What Oil Are You Using

Thanks.

 

Bruno,
are long term experiences allowed without being threatened by a ban

I used Agip Sint 2000 10W-40 till my beginnings in 1996 and now the successor ENI i-Sint 10W-40 (heaven knows, why they gave up the legendary Agip brand name, and opted for such an 'i'-BS)
I never start my car below zero centigrades (32F) and I'm no racing driver. Though on some rare occasions it's possible to test the upper viscosity range of the oil.
My best experience: On a very warm summer evening a few years ago - still 32 centigrades (90F), Texans may laugh, I find it warm at 9.00 p.m.-, I could drive my car with speedometer permanently indicating 240-250 km/hrs. over a distance of around 30 mls. on the speed limit free Autobahn section in front of my doorstep.
That was the highest oil temperature I ever saw on my gauge. Though being drysump and having the oil temp sensor behind the oil cooler and not in the sump like on wetsump cars. No smoke, no oil pressure issues. Good enough for me.

Best Regards
Martin

 

Thanks Martin.
And yes I agree: dropping the AGIP brand was stupid. It meant a lot for many "Ferraristi"; when I saw an AGIP gas station, I just had to take some gas just for the fun of seing the F-Car under the "six-legged dog" panel ("Six-legged dog" could be a quote from the legendary Vittorio Gassman in "Il Sorpasso"?)
Rgds

"Cane a sei zampe, amico fedele dell'omo a quattro rote! (Bruno Cortona/Vittorio Gassman, "Il Sorpasso")

 

Oil today is indeed different for sure, but it is mostly the change to synthetics that are mainstreaming accross all cars that is the main change, and a different not really synthetic chemistry that is still marketed as synthetic becoming very popular. Other chemistry changes relate to lower viscosities for engines that spec it for fuel economy improvement (which can be significant), and important changes to reduce vehicle emmissions. But that does not mean any of the new oils are in fact "better" at their core task of lubrication, nor that they are more appropriate for older engine designs. As for viscosity, a modern 10w40 is probably more like a 5w40 2o years ago, as changes to cold flow in all formulation changed around year 2000 (long story why they did this, related to fuel injection becoming mainstream). A modern oil with the same grade as the manual recommends will be more than sufficient. Going to lower spec say 0w40 where 10w40 is specced I think has some theoretical drawbacks (eg. lower film strength), so it is not necessarily better to have lower grade than the conditions require.

The fuel comment is interesting, the alcohol in fuels is definitely a problem, using Shell Nitro premium is the main widely available no alcohol premium out there, so you can avoid this problem. But it is also true that high sulfer fuel, which is largely no longer out there, was hard on the later Ferrari's and cars that use Nikasil liners in the engine block. So if you stay away from alcohol, and have the nikasil block, todays fuel might actually be an improvement?

 

Not really.