Must Read-Oil Info

[Dougy Fresh]

This link was originally posted by hardtailer: engine oil info
http://members.rennlist.com/oil/Motor%20Oil%20101.htm

this is new information for me, so i would like peoples opinions on this:

[jht3]

cliff's notes please?

[Dougy Fresh]

read much :lostme: You really should read it, I didnt want to skip over anything, but essentially its states heavy oils are bad for motors. Because they restrict flow, and cause alot of wear on startup. And overtime this restricted flow creates sludge and excess wear on seals etc. I am wondering why alot of people run the heavier oils (15/50,20/50) for street use?

[ADA///M]

excellent read.


So someone with an oil pressure gauge go out and see which oil gives us the correct pressure at the correct rpm :ha:

[Mmark]

The S14 engine was first run in 1982. Although motorsport derived, it's tolerances are not as fine as todays Honda powerplants, so It tolerates, and prefers a heavier weight oil, unlike the fine tolerances of say the K20, where a thicker weight oil slows too much when passing thru galleys, restrictors and bearings.

What I am concerned about is The removal of ZDDP (Zinc dithiophosphate) in todays oils. It is allegedly a pollutant and causes blockage/inefficiency of the matrix in cat converters. The affected brands of oil are those that are API rated. Diesel, off road only formulas are not API certified so appear to be ok.
The fine quality Redline motor oil is also non API certified.
It's absence causes failures of the cams and lifters of flat tappet engines, even new components, like a crane Cam and lifter set.
The lifters on the affected engines tend not to rotate by design, whereas the S14 lifters do rotate, but zinc, manganese and phosphate compounds are proven lubricants.
On top of this issue is the removal of important anti wear ingredients from any oils that are advertised as being more environmentally friendly.

I reckon then, that I'll be switching to redline for my s14.

m

basically you're supposed to use an oil that will give you 10 psi/1000 rpm or [email protected] rpm, and should be light enough to minimise startup damage.

[ADA///M]

[email protected] rpm

if you have a ferrari 550:p

that was specific to his car....our car's number maybe different and at a different RPM

[Reelizmpro]

He does have a point. We know that most engine wear occurs at start up and a less viscous oil will flow faster. I've been researching this for a while now because 20w-50 is damn near extinct these days. IIRC, the manual calls for a 15w-40 weight oil also. Another member here M3solo? has had great success with Redline 10w-30 and good used oil analysis reports to back it up. We've both been on BTOG.com a while and most people there mix oil weights to achieve target weights. I've been thinking of doing the same since my engine is stock with 136K opposed to a fresh rebuild.

[Dougy Fresh]

[/QUOTE] basically you're supposed to use an oil that will give you 10 psi/1000 rpm or [email protected] rpm, and should be light enough to minimise startup damage.[/QUOTE]

what oil is right? That is the great predicament. I dont think 15/50 is the best street oil for the s14. We need to compare oil analysis between a few lighter oils and a few heavier oils in an s14.

[///Mflossin]

I have to say that overall...the RedLine 10/40 seems to be very good. I have ran it since the rebuild. Virtually no noise on startup and seems to handle the high temp/high RPM fine.

[jimmy p.]

I have been considering switching all my cars to a HDEO syntetic like Shell's Rotella synth 5w40 which gets pretty good reviews on BITOG, and is not a boutique oil,,, available in every town.
To date I have always used Mobil1 15w50 to date in all my M3s.

With the reduction / elimination of ZDDP in API street oils,,, its starting to make more sense to stop using API street oils.

Anyone else using a HDEO on their S14?

Cheers
jimmy

[AlpineRunner]

To summarize the article. He says all oils are too thick at startup (room temperature) to provide good lubrication. Lubrication is created from oil FLOWING through bearings, not oil pressure (within reason). Pressure is the result of a lack of flow from too heavy oil. He pretty much recommends a 0w-XX, The xx is determined from looking at your oil pressure and seeing what gives you 10psi per 1000rpm. On his 5,000 mile Maranello engine that was a 0w20 oil. He thinks that once it's more broken in at around 50k miles it will want 0w30. He backs up this fact that engines like light oil by noting that F1 teams usually run a 10 or 20 weight oil.

So even taking into account that the S14 was built with looser tolerances, we shouldn't need more than a 0w-40. Mobil 1 makes this and Redline makes a 5w-40, I will be using one or the other next oil change for sure.

[Dougy Fresh]

i think i am going to try redlines 5-40. Is mobil one petro based?

[Yan-3]

AlpineRunner thansk for the summery. i never understood why some guys (most guys) here run thick stuff like 20-40 and so on. ive always used 5-40 in my e30s, but the M3 so far has seen nothing but Castrol Synthetic 10-30.

[AlpineRunner]

Well the point is it's the first number that's the most important and most often incorrect. 10-30 is still too thick. A 0W-30 is what you want.

[///Mflossin]

i think i am going to try redlines 5-40. Is mobil one petro based?

I think I'll try the 5-40 as well.