Favorite oil for a 308? | FerrariChat

Favorite oil for a 308?

Discussion in 'Technical Q&A' started by Tennlee, Feb 29, 2004.

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  1. Tennlee

    Tennlee Formula Junior

    Feb 10, 2002
    645
    Great Smoky Mountains
    I've got a '79, and its oil change time again. What's your preference for a 308?
     
  2. Sean F.

    Sean F. F1 Rookie

    Feb 4, 2003
    3,059
    Kansas
    Full Name:
    Sean F
    I use valvoline synthetic 20w-50.

    Some people like redline.

    Find a quality, synthetic and you'll be happy. So will your car.
     
  3. seschroeder

    seschroeder Formula Junior

    Apr 25, 2002
    251
    Alexandria, VA
    Full Name:
    Steve Schroeder
    Valvoline 20W-50 racing oil. Has NEVER let me down!!!
     
  4. bernardo66

    bernardo66 The Crazy Cat Man
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Dec 14, 2003
    26,281
    Montreal Canada
    Full Name:
    Bernie
    Agip Sint2000 10-40
     
  5. enjoythemusic

    enjoythemusic F1 World Champ

    Apr 20, 2002
    10,676
    Worldwide
    Full Name:
    Steven
    Amsoil 2000 20-50 :)
     
  6. ria

    ria Formula Junior

    Nov 2, 2003
    732
    ohio
    Full Name:
    phill
    i use castrol 10/ 40
     
  7. Diablo

    Diablo Formula Junior

    Use the SINT...
     
  8. PeterS

    PeterS Four Time F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Jan 24, 2003
    47,933
    Goodyear, AZ
    Full Name:
    PeterS
    The type that does not go in the gearbox
     
  9. Dave

    Dave F1 Rookie

    Apr 15, 2001
    2,722
    Little Rock
    Full Name:
    David Jones
    I harpooned a whale a few years back...
    Now whenever I need to change the oil,
    I just throw a little blubber on the fire.
     
  10. BigTex

    BigTex Seven Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Dec 6, 2002
    79,143
    Houston, Texas
    Full Name:
    Bubba
    Royal Purple rules!!!!!!!!
     
  11. Mike C

    Mike C F1 Veteran
    Lifetime Rossa Owner

    Aug 3, 2002
    6,081
    Southeast USA
    Full Name:
    Mike Charness
    I use either Valvoline 20W-50 Racing Oil if I can get a good deal on it by the case, Castrol GTX 10-40 if I can't.
     
  12. 308 GTB

    308 GTB F1 World Champ
    Rossa Subscribed

    Feb 7, 2002
    11,166
    New Jersey
    Full Name:
    Barry Wolinsky
    Agip Sint 2000 10W-40 for my 1976 308 GTB
     
  13. 308GTS

    308GTS Formula 3

    Dec 27, 2001
    2,223
    TN
    Castrol 20W-50.
     
  14. Spasso

    Spasso F1 World Champ

    Feb 16, 2003
    14,648
    Land of Slugs & Moss
    Full Name:
    Han Solo
    Because the engine oil gets changed every 2000/2500 miles I use Valvoline VR1 20w50 Racing Oil. Can't see the justification of going to a synthetic when it isn't in the engine that long.

    I DO use Red Line 75w90NS synthetic in the trans axle though. The shifting is way better than with dino oil.

    DJ

    '78 308 GTS
     
  15. Pantdino

    Pantdino Formula 3

    Jan 13, 2004
    2,069
    Full Name:
    Jim
    I posted this question regarding my '72 Dino at bobistheoilguy.com, and after much discussion and reading I concluded that Mobil 1 15W-50 is a good choice. These older cars need a 50 weight oil and the 5W-50 oil is not as good because it's too full of viscosity improvers at the expense of wear reducers. Redline, Amsoil, etc would be fine too but more expensive. My plan is to perform an oil analysis at 1 year to see how it's doing.
     
  16. Wayne 962

    Wayne 962 Formula Junior
    Rossa Subscribed

    Nov 27, 2003
    502
    It's been well documented (well at least to me), that running synthetic oil in older cars that have traditionally run dino oil can cause some serious, irreversable oil leaks. This is particularly true on the Porsche 911 engines, as they tend to expand quite a bit when hot. I don't recommend using synthetic on any Porsche air-cooled engines, unless they were recently rebuilt with new seals.

    Here's a link to some threads I dug up:

    http://forums.pelicanparts.com/search.php?s=&action=showresults&searchid=597276&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

    -Wayne
     
  17. Sophia

    Sophia Formula Junior

    Aug 17, 2003
    298
    Dash Point/Federal W
    Full Name:
    Peter Barbin
    Kendall GT-1, 20w50. Been using it for years in Air-cooled motors: Porsche, VW, BMW M/C's...'Alfa of Tacoma' recommends it for the older F-cars. Like DJ, my oil is lucky to see 2000 miles, and I drive the car reasonably.

    We should get together and market this hardly used motor-oil for lawnmowers and such..."Pre-owned Ferrari Oil!", recycled for your high performance John Deere!

    I don't think any of us would use poor quality oil, so the performance characteristics I suppose shouldn't vary that much in dino oils.

    But here's a question: What is the differentiating quality or the performance "cut-off" that deems some oils worthy of the "API Star" recommendation, while others don't get it. For example, Castrol 10w30 GTX has the "API" star on its label, while Castrol 20w50 GTX does not. Obviously, the viscosity improvers must play a role in this differentiation, but is there more to it than that?
     

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