motor oil

[silversleeper]

What I use... too light perhaps?

[trent]

like what?

bad for cams, bad for bearings, bad for sludgebuildup, bad for your entire engine, you know, the important parts.

It is good for the companies making a killing on profits!

[euroshark]

Ive considered the lubro moly... Some of their other products are awesome, but I don't know if I can justify spending that much on oil for my measly 533i...

I still haven't coughed up the dough to buy two bottles of Redline transmission fluid for it...

[delatlanta1281]

bad for cams, bad for bearings, bad for sludgebuildup, bad for your entire engine, you know, the important parts.

It is good for the companies making a killing on profits!

OK expand. Why is it bad? What does it do to destroy those parts? From what I know the detergents were capable of eating away the seals on much older cars. But not an e30.
Oh and I use Royal Purple.

[RobertK]

bad for cams, bad for bearings, bad for sludgebuildup, bad for your entire engine, you know, the important parts.

It is good for the companies making a killing on profits!

You have that backwards.. Cheap Dino oil is usually horrible for sludge build up. Ever engine I tear down that used dino oil is usually tarnished and sludged up. The reason Royal Purple starts looking bad after 2K is because it has good quality detergent in it and when used in older engines that previous used dino oil it begins to break the sludge down making the oil look nasty.

How many of you guys really know the difference between a real synthetic oil one that just says it is?

BTW.. Mobil 1 is not a true synthetic. Mobil switched to Group 3 oil base a few years ago compared to brands like Royal Purple and Red Line that still use Group 4.

Castrol 0W-30 made in Germany is great for M50 motors and is a true Group 4 synthetic oil. American made Castrol is Group 3 oil stock = not a true synthetic.

If you are that interested in oil then read up:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

[CarsSuck]

^ agreed. My veedub has had mobil1 since 30K mi. and i had the valve cover off last year and it looked fine after 145k mi. Synthetic has undeniably better cold flow characteristics (not that you'd give a shit, cali people) and from what ive read it doesnt fall apart molecularly liek non syn(hence 15k change intervals).

[RobertK]

^ agreed. My veedub has had mobil1 since 30K mi. and i had the valve cover off last year and it looked fine after 145k mi. Synthetic has undeniably better cold flow characteristics (not that you'd give a shit, cali people) and from what ive read it doesnt fall apart molecularly liek non syn(hence 15k change intervals).

Regardless of the fact that synthetics oils don't break down as fast as dino oils both trap the same amount of contaminants after 3,000-4,000 miles thus the reason you should still change your oil every 3-4k no matter how long the manufacturer claims their oil's viscosity lasts.

The contaminants in your oil cause just as much if not more engine wear as running shitty dino oil.

[Fanzotti]

I have been using a castrol Oil that states it's for high mileage cars. My car has 120,000 on it. I believe it's a synthetic. If you guys are saying that synthetic is bad for old cars why would they make an oil for old cars out of synthetic? No offense, I appreciate your guys knowledge, but they're castrol, they've been dissecting oil for 100 years...don't you think they know what there doing?

I admit I don't know much about oil?

Is there anyone that's pro synthetic on old cars?

If you flush your crankcase in between oil changes how important is it that your oil cleans well?

What do you So Cal folks recommend I use in our climate?

Thanks Doods

[Eliminator]

BTW.. Mobil 1 is not a true synthetic. Mobil switched to Group 3 oil base a few years ago compared to brands like Royal Purple and Red Line that still use Group 4.

Castrol 0W-30 made in Germany is great for M50 motors and is a true Group 4 synthetic oil. American made Castrol is Group 3 oil stock = not a true synthetic.

If you are that interested in oil then read up:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/

+1

However, even cheap conventional oils are pretty good now days. In the E30 I use Chevron Supreme 10-40 (winter) or 20-50 (summer) and plan to do 5000 mile intervals after my Auto RX treatments are done. Synthetic would be fine, but it's just not needed for this application. Even if I tracked the car synthetic wouldn't be needed, since this car has an oil cooler. IMO, the only time synthetic is needed is for long intervals (10,000+ miles) or when oil temps could be an issue (turbos for example).

-Steve

[Eliminator]

What do you So Cal folks recommend I use in our climate?

Check your manual, it says what viscosities to use at different temperatures. You'll probably be fine with 20-50 conventional oil year round, if your outside temps don't get much below freezing. I use Chevron supreme, .59 a quart after rebate at Kragen.

[silversleeper]

is it bad that i use 0w40?

[CarsSuck]

hard to say. as long as you have adequate oil pressure and arent consuming any more than usual, i guess its okay, but its definitely not what the factory calls for.

[Jscotty]

I was using Rotella for a while because my uncle had a diesel truck and he said that I could have all of the oil I wanted. It worked rather well even though IMHO I think that if you are changing your oil regularly enough, it wouldn't matter.

And yes, its true that motor oil will maintain its viscosity and not break down unless its put under the stress that exceeds normal daily driving. But changing the oil helps rid the engine of sludge, dirt, moisture, and everything else that gets collected in the engine.

[llll1l1ll]

I've always used Castrol GTX 20w-50 only because that's what the previous owner used. Makes the car a bit sluggish in winter, but once the engine is warm its a bit nice.

[mrsleeve]

The reason old cars leak after switching to syn oils is because they (like stated above) wash away the varnish build up aginst the seals. The varnish helps to keep the seal. When gone it lets oil pass.