New Addition to the Stable!

[TRAK WDW]

we need some rolling shots!! dope pics

Definitely man! I'll let you know next time we shoot some. Love your front valence! ;)

Love it!

Thanks Kyle! I've been following yours and Tyler's build journals for a few years! That E30 M3 is

[mr2peak]

Hey guys... just wanted to bump this for a question I have...

Long story short:

When I changed the oil last, I used Valvoline 20/50 SYN synthetic. This oil (as well as the previous max life) would burn quite a bit. About 1 quart a month.

I was told this was normal... and I found that hard to believe. So I decided to switch to Valvoline 20/50 VR1 Conventional and my m20b25 has not burned a drop of oil in the past month with the same hard driving and redlined daily... I've been checking my oil once a week for curiosity.

I've researched this oil and understand that this is very bad to use with any cars that have Cats equipped b/c of the elevated levels of zinc additive (but my cats did pass smog... just below the borderline, so I already decided to add cats in the future).

I'm also going to perform a compression/leakdown test within the next couple weeks, so I will post results afterwards. Depending on these results will indicate whether or not my motor is suitable for a rebuild or not. If not, I have another M20 lined up

My quick question is: Is anyone you know (or yourself) running this VR1 oil on a street driven car and are you (or your friend) burning oil?

You probably know this, but:
Synthetic oil is quite a bit thinner, if there are any small leaks with conventional oil, synthetic will find it and leak out a lot quicker. It's ability to slide past piston rings is also enhanced. That might be why you were burning so much oil.

No personal experience with VR1. I run Mobil 1 Synthetic in everything.

[TRAK WDW]

You probably know this, but:
Synthetic oil is quite a bit thinner, if there are any small leaks with conventional oil, synthetic will find it and leak out a lot quicker. It's ability to slide past piston rings is also enhanced. That might be why you were burning so much oil.

No personal experience with VR1. I run Mobil 1 Synthetic in everything.

Thank you for the advise and quick response!

Yes I do know that the film strength in synthetic is stronger, regardless, it is definitely thinner. :-(

But the previous owner stated that he himself was burning more than a quart month using the conv/synthetic blend of Max life 20/50 ( I was told this type of valvoline oil was majorly conventional with an added synthetic blend??) which is why I switched to the 300k+ SYN that valvoline sells.

I was hoping their high mileage oil would help just a bit, but should I just switch back to conventional if the compression test pressure does not land within the values?

I'm really hoping to find a bit more insight on this mysterious 20/50 VR1 oil that is not burning at all in my over-abused m20