Which engine oil do you use?

[Scimher]

Morris' 'Golden Film'...in conjunction with 'Fram' oil filters in Dolomite 1300 engined Herald & in my Scimitar - oil under twenty quid from my local hardware shop come Motor Factors.........

[Clive]

cliftyhanger wrote:

Just filled the Toledo with millers css20 60
Oil pressure is similar to vr1 s far, but not been driven hard yet. Roll on the autosooo and trackday :)

Happy to report oil pressure holds better than the vr1 on the motorway at a fast cruise (70 or so ;) )
Track day is another matter, hgf meant we were in a hairdressers car.

[Hughbert]

I use CAS20W50 - CASTROL XL20W/50 CLASSIC ENGINE OIL 1 GALLON but reading what others use I am worried its not up to scratch for my cars :-/

[WIMPUS]

I'm using Comma 20w50 oil now, think it was the same as halfords oil (greenish of color) .
Asked my neighbour what he is using in his spitfire and he uses the same oil as me  :)

[thescrapman]

8017 wrote:

I use CAS20W50 - CASTROL XL20W/50 CLASSIC ENGINE OIL 1 GALLON but reading what others use I am worried its not up to scratch for my cars :-/

Nothing wrong wit it, just the Millers and VR1 are proving to be a better product, especially for those. Of us the (ab)use our cars.

I have been in 2 cars that have degraded normal 20/50  and trashed the bottom end. My spitfire after towing another spitfire, and mr helms tr6 after a targa rally test.

Took the spitfire to south of France in high 30's heat with millers, no drop in pressure. Alsondone 2 10cr in spit and 2 rbrr in the pi on millers

Cheers

Colin

[iggy]

il be using vr1 at my next oil change, been using Halfords 20/50

[philheys100]

Hi, I have not looked at all the posts but halfords do a classic car oil for £19.99 it does the job full of minerals.
phil

[GT6 M]

Halfords classic, castrol classic are  all Comma classic oils.
and 1/2 price at a Comma stockists.

I tried the oils ,but found that they lost viscosity quite fast if used hard.
and the other oil I tried when the cam I had worn oot, was the Sonic, as it had alottt of anti wear stuff init, twice the norm,    BUTT,  this lost viscosity even faster.
I been running Penrite 20/60 for a while noo,
and gives good press when hot, unlike alott of the others.

this plus Mann 2 anti drains  filter  = win win win situation.

M

[bxbodger]

I use comma - it's what they sell in the spares shop down the road. It seems ok, pressure doesn't drop off despite motorway thrashing.

Quote:

Halfords classic, castrol classic are  all Comma classic oils.
and 1/2 price at a Comma stockists.

I tried the oils ,but found that they lost viscosity quite fast if used hard.

.........how did you test this? I would have thought it would be very difficult to get a reliable result given the variables involved.

[tiggrr1]

Agree with Marcus on that, I have tried the Halfords and Comma and they don't hold viscosity with hard prolonged running.

On the 2009 & 2011 10CR the Halfords stuff started off with around 45-50 psi oil pressure at motorway speeds which soon dropped of to 25 - 30 psi
a bit worrying but the old girl kept going.
After the 10CR's the cold pressure was around 40 psi and 20 running hot and flashing the oil pressure warning light at tick over of around 5 psi.

Now I know that I am not comparing like with like as before the 2013 10CR I did fit new main, big end bearings & thrust washers. I decided to
try Penrite 20w/60 as mentioned earlier in the thread and was pleased to see the oil pressure running hot at the start of the run was 60 psi at speed
and 20 psi on tick over running hot and after more than 2500 miles in 5 days it was no different.

As I said not an ideal comparison as the clearances in the engine have changed (probably giving the oil an easier time) but I was very surprised and pleased to see
no drop in oil pressure over the whole event.

Not trying to influence anyone just reporting my findings (but I know what I will use in the future  ;) )

[GT6 M]

bxbodger wrote:

I use comma - it's what they sell in the spares shop down the road. It seems ok, pressure doesn't drop off despite motorway thrashing.

.........how did you test this? I would have thought it would be very difficult to get a reliable result given the variables involved.

Respondo,     Tested by seeing the oil gauge reading  efta a  period of miles. always lower.
but the biggest pointer is when ye drain the oil.

it was like  thin Pish when hot.   the oil had reverted back to its OE 20 grade  rating, and NOT  thick,n up to a 50 weight oil as its supposed t,do.
Change the Penrite stuff when hot, and its still nice,n thick,

the Ole MK 1 eyeball can tell ye alot you no. IF, ye no what to look for. ;)

M

[bxbodger]

Quote:

it was like  thin Pish when hot.   the oil had reverted back to its OE 20 grade  rating, and NOT  thick,n up to a 50 weight oil as its supposed t,do.
Change the Penrite stuff when hot, and its still nice,n thick,

the Ole MK 1 eyeball can tell ye alot you no. IF, ye no what to look for.

  .........but you can't possibly assess the viscosity just by looking at it when it's draining or in the drain tub, what with the number of variables to contend with: age of oil, ambient temp, oil temp, engine temp, etc, etc.  

I would imagine that a quality synthetic will remain within the specced parameters for longoer, but the best we can do is rely on proper independant testing done under proper lab conditions for verification of that.

[WIMPUS]

I've now got comma in the spit, but bought oil from Millers now ..
Are they a bit good? (Several guys i know said that Millers was good.. )

[Davemate]

4526 wrote:

I've now got comma in the spit, but bought oil from Millers now ..
Are they a bit good? (Several guys i know said that Millers was good.. )

I only use millers classic, after a long run the oil pressure is way better than when I used to use cheap and cheerful stuff.

[WIMPUS]

1344 wrote:

I only use millers classic, after a long run the oil pressure is way better than when I used to use cheap and cheerful stuff.

I've still got a can standing around of that Comma oil  :B

[junkuser]

"it was like  thin Pish when hot.   the oil had reverted back to its OE 20 grade  rating, and NOT  thick,n up to a 50 "

It would be interesting to check the viscosities of the multigrade and the 50, each at the same temperature, through the expected range of temperatures the oils would be running at Marcus.

I had the impression that the multigrades were labeled to infer that they were similar to the thin end of the range when cold but did not thin to the extent that standard oils did when hot, so the thick end of the claimed range should have a similar viscosity to to a straight oil of that viscosity at the working temperature.

I don't think I could have made that explanation more complicated!

[GT6 M]

Malc, when new yes, but the chains break doon, so instead of swell,n to make it thicker, it stops at a 20, 30,40, W.  instead of the 20/50 when new,
so may be a 20, a 20 30, 20 40/40, folloow

Synthetics are supposed to be much better,
BUTT, my experiance of that Castrol RS 10/60 fully synthetic, did not bear this out,
it stopped so thin, I used nearly 4 litres in 700 mile round trip
And when change oot, at high temp, the oil was as thin or thinner than the Comma stuff.

BX B, its quite easy really, ye can see and also feel the diff in thickness between old oil thats lost its
multi grade qualities, and an old Penrite one of similar milage.
the Penrite is much thicker both to see, and also to feel.

M

[junkuser]

I was considering the labeling rather than the longevity Marcus so was thinking of the resistance to thinning due to temperature when new.
Just felt the claims may be referring to this rather than actually thickening when hot.
I don't have a clue as to how this may be achieved but just interested in claims that manufacturers make.

Hope this year goes well for you and keep up the postings,
                                                                              Mal.  

[Davemate]

Heres a link to an old thread, if you go to page 2 and scroll to the last post of mine you will see some pictures of "cheap oil preasure" and millers preasure
Feel free to read the whole thread  ;)
[Sorry, link no longer available]

[nang]

I'm not too sure if it really matters, use a good oil preferably with tungsten addatives, change it regularly along with filter and don't
drive the s..t out of it ! It's 40 years old !
Tony.

[Davemate]

nang wrote:

I'm not too sure if it really matters, use a good oil preferably with tungsten addatives, change it regularly along with filter and don't
drive the s..t out of it ! It's 40 years old !
Tony.

So,build a race car then drive it gently  ;D

[ferny]

Has anyone tried this oil? Is it any good?

[tiggrr1]

Bet that pongs a bit if it leaks onto the exhaust system..................................... ;)

[Tim Bancroft]

Thought that was the recommended oil for Acclaims?

[ferny]

Only the really nice ones.