Engine oil

[active1064]

Hi
Not been on the forum for a while, but the time has come for an oil change and there seems to be a lot of different opinions as to the best oil!. I am running a 350i with a 3.9 engine. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Tim

[gmw9666]

You may see a few of us using this https://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-73741-valvoline-vr1-r...

[stevoj]

I use "Valvoline Racing VR1"

[LLantrisant]

use a classic oil with a high percentage of ZDDP (zinc)...or add an additive...modern oils dont protect the weak point of the rover engne...the camshaft.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=zinc+addit...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_odkw=zzdp&_...

[John042]

Have modern fully synthetic oils, ie 15w40 etc have high zinc contents? J C.

[dimitrivdw]

Also Valvoline VR1 racing 20w50 for me

[Jon100p]

The low ZDDP levels (Zinc dialkyldithiophosphate apparently!) resulting from the later API (American Petroleum Institute) specs (SN and SM, I think) apply only to the 0W-20 through to 10W-30 viscosity engine oils. Higher viscosity oils i.e. anything SAE40 or higher weight, are not required to have lower levels of zinc and phosphorus and so in general they still contain the same levels of ZDDP as before, even if they are an API SN spec oil.

[rev-erend]

Another vote for Valvoline VR1 racing 20w50.

It's freely available and not too expensive.

Many people with V8's use it.

[adam quantrill]

I had been using Castrol Classic 20W/50 for about 60-70k miles. However I have noticed the price creeping up so I have found COMMA X-FLOW TYPE MOT 20W-50 MOTORWAY which is supposed to have respectable ZDDP levels, so I'm moving over to that.

I do oil changes every 3000 miles and tend to go for cheaper oils, this seems a better strategy than 6k miles and more expensive, as I'm about to hit 90k miles on the original cam.

Edited by adam quantrill on Tuesday 12th March 17:00

[KKson]

Morris classic gold 20w 50 for mine and oil change every year which is every 3000 miles.

[Englishman]

Fuchs Titan Race Pro S 10W-50 here.

[LLantrisant]

John042 said:

Have modern fully synthetic oils, ie 15w40 etc have high zinc contents? J C.

more or less the answer is : no

[ChimpOnGas]

I've been using Penrite oils for years.

Penrite HPR15 is a fully-synthetic 15W60 "full zinc" (1050 ppm) oil available from Classic Oils at £32.95 for 5 litres making it exceptional value for a fully synthetic.

https://www.classic-oils.net/Penrite-HPR15



If you're looking for a mineral 20w50 oil that's better value than Valvoline VR1 but performs exactly the same then Classic Oils offer their own 'Heritage' brand product, this mineral oil has the same zinc content as VR1 of 1300 parts per million but is only £20.00 for 5 litres.

https://www.classic-oils.net/Classic-Oils-Heritage...

The Heritage 20w50 was specifically blended to exactly match Valvoline VR1 viscosity, additive package and quality. Basically Classic Oils looked at the make-up of the excellent and well respected VR1 and copied it exactly offering it at a price point that saves you around £10.00 per 5 litres over the VR1 which recently seems to have increased in price to £30 per 5 litres.

If you switch from VR1 to Heritage 20w50 you'll enjoy a useful £13.00 saving over VR1 on every RV8 TVR (6.5 litre) oil change, and with no loss in quality.



Whatever oil you choose, the target zinc content (ZDDP) range you should be looking for is 1000-1300ppm, no less than 1000 & no more than 1300 parts per million (ppm). Anything within this bracket is perfect, after that you need to decide if you want to pay the premium for a synthetic (semi or full) over a good old mineral oil. If you follow my choice of Penrite HPR15 15W60 it's only going to cost you £3.00 more to go fully synthetic per 5 litres over the mineral Valvoline VR1, which has to be the best value oil upgrade going.

My chimaera takes close to 6.5 litres including filling the filter, to manage the cost of each change and give my car the best quality lubrication maintenance package I've taken to using 5 litres of Penrite HR15 fully-synthetic 15W60 and topping off it off with 1.5 litres of very cost effective Heritage 20w50. Over the 5,000 miles between changes my engine consumes the remaining 3.5 litres of Heritage 20w50, when I come to the end of the the Heritage 20w50 it's time for the next oil change.

I use the 12,000 mile rated synthetic media Royal Purple 20-253 oil filter which is expensive at £18.49 but its superior quality and performance allows me change it every second oil change, ie every 10,000 miles so well under Royal Purple's 12,000 mile recommendation.



Each 5,000 mile oil change therefore I get through £32.95 for the Penrite HPR15 and £20 for the Heritage 20w50 + £9.25 for the filter element giving a total of £62.20 on oil & filtration every 5,000 miles.

My TVR is not a garage queen, it gets used a lot so buying oils that cost as much as £60 for 5 litres is both impractical and largely pointless given the car never sees the track. I designed my above oil & filter package to deliver the best quality vs price (best value) lubrication maintenance schedule for my Chimaera.

[mrzigazaga]

I use the classic heritage oil and it seems to do the job...its good to have annual oil changes as the ZDDP does not last ...Its a bit of a PITA but I bought 5 years worth of the original oil filters GFE295 which you cannot get anymore....though I only got two left now..

[adam quantrill]

My equation is Oil + Filter = about £14 every 3000 miles.

As I change regularly, I don't have to top up much, maybe a pint. In any case it's easier to change the oil when it's on the "LOW" mark on the dipstick, my catch tank is 5l capacity...

My filters were a bulk buy so I now don't mind changing them with every oil change - before I was using FRAMs and changed every 6000.

The advantage of very regular changes is hardly any sludge/varnish buildup under the rockers on the V8, but I expect you also see the same if you are running "on gas" as the oil comes out yellow probably at the end.

[ChimpOnGas]

adam quantrill said:

The advantage of very regular changes is hardly any sludge/varnish buildup under the rockers on the V8, but I expect you also see the same if you are running "on gas" as the oil comes out yellow probably at the end.

LPG is indeed super low carbon Adam, so yes the oil comes out super clean.

However, the molecular structure and therefore the lubricity of my oil is still under attack from the effects of being continually squeezed between my bearings and journals, and it's still subject to heat..... so my engine oil still degrades and needs changing.

Along with the super low carbon combustion process there's also very little varnish and pretty much zero sludge formed when you run LPG, this does allow for extended service intervals but like you I still believe in regular oil changes so I stick to 5,000 mile intervals.

If people want to boost their engine oil's zinc content I recommend buying 5 litres of Westway Lubricant's High Zinc SAE 30 Mineral Break-In Oil at just £24, this oil carries a whopping 3700ppm of ZDDP!

A litre of this (or many other break-in oils) added to every oil change will have a minimal impact on viscosity but will effectively give you a one litre zinc additive dosing for just £4.80 a shot, compare that with the little dedicated ZDDP additive bottles on the market and you'll see it works out as an exceptionally cost effective way to boost the zinc content of any oil.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5L-Break-in-Oil-High-Zi...

[adam quantrill]

Thanks that's a great tip Dave especially if you can't find out what content your oil has from the manufacturer data sheet.

Yeah even gas has some sulphur content so I guess that will combine with the oil and make some nasties.

[ChimpOnGas]

adam quantrill said:

Thanks that's a great tip Dave especially if you can't find out what content your oil has from the manufacturer data sheet.

Yeah even gas has some sulphur content so I guess that will combine with the oil and make some nasties.

Exactly mate, sulphur is inevitable.

The low carbon nature of LPG is great but it still carries heavy ends (an oily/waxy substance) which when burnt in the combustion chamber creates sandy/clay type deposits on engine valves and spark plugs, it's not as significant as carbon in a petrol engine but it's there all the same and is a fantastic insulator which adds to the issues with ignition LPG is known for.

Its all very manageable of course and an engine is an engine no matter if it's burning petrol or gas, so it's always going to create heat which degrades the engine oil over time and there's still that compression effect between bearing shells, journals, cam & tappets which punishes the oil's molecular chain.

This is why frequent oil changes are always the best policy, in many respects on a RV8 that's just used on the road you are better off with a less expensive but good quality high zinc mineral oil thats changed regularly rather than some expensive synthetic changed less often. Mineral or synthetic alike the detergents in a good oil also don't last forever, so the frequent change policy is always your best defense against sludge, and sludge is by far the biggest enemy of engine longevity.

[njhucker]

I used valvoline vr1 for years. Then about 5 years ago I found Classic Oils Heritage 20/50. It has better specs than VR1. I now use it in my 400se,Taimar and Austin Healey. I buy 20 ltr at a time.