Waring about mobile1 o-w40

As alot of you guys know i just finished my Kevlar clutch on my 360 . Ive driving about 1500 miles on the car since I did the clutch and changed the oil. I have always used royal purple oil in my Ferraris . I chose to use mobil 1 o-w40 this time due to reading about the benefits of it . Well iam here to tell you guys to really think twice about using it . Iam having to rebuild my entire engine due to connecting rod bearing failure on the 1 and 8 cylinder rods . what was left of the bearings was found in the oil pickup . The connecting rods slapped the crank so bad that they damaged the valves in both cylinders . The timing was spot on and the belts intact . I will send the oil out for testing but at this poit its prtty clear what caused the damage . you can see visiabe blue heat marks on the connecting rods . Iam thinking that the o weight oils is two thing for these engines thus starving the bearings of oil .
Ill post picks when I can .

 

I wouldn't be blameing the oil just yet...

 

I'm not convinced that the oil is at fault.

There are a lot of variables at play.

I've used that oil with no problems.

 

Every modern porsche uses that oil without any problems. That is not the OEM oil for a 360 though..

 

Dude, you sure you got the timing right?

Come on, blame the oil after 1500 miles....come on.....sounds goofy.

 

I'm no expert, but I highly doubt the oil...just unheard of. And as others said, if there was an issue, it would have cropped up long ago, there are many users, particularly in the P-car world. I know it is well documented on bobistheoilguy.com that Mobil 1 0w-40 shears down to a 0w-30 within 1500 miles, but that should not cause a big problem.

 

You dont mess with the timing when you do the clutch . Both the guys working on the engine have over 20 years experience each and have never seen this before . They are both factory trained . I was just trying to help avoid other peopel having this same problem . The only variable that was changed was the oil . I can see how this is going to go over so I wont even bother to post pictures .

 

I've been using it for years in my 328 including track use. I'd wager whatever happened had nothing to do with the oil. Signs of heat would occur in any engine failure regardless of cause.

Dave

 

It sounds more like a starvation problem. An engine can still maintain pressure while starving a particular section due to passage blockage.

Possibly pump failure but then you would get a "Pressure Warning" would you not?

I recall a thread on fried cams in a TR due to silicone seal blocking the oil passages in the head.
Just a thought.

I'm sorry to hear about this.
I use Redline 5W40 in mine with confidence. The TR engine is originally designed to use 10W50 Dino.

 

Hey Bill,

Bad luck about the engine trauma. Is it possible that the new oil had a more effective detergent and so it released some previously fixed crud that then found its way into the little oilways that feed the bearings in question? Fear of this is why some people with older engines do not move too far up the detergent tree when it comes to oils!

 

It's hard to imagine a 360 with a sludge problem.

 

What do the rebuilders say? If a passage is blocked the crude will still be in there. I have also seen silicone blockage. Many ferrari guys use way too much. I stopped using silicone back in the 308 years. The newest latest greatest is honda bond. In all my years it is the best so far.

 

My thought exactly, oil cavity or passage blockage. I remember an issue with Slick50 since it's teflon base, the teflon has the tendency to solidify and blocked small oil passage.

 

Have you done work on the engine?

 

Remember ARCO Graphite oil back in the early 80's? Same thing.

 

Bill absolutely post the pictures. It all contributes to the knowledge base, and as you said, if the oil is the problem, can save others from a similar fate.

 

well that's a scary thread title, I just poured 0W-40 into my 355...

Given what I've read here by Ali and others I'm confident this is a good choice for me, but engine failure is still scary...

 

Keep it under 1500 miles

 

I've used Hondabond for years, great stuff.

You still need to use it sparingly.

 

Not familiar with the car, but does clutch work expose any part of the lubrication system? Is it at all possible that in doing a clutch that debris, silicone, ect., could have contaminated the system somehow? I am not a big synth fan, I believe oil still needs to be changed at 3000 mile intervals, or annually, at a minimum no matter how good of oil is in there. But its certainly not bad oil either. If the stuff wasnt so expensive I would run it.

There are many possibilities that could have occured, including a bad batch of oil, or bottling the wrong type of oil. Its happened before. Some may recall some 20 odd years ago when Quaker State had sold some bad oil and wrecked a bunch of engines. Also, as pointed out, 0w40 is pretty light oil to be running in a car like that, but again, we need more data. Any debris that can get into the lubrication system can have very damaging consequences. From simply blocking the oil pickup screen or an oil line and /or cooler, or if farther down stream past the filter, sending junk directly to the bearings. BUT! Only fouled oil galleries and bearings would allow the oil gauge to continue to read correctly as though no trouble were under foot. Any blockage upstream of the pressure sender, which is usually just "after" the filter, would show a loss of oil pressure and/or light the warning light if there is one, showing ample warning of a problem. Ditto the oil in general. If it was really too light you would see lower oil pressure and high oil temps, all very serious indicators of an impending engine problem.

As much as people want to believe otherwise, engines are still very simple machines, and a lubrication problem is pretty simple to analyse visually if you can see all the parts. Silicone sealant blocking the pickup screen, silicone chunks fouling the main bearings, of oil cooler, or oil galleries, etc, all would lead to starvation and would point towards the workmanship of the last job. OTOH, scored cylinders, overheated rods and bearings, coked up oil rings, with no other outward signs of trouble may indicate the oil was not doing its job. I would want to see detailed pictures of the internals of the engine before making any conclusion. Just saying my engine is bad and the last thing I did was change oil is not enough of a picture to go on. If you have a claim against Mobil 1, in all fairness they would want to see internal evidence as well. They would demand it.

 

I would not use a 0w-xx oil unless my car's owner's manual specifically called for it...

 

I think you could have hit it here. He could have gotten somthing into the oil system when he refilled it. The particle could have been in the oil bottle but probably not. I would bet on something getting into the system from the fill hole and eventually plugging an oil galley.

 

Here are the pics .

 

Here are the pics .
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