Colour of oil - F355

What oil are you using?

aehaas

 

I only let my oil go 3,000 miles, but more often the oil gets changed after a trip to the track. My car got 9 oil changes last year, 6 brake bleedings, 3 sets of brake pads,... This winter when we did a major service, we were in the cam area and I noticed that there was no varnish buildup at all. Also after a long trip (say 500 miles) is the perfect time to change your oil because all of the sludge has become suspended and a change the day you arrive will prevent the sludge from dropping out of suspensioin.

In my opinion for cars with engines that cost $25K to replace, when oil has obtained a color darker than tranlucent tan its time to change it.

 

I agree with Mitch and adopt a similar regimen in my 308 after track outings. I may put as many as 4 track days over two weeks on one change but then it all gets cleaned out. (Of course this doesn't include the oil that gets burned at the track!)

Mitch, are you changing pads because of wear or...? I now run a Carbotech race pad. I am guessing I get 500 - 750 track miles on them (unlike a set of Porterfields that I ran through in a weekend).
Philip

 

I agree, change it, and you DON'T need to go to the dealer for that.

 

Yes, I am getting 5-6 track days on a set of pads, and 15 track days on a set of tires. The current pads are Ferrodo DS2500s because the stock ones fade (easily) and these don't. I got 31 track days on the first set of rotors.

I get 14 laps per session 4 sessions per track day (clubs) on a 2.9 mile course which all converts into 162 miles per day and 5 days equals about 800 miles on the pads. The road wear is incidental on the drive from home and back.

 

I cange oil routenely but I have a lift in my garage. Three significant things
1. You need a 12mm hex wrench (most common sets go up to 10mm) It cost me $70 to buy a set with the larger sizes. This is to un do the pan nut on the engine itself. This is located on the verticle surface that faces forward on the pan.
2. You need to Lift the car in such a way that you can remove the aero fairing that covers over the oil tank reservoir. This eventually became a problem creating wear on the chassis studs. To save this task I removed the fairing and using a circle cutter on my drill press, cut a 3 inch hole under the drain location and replaced the fairing. I use a cap from a 3 inch mailing tube to cover the hole when I'm done.
3. The 355 Oil system only takes about 8.5 quarts of oil. Don't fill it with the recommended quantity.

 

I change the oil every week,gives me something to do at the weekends.