Dude the first number does NOT refer to "W" at all..(I read AE Haas and others)...it is a measure of flow or sheer resistance. And the second number is viscosity..using less than 50W down here in the tropics will drop oil pressure noticeably.. So Mobil makes some 5- 50W and such which is fine ,or 20-50W Valvoline or Castrol will fit the bill.......burning dinosaurs.. Or you could use thinner and throw a rod........whatever. I'm a Royal Purple guy myself! LOL!
Some really good genuine 1970s tech in this thread. When you are ready to move into the 2000s you can read this. http://63.240.161.99/motoroil/
I am 100% in support of synthetics and in using lower viscosity oils such as 5-40's and 5-30's, these oils provide flow and protection and the engine responds better with more free reving, it just seems that the thicker oils hold the engine back with their higher drag and in effect limiting engine horsepower potencial. This comes from using these thicker oils and seeing the results from their use. New modern synthetics cover all bases with lower viscosity numbers and while some continue to use thicker mineral oils as a feel good situation thinking that heavier is better protection, these oils do the inverse by being a barrier to total oil flow while taxing oil pumps and filters. This is not a good situation. Many do not consider the fact that oil is in fact a coolant and the more that you can circulate through those critical parts the better off you are. Sorry for crashing the best non synthetic thing and as such Vavoline gets better marks than Castrol.
I haven't read the other posts, but a member of my family has been a mechanic for many years and advises me that Castrol is the best oil.
I run Castrol Sythetic in my FCar. I have run Castrol 20-50 in my wife's 1991 BMW 318is since new and we are closing in on 200K with no problems.
grrrr!.. yourself. LOL. I understood what you were saying about the Donaldson filter, having the pipe, that is why *I* said that I didn't know about that filter. Your first post was mentioning the fact that ford type filters will work on 308 engines I was only refering to the other brands that are available, Fram etc. just trying to tell the community not to use *them*. Some folks here might not be aware of those non pipe filters that will fit their cars. I wasn't discounting your info on the Donaldson filter just trying to clairfy the need to use the pipe equipted filters Baldwin, UFI, Donaldson. etc. Again, on the burst pressure only trying to make a piont on the Ferrari motors exceeding the 90 lb. release valve presure when the oil is cold. I have seen presures exceed 120 lbs in Ferrari motors especially with the 20-50w oils that are commonly used in the 308s. I wasn't trying to attack your intelligence just trying to add some foot notes. Regards, Vern
Ah heck! I never intentionally try to cause contraversy but only throw out information that I know to be true. Only recently did Castrol come out with a true synthetic. Castrols Syntec Blend 20W50 is in fact not a synthetic oil at all but mearly a dino (mineral) oil that has been hydrocracked or subjected to extream pressure to reduce molecule size to reasonably equal size. This oil contains no synthetic basestocks at all, which perform much better under conditions of extream heat and pressure. While this lubricant is respectable in many ways, it is by no means the best. In the Motor Oil Technical Specification Comparison Chart Vavoline 20W50 SynPower came out much better with a score of 673 compared to Castrols Syntec 20W50 with a 597. There are other oils that score higher than these two, they are: Neo 698 score, Redline Passenger 709 score and Phillips 76 Nascar Synthetic with a score of 708. Bottom line is don't change oils based on scores but don't always believe what uncle Bob the mechanic has to say about oils.
Oil seems to fall into the same bracket as timing belt change intervals, tire brands, etc., everyone has an opinion they think is better. Truth is, gasoline and diesel powered car engines have all been capable of going several hundred thousand miles on plain old dino oil for decades. That '66 Volvo P-1800 in Texas comes to mind, as well and thousands of MB cars, and a 1968 Ford Galaxie a friend of mines Father owned. It had 300K on a cleveland and was never opened up. There is absolutely no hard evidence to show longer engine life with synth., over dino. None. It has a lot more to do with oil changes and maintainence than what oil you put in. And viscosity. Note that Ferrari F1 cars have so heavy of oil it needs to be preheated before startup. Probably 70 weight. The other truth is that a Ferrari, either through neglect or hard use will be taken apart to repair something long before there are any oil related problems. Any top quality racing dino oil sold today will outperform ANY high grade oil from two decades ago. IMO synth is still a false economy unless you are racing a turbo or trying to start a diesel at -20F. Outside of those two extremes any good high grade dino will work great.
Promised myself to not get involved with yet another oil thread... darn! Ok, for dino the Shell Rotella XW-40 should be fine (forget the specs). Am saying 0W-whatever has your car leaking a lot means you may have bad gaskets/seals. Small occasions drops are probably expected, but puddles of oil due to 0W... please get those fixed and don't just cover them up by using heavy oil. Agree with the heavy oil slowing the car down and, perhaps, makingnthe car actually operate at a higher temp as oil is also a cooling agent. Worse still, a lot of wear (in relation) can happen at startup due to thick oils. Prefer synths (Mobil synth 0W-40) as car enjoys good amounts of track time and i change oil every fourth track day or less. May change to another oil and do another UOA in the future for comparison. Below is a UOA (used oil analysis) after four consecutive days of Watkins Glen using Mobil 0W-40 synth. A GREAT board to discuss oil would be BITOG http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi? Image Unavailable, Please Login
