Discussion
Hi All
I do apologise for starting another topic that has been done to death over the years (as google has shown me with a quick search)!
I'm about to service the S and have been looking at alternative engine oils. The last two years I have used Silkolene Pro S 10W-50. It has been fine - good oil pressure etc. However, it costs...
This time round I have found various people over the years recommend Castrol GTX. On EuroCarParts I can GTX 15W-40 for almost half the price of my previous choice. Does this sound like a reasoncable route to go down?
Also, this is part-synthetic. Others speak about full-synthetic GTX. What is the difference can I ask (accept the rice)!?
As always, peoples help is greatly appreciated.
I do apologise for starting another topic that has been done to death over the years (as google has shown me with a quick search)!
I'm about to service the S and have been looking at alternative engine oils. The last two years I have used Silkolene Pro S 10W-50. It has been fine - good oil pressure etc. However, it costs...
This time round I have found various people over the years recommend Castrol GTX. On EuroCarParts I can GTX 15W-40 for almost half the price of my previous choice. Does this sound like a reasoncable route to go down?
Also, this is part-synthetic. Others speak about full-synthetic GTX. What is the difference can I ask (accept the rice)!?
As always, peoples help is greatly appreciated.
mk1fan said:
I think you need to be careful with using 'new' oils in the Cologne V6s and Rover V8s as they need the additives of the 'old' oils to go along side the manufacturing tollerances of the engines. I use Halfords Classic oil. Not that expensive.
Thanks for that - do you know what grade that is, or is it a generic 'classic oil'?I am just about to change the oil in mine too. From the older threads and acquired wisdom Valvoline VR 20/50 seems to be recommended a lot. It is available but not from Europarts as many suggest and it's about £45 a gallon. So I will follow this thread with interest to see if there are any other suggestions.
GTX will be fine if it has the modern additives. The same goes for Castrol Magnatec. Asda often have Magnatec on offer for about £20 for the 4l container. You should be able to get Valvoline VR1 20W/50 for around £40 for 5l from a local motor factors. I've used all these and I reckon the Valvoline give the most consistent oil pressure.
I see you live in Herts. Do you know where Apsley is? The motor factors there stock VR1 at a decent price.
I see you live in Herts. Do you know where Apsley is? The motor factors there stock VR1 at a decent price.
brianthesnail said:
I am just about to change the oil in mine too. From the older threads and acquired wisdom Valvoline VR 20/50 seems to be recommended a lot. It is available but not from Europarts as many suggest and it's about £45 a gallon. So I will follow this thread with interest to see if there are any other suggestions.
I use Valvoline VR1 Racing 20w 50 mineral oil and always get it from Eurocarparts when they have it on special offer, usually around £25 to £30.It contains more zddp additives than most modern oils, and is beneficial to the valvetrains of our Cologne engines.
Valvoline VR1 20W/50 is £36 from Eurocarparts.com.
From the links it looks like its not a stock item anymore, shame as it used to be.
Agree with Joe - gives consistent oil pressure, which thinner oils sometimes don't. Not so bad in the S but the transit engine in the M likes treacly oil
From the links it looks like its not a stock item anymore, shame as it used to be.
Agree with Joe - gives consistent oil pressure, which thinner oils sometimes don't. Not so bad in the S but the transit engine in the M likes treacly oil
Valvoline VR1 is also available for about the same as euro car parts through burton power
http://www.burtonpower.com/parts-by-category/sundr...
Andy
http://www.burtonpower.com/parts-by-category/sundr...
Andy
glenrobbo said:
I use Valvoline VR1 Racing 20w 50 mineral oil and always get it from Eurocarparts when they have it on special offer, usually around £25 to £30.
It contains more zddp additives than most modern oils, and is beneficial to the valvetrains of our Cologne engines.
The Valoline is very good as Glen say,s I tried GTX before I used Valvoline and was quite disapointed with the rapid wear rate on the tappets. The VR1 is noticable better than anything else I have used. It contains more zddp additives than most modern oils, and is beneficial to the valvetrains of our Cologne engines.
As a rider to this, I should mention that whilst Valvoline VR1 is excellent for our Cologne V6 and similar old engines, it is not so good for modern close tolerance and catalyser equipped low emission engines, because it is too viscous for them and also tends to leave zinc and phosphorus deposits on the catalytic converter, reducing its' efficiency.
Most modern oils have drastically reduced zddp in their formulation to help reduce the level of emissions.
Please note that I am no expert, but I do read a lot.
Most modern oils have drastically reduced zddp in their formulation to help reduce the level of emissions.
Please note that I am no expert, but I do read a lot.
Lewis's Friend said:
Hi All
I do apologise for starting another topic that has been done to death over the years (as google has shown me with a quick search)!
I'm about to service the S and have been looking at alternative engine oils. The last two years I have used Silkolene Pro S 10W-50. It has been fine - good oil pressure etc. However, it costs...
This time round I have found various people over the years recommend Castrol GTX. On EuroCarParts I can buy GTX 15W-40 for almost half the price of my previous choice. Does this sound like a reasoncable route to go down?
Also, this is part-synthetic. Others speak about full-synthetic GTX. What is the difference can I ask (accept the rice)!?
As always, peoples help is greatly appreciated.
Some years ago, Castrol GTX 20w 50 mineral based oil was the preferred choice for many people, indeed it was my favourite for a long time. However, Castrol I do apologise for starting another topic that has been done to death over the years (as google has shown me with a quick search)!
I'm about to service the S and have been looking at alternative engine oils. The last two years I have used Silkolene Pro S 10W-50. It has been fine - good oil pressure etc. However, it costs...
This time round I have found various people over the years recommend Castrol GTX. On EuroCarParts I can buy GTX 15W-40 for almost half the price of my previous choice. Does this sound like a reasoncable route to go down?
Also, this is part-synthetic. Others speak about full-synthetic GTX. What is the difference can I ask (accept the rice)!?
As always, peoples help is greatly appreciated.
changed over to a semi-synthetic 15w 40 some years ago, and more recently also introduced a fully synthetic to meet modern day engine requirements. As I mentioned in my post above, these oils are very good for modern day production engines, but they contain hardly any of the zinc & phosphorous additives that are so beneficial for our valve trains.
Possibly Castrol Classic 20w 50 may have these, but you'd have to check this for yourself.
AFAIK synthetic oils are man-made, ester-based and not derived from natural mineral or vegetable oils. ( Remember the heavenly scent of Castrol R at motorsport events years ago?
Well that was a natural castor oil-based vegetable oil, hence the name "Cast(o)r-o(i)l".)Further reading: google "Wikipedia - synthetic oils"
Edited by glenrobbo on Thursday 19th May 09:15
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