run in this time period and then wat should i run after this fully synthetic or not? also is the 5000kms on mineral the right thing to do?

[H8CHIR6KU]

personally i would use a mineral 15w-40 on a freshly built 4age or gte. but on an older motor i would use a 20w-50. on quite a few occasions i have used 15w-40 on 4age's only for them to be a little noisy (and yes the motors were ok). also found oil pressures to be abit below average in summer. 20w-50 fixed that up and it also felt like the motor sounded alot better too

[Nic19]

what about brands? or is this just a viscosity thread? cos i need to know what brands people find the best? i was thinking motul 4100 turbolight for now???

[Hachi-Rocku]

should probably keep it to just vicosity as brands is all personal preference.

im running 10w-40 semi synth oil in my 'rebuilt' motor. doing fine in the cooler months so far..

[evil86]

10-40w seems good. so semi syn in the way to go? as for brand i think its a definately on the owner and how much his willing to pay

[Nic19]

will a semi synth be ok even tho i have only done 1000kms? or should i keep running complete mineral till maybe 3000-5000kms?

[fixeruperer]

i run agip 10-60 full synt racing oil, just coz im really cool.
and i use cheap as mineral oil to run in.

3000ks on mineral oil is enuff but you cant belt the shit out of it, remember you are running it in. after the run in period you can use ya sythetic oil and belt the crap out of it.

i run-in my cars for around 500-700ks then its to the dyno with good oil and rape it.

a proper run-in is to atleast 5000ks on mineral oil with no friction modifier what so ever.

[Frak]

I've been running 10W-40 Royal Purple in my AE111 for a few years, engine had 62K on it when I got it, coming up 100K and doesn't use a drop between changes.

[Nic19]

wats the thinnest you would got in a semi synth as i wanna use a semi synth for another 1000kms then goto full synth. i am burning oil when my car is cold, likes it blowing some decent smoke, i think its the turbo burning it.

[yoshimitsu9]

personally i would use a mineral 15w-40 on a freshly built 4age or gte. but on an older motor i would use a 20w-50. on quite a few occasions i have used 15w-40 on 4age's only for them to be a little noisy (and yes the motors were ok). also found oil pressures to be abit below average in summer. 20w-50 fixed that up and it also felt like the motor sounded alot better too

to add to this

ive got from 20w50 gtx2 to 5w30 castrol sport and the engine makes a shit load less noise and goes a hell of a lot harder

[Nic19]

yeh i just brought some castrol edge 5w30 and im hoping for the same result!

[jaz_ae86]

Read this:

http://www.animegame.com/cars/Oil%20Tests.pdf

It has no bias and has no relation to power.

I am going Royal Purple 10-40, after running GTX3 for 5 yrs, which I was changing after every race meet.
Would prefer 15-40 but cannot get this as easily with Royal Purple.

[Sherlock]

Quick, motors just clocked over 100,000, 6Cyl, good condition, needs an oilchange, was told 10w30w, seemed a little light? Was thinking 10w40w.

[Nic19]

i just put some castrol edge 5w30 in my fairly fresh 4agte and im hoping it helps with the smoke blowing, think its the turbo.

[Vezza]

i just put some castrol edge 5w30 in my fairly fresh 4agte and im hoping it helps with the smoke blowing, think its the turbo.

Are your oil feed lines correctly sized? To big a line and too much oil will cause smoke

[Nic19]

wat size should the feed be? its from the old oil pressure sender spot.

[Skylar]

-3 or -4. If it's a bb turbo put the restrictor in.

[AE092]

yeh i just brought some castrol edge 5w30 and im hoping for the same result!

Sweet. Let me know how you go with that as I have a fresh bottle left over. Running a small port with 15k in her since rebuild. Previous 10k was on Penrite HPR10 and didn't have a problem.

[ke70dave]

i just use penrite HPR15, which is 15W-40 (semi synthetic)

at first i ran HPR30 which is SAE 20W-50 (not synthetic)

the book at the shop said 15w-40 was the go, and it was on special at the time, so thought id give it a go. seems to do its job, im not burning any so i figure its not to thin.

16v bigport btw

whats important with oils is changing them, rather than the specific weighting. just dont go too thin with these old engines.

[Skylar]

As dave said, what matters is that you change the oil regularly. I don't think anyone actually had a problem with oil where they've changed oil and the motor's let go? You can probably run cheap shit and change it every event or two and you won't have a problem at all. Just use the oil that gives you the correct oil pressures per FSM (that's at least 4.3psi at idle, but aim for about 10-15 and between 35 to 71psi at 3000rpm). You dudes have an oil pressure gauge to look at things like this, right? Otherwise everyone's going to say, I've been running this oil and it's been fine.

Every time you heat the oil up you kill the stabilisers, that make the oil into what grade it is, and detergents and corrosion inhibitors and whatever else is thrown into the oil. As the engine cools down after shut off, condensation comes into play and can mix with sulphur creating acid. Some oils have alkaline additives to stop the acid but only lasts as long as it does. Once all the additives have broken down the oil is dead and needs changing. The easiest although not very accurate way to see if you've gone over the change interval is look at the oil after it's come out. If it looks different to when you poured it in (and I don't mean just the colour, I mean the way it pours and moves), you know your oil's broken down and should have been serviced earlier. You could probably send the oil out for analysis if you're really interested but I never looked into it.

Also, oils with a big range in viscosities like 10W-50 have more modifiers in them which makes it more prone to breakdown than 10W-30.

[ke70dave]

if we had repuation mr Skylar you would definately get a +10 from me!

very informative post.

my oil/filter change "rule" is every 5000km or so with ordinary/daily driving. if i was going to events i would be inclined to change the oil before the event , and maybe give it 3000km or something after it. (though it might be different if i actually went to events...i might get lazy)

[Skylar]

I figured out I drive like 6000km's per year so I just change oil at 6 months. and I should have changed it like a month ago. Don't let go until the other motor is put together! Anyone have a smallport crank for sale so I can put the motor together?

Also, having lots of pressure isn't always a good thing, unless you're running an LS1 with some melling oil pump with a high pressure spring but that's another story.