It's 2017, let's do the OIL thing, which one

I sort of do that when I go target shooting - I take four or five boxes of different brands of ammo and try them all! AND, kinda like engine oil...they all work just fine!

Well...thats not really true - this morning I tried some Fiocchi ammo as one of the four brands. I had never used it before and my 1967 Walther PPK absolutely hated it - wouldn't chamber the stuff half the time. The PPK runs fine on everything else, including much cheaper ammo from the Philippines (Armscor). Hmmm, maybe it's a German/Italian thing. Maybe oil produced in Germany wouldn't work well in a Ferrari!

 

A lot of older European shop manuals refer to them as tappets. It was not a Ferrari thing. It was actually British and their terminology was widely used in translations.

 

They had an OHC with rocker arms and push rods.

 

+1
I had also never heard of the so called zync problem until I started reading oil threads here.

 

DOHC (or OHC) engines with cam lobes direct on buckets (from 1966 to 2000):

FIAT: 128, 124 sport, 124 spider, 125, 132, Argenta
Lancia: Beta (all models)
Ferrari: ALL
Alfa Romeo: Giulia (all), Giulietta (All), Alfetta (All), Spider (all), 155 (all), 156 (all), 159 (all)

And many others: most of the cars, here it's the standard.

ciao

 

It has been mostly an American problem on older push rod engines due to changes driven by the US EPA. Regarding camshafts it is not the zinc part of ZDDP but the reduction of the phosphorus component. Not a problem on OHC engines.

 

How can you possibly say Ferrari all? You are just plain wrong. Have you ever heard of a 275 or a 330 or a 365? All had single overhead cams with roller rocker arms. And that is just sticking to your 1966 to 2000 time frame.

And I am sorry to break this to you but the Italians are not the only country in Europe building cars.

You really need to stick to that which you know...whatever that is. It certainly isn't cars, Italian or otherwise.

 

What do you personally use in your 328, Brian?

What you use is what we should use.

 

For any QV and newer Ferrari in normal use I think any name brand 0-40 or 5-40 synthetic is a good choice. There is more totally unfounded prejudice in motor oil brand selection than anything that comes to mind.
Pick the one with prettiest label.

Prior years have different needs and the needs vary depending on type.

 

A few years back I read a pdf on research about ZDDP content and flat tappet wear. I wish I could find it again. I've searched, but come up blank. In summary the research showed that the problem was not so much that lower ZZDP levels don't protect solid tappets but rather the length of time the protection is sufficient. The additives degrade over time and use and once below a certain threshold, the protection is inadequate. But if you drive your F car 1000 miles a year with annual oil changes, there would not appear to be a problem with any suitable weight oil on the market today in spite of the reduced ZZDP content. As usual, I am not making any recommendations, just reporting on what I found when looking into the problem.

 

And that I believe. The reductions came after the Feds started to enforce reductions in service intervals. The combination caused a lot of concern in Detroit.

 

from 1966: it's written. Means starting from 275 GTB4

ciao

 

Lets stay focused on the question at hand and not go off on a rant about which countries build what cars.

The question was - "What sort of oil should you use in a 308 / 328 Ferrari?"

Period!

 

.

 

Then I guess 275 2 cam, 330 and 365 2 cam all made after 66 just don't exist

 

I guess all the answers already provided are not enough?

 

Come on: Just dohc engines, from 275 GTB4, 365-400 GT, Daytona, BB, 206-246, 308 and so on

Ciao

 

Edit: Sorry, this was already posted in ferrari chat as well... it's a nice explanation of the different properties of motor oil. The author is a plastic surgeon, so he is most certainly smart, but I have no idea how much he knows about oil/cars. Seems to know what he is talking about though. End edit.


Came across this article , and it fits into the discussion quite well (as far as oil weight/ viscosity). Very interesting if you are not already an oil expert. And, in the end the recommendation is 0w-30 or 0w-40 full synthetic. It is old though, but definitely worth a read if you haven't already .

http://www.minimania.com/Motor_Oils_-_It_Is_So_Very_Misunderstood

 

See all the above post. This is why I quit using motor oil!!

 

If you guys can live with the oil pressure at idle with a 0 weight oil, more power to you.
If I was running 0 weight I'd just remove the oil pressure gauge.

 

See my post #64 in this thread: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/145294177-post64.html.

The viscosity when cold of a 0W40 is equivalent to a 0 weight oil, but WHEN COLD (ie ambient temp), that 0 weight oil is still thicker than a 40 weight oil when hot.

I'd be far more concerned about the excessive cold viscosity of a 20W oil or an equivalent 20W50 oil - when my thinner, but still thicker than hot 40 weight oil, cold 0W oil is pumping through and lubing my bearings within a few seconds of startup, your thick-as-molasses cold 20W oil is oozing slowly through the oil passages, and your bearings are running dry for a very significant few seconds longer... every single start. You've heard the statement that 80%+ of engine wear occurs in the first few seconds after cold starts? The way to minimize that is with thinner cold viscosity synthetic oils.

For faster, quicker, better protection of lubricated surfaces at cold engine startup, a synthetic 0Wxx or 5Wxx is what you really need.

When a 0W40 oil is hot, the idle oil pressure is pretty much the same as a 10W40 or 15W40 oil... since they're all 40 weight when at operating temperature and the hot viscosities will all be very close to the same.

 

100% correct. The lowest is the cold viscosity, the better is the oil for a street oil. The idle pressure for a 0-40 is the same than a 15-40 when the oil is at 90 Celsius. A vintage car is typically a "many starts and low miles" usage. So the 20W-50 is an obsolete oil: It works, but there are others much better

Ciao

 

An oil-expert told me that a 0W40 will have the 40 weight when it is new, but will degrade earlier (during use) to a lower weight, than a 5W40 or a 10W40.

If you change the oil very often, it will not be an issue.

 

The (real) oil expert is a very rare animal: I never met one in my whole life...

In any case it's a problem you don't have with vintage cars that usually do very low miles each year (or each two years, when you will put fresh oil in your engine).

As I'm not a (real) oil expert, here you are my (very) personal ranking:

1) to be avoided: 10W-60, 5W-30, 0W-30. The 10W-60 in my opinion is the worst choice.

2) good: 20W-50, 15W-40, 15W-50, 10W-40 (from worst to best. I don't recommend the 20W-50 at all)

3)BEST: 5W-40, 0W-40, 5W-50, 0W-50. The 0W-50 is the top. The 5W-40 has the best value for money

Turbocharged cars (vintage ones): just the best ones.

(Just to talk a bit, use the one you want!)

ciao

 

JUST WATCH the oil pressure gauge - it's all you you need to do. OK, I'll admit that the 3x8 oil pressure gauge/sensor sucks but, I ASSUME everyone that has any concern re this subject has checked the gauge against a mechanical gauge temporarily attached to the system. It doesn't matter if the stock gauge reads the correct pressure, just that it MOVES appropriately as the pressure goes up/down - you can always mentally calibrate the gauge or even put marks on it if you want.

FWIW, per the mechanical gauge, Mobil 1 0W40 on my '89 328 produces 75 PSI cold oil pressure at idle after cold startup and nearly 50 PSI at idle (1000 RPM) at normal operating temp so "low" pressure at idle with 0W40 in my 328 is a total nonissue. With the engine hot the pressure hits max (around 85 PSI) at 2500 RPM. Per the "calibrated" OEM gauge, the 0W40 maintained 45PSI at 1000 RPM idle in 108F bumper/bumper traffic in Las Vegas in August. Engine was fine as far as coolant/oil temp and oil pressure...air conditioning was not quite up to it!