Thin oil not such a good idea.

[brightspark]

i managed to get my vauxhall combo to 115 thousand miles after 10 years. regular oil changes but that was it, it had a hard life but held up well, it was still on the road 4 years after i sold it

 

[arther dailey]

And I thought BMW’s 18000 miles intervals is ridiculous, what van was that?
And what oil are they using?
Oil is oil, it’s well past its best at under 10k

as a lad was told oil just gets full of carp and drags it around doing damage rather than the actual oil quality deteriorates(?)

 

[fizzy]

Highest mileage i got in my cars was a Rover 400 diesel. Rovers L series engine. Never broke down. 185,000 miles!
My Alfa 75 twin Spark did 175,000 miles. Only one minor problem.
Land Rover v8 110 did 175000 miles. Again never stranded.

 

[arther dailey]

thinking about it , I would be very suprised if anyone on this forum is nt perfectly capable of doing a oil n filter on vitually any motor.(maybe in their sleep or blind folded even)

 

[Ubique]

The grade of oil relates to expected temperature range, 0W30 is not always going to be better than 0W20 just because it's 'thicker' - 'thinner' oil will get where its needed quicker and maintain / adapt to pressure change quicker. Engines with dephasing camshaft rotors will react slower with the incorrect 'thicker' oil and therefore contribute to higher combustion wastage (and emission of unwanted gases) - the required engine oil has to at least meet a specification, more often than not, substitute oils will not meet the specification.
If your engine has a problem that is 'cured' by using a 'thicker' oil, the problem is still there, you're just deluding yourself that it's somehow 'fixed' by using the wrong oil - a bit like cutting up an old pair of tights and stuffing them into the rear differential cured old Cortina's of their signature drivetrain rumble, the causal wear was still there, but masked for a while.

The viscosity of an oil is measured by its resistance to flow. There are two numbers that define the viscosity of an oil. The first number ends with the letter 'W', which stands for Winter. This measurement is related to how an oil flows when it is cold, such as at engine start-up. The second number is defined by how an oil flows when at higher temperatures normal engine operating temperatures.
The smaller the number, the better it will flow. So a 5W-30 will flow easier than a 10W-30 at start-up temperatures and a 10W-30 will flow easier than a 10W-40 at normal engine operating temperatures. This is important, as engine oils naturally thicken as they cool and thin as they are heated. Thin, low viscosity oils flow easier to protect engine parts at cold temperature. Thick, high viscosity oils are typically better at maintaining film strength to protect engines at high temperatures.

Motor oil viscosity grades | Welcome | Castrol Canada - English

www.castrol.com

 

[Wedg1e]

My Connect is 11 years old, about 300 miles shy of 170K and runs 5W30 - it's been changed about every 5-7000 miles since the warranty ran out - regardless of Ford's intervals (I seem to think 15K). This is the Peugeot 1560cc TD with a dry cambelt.
The oil looks like water when it's fresh but 5000 miles later it's like... well, thick black old oil.
I worked on the principle that £40 in oil on expenses and a bit of my time was more than worth the grief if the engine broke.

 

[arther dailey]

The grade of oil relates to expected temperature range, 0W30 is not always going to be better than 0W20 just because it's 'thicker' - 'thinner' oil will get where its needed quicker and maintain / adapt to pressure change quicker. Engines with dephasing camshaft rotors will react slower with the incorrect 'thicker' oil and therefore contribute to higher combustion wastage (and emission of unwanted gases) - the required engine oil has to at least meet a specification, more often than not, substitute oils will not meet the specification.
If your engine has a problem that is 'cured' by using a 'thicker' oil, the problem is still there, you're just deluding yourself that it's somehow 'fixed' by using the wrong oil - a bit like cutting up an old pair of tights and stuffing them into the rear differential cured old Cortina's of their signature drivetrain rumble, the causal wear was still there, but masked for a while.

makes sence , the l200 handbook states various grades to be used depending on temps.

 

[Ubique]

My eldest son is still running my Discovery 3 2.7 TDV6 with 190k miles on it, only ever had 5W30 to WSS-M2C913-C usually at 10k mile interval, it's been used in 53 degree C. heat in Libya and minus 35 degrees C. in the French Alps and Scandinavia.
Maintenance is the key to longevity - people and cars.

 

[AVI_8]

as a lad was told oil just gets full of carp and drags it around doing damage rather than the actual oil quality deteriorates(?)

Still does, and nowadays you’ve got DPF regens which introduce diesel into the sump through bore wash during the DPF process adding diesel into the oil, what fantastic progress engine designers have made.
The answer is regular oil changes in order to combat apparent progress

 

[GRW]

Spec too is a biggie that is far more important than it used to be. Wrong spec can kill a motor as much as wrong viscosity.

Extreme example was the old Lister Air-Cooled lumps I used to see quite a lot of. An evolution of such an old design, they were designed around Monograde "Straight" Mineral oils. Chuck in a fresh dose of lowest API spec 15w/40 every 500-hours & they'd donk away to truly impressive run times....
.... but if well-meaning owners thought they'd "treat" the engine to a modern long-chain polymer synthetic oil - the poor engine would glaze bores, get piston blow-by, crankcase pressurisation, lose compression, push oil out of gaskets & crank seals, burn oil & corruption up heads, valves & exhausts - basically turn into a horrible, oily, smoky mess of an engine in quite a short time.

Use the oil the Mfr tells you to - and change it twice as often as they say to - isn't a bad rule of thumb I think.

 

[Robotstar5]

The grade of oil relates to expected temperature range, 0W30 is not always going to be better than 0W20 just because it's 'thicker' - 'thinner' oil will get where its needed quicker and maintain / adapt to pressure change quicker. Engines with dephasing camshaft rotors will react slower with the incorrect 'thicker' oil and therefore contribute to higher combustion wastage (and emission of unwanted gases) - the required engine oil has to at least meet a specification, more often than not, substitute oils will not meet the specification.
If your engine has a problem that is 'cured' by using a 'thicker' oil, the problem is still there, you're just deluding yourself that it's somehow 'fixed' by using the wrong oil - a bit like cutting up an old pair of tights and stuffing them into the rear differential cured old Cortina's of their signature drivetrain rumble, the causal wear was still there, but masked for a while.

Motor oil viscosity grades | Welcome | Castrol Canada - English

www.castrol.com

Might as well put this in here instead of starting a new thread.

Recently got a new generator for the stables with this in the handbook.

I managed to find enough of the recommended 15W-40 for the initial fill up, but will have to buy more for oil changes unless I can use the big bottle of 10W-40 I have, from what I understand it just means it will work from a lower temperature?

 

[bricol]

as a lad was told oil just gets full of carp and drags it around doing damage rather than the actual oil quality deteriorates(?)

WE DID IT!! …. OVER 1,000,000 MILES - Gulf Coast Filters

gulfcoastfilters.com

 

[Farside]

yup . I am still old school , change oil and filter at 5k , its way cheaper overall than blowing a engine .

Ditto, except on the bikes, when they get new oil every 2K and a filter every second change.
No matter what oil I use, the gearbox munches it to shreds and I can feel the deterioration in the shift quality bang on 2K. If I can feel it through my foot, it's likely there is less than optimal lubing happening inside, especially to crank and camshaft bearing surfaces.
In the Pensioner's Car I will be doing 5K changes, as I've always done. Luckily, the lifetime stash of 5w40 I bought a couple of years ago nicely matches what VW say.
One time I put 10w40 into my Mk6 Transit instead of the recommended 5w30, it was quite noticeable how it affected performance. Not by a huge amount, but still.

 

[GRW]

Might as well put this in here instead of starting a new thread.

Recently got a new generator for the stables with this in the handbook.

View attachment 522228

I managed to find enough of the recommended 15W-40 for the initial fill up, but will have to buy more for oil changes unless I can use the big bottle of 10W-40 I have, from what I understand it just means it will work from a lower temperature?

It's saying you can use 10w-40 in the given ambient temperature range of -15c to "more than the UK ever sees", so I can't see a problem....
..... IF that is, your 10w/40 also has the correct specification for the engine.

 

[Ubique]

All oil will 'work' at a lower temperature, 10W will be thinner (and therefore lubricate quicker) than 15W beyond minus 17 degrees C. If you're going to be using it in cold environments then 10W40 will enable the engine to spin over faster / kill the starter battery less. That table only shows ambient, not engine temperature.
The method of testing oils can vary - shear stability is just one (and I'm now starting to remember some of the very dull but seemingly important college classes!) https://bobistheoilguy.com/effects-of-shearing/

Which is why I've chosen to spend £230/20l rather than £74/20l on my engine oil - both meet STJLR.03.5006 but one has a lower shear stability, which 'matters' if you're suddenly going to push an engine into high output...

 

[AVI_8]

WE DID IT!! …. OVER 1,000,000 MILES - Gulf Coast Filters

gulfcoastfilters.com

Probably you’ve posted that to show what’s possible but …..

Where can I buy one of those gulf coast filters for my UK cars?, An old Peterbilt will have none of the stupid ECO crap things, EGR shoving bi products into the inlet for example, to reduce pollutants by 1% which choke your engine eventually by carbon on the inlet manifold and valves, swirl flaps get choked, requiring a complete inlet manifold replacement … That’s progress?

Who would have thought that walnut blasting would be a “thing” 20 years ago, direct injection on a petrol engine, well it’s actually a thing now … Progress?

Apologies for the subject change.

 

[Robotstar5]

It's saying you can use 10w-40 in the given ambient temperature range of -15c to "more than the UK ever sees", so I can't see a problem....
..... IF that is, your 10w/40 also has the correct specification for the engine.

Neither the generator handbook or the engine handbook give a spec, just "use 15W-40 oil"

 

[premmington]

Probably you’ve posted that to show what’s possible but …..

Where can I buy one of those gulf coast filters for my UK cars?, An old Peterbilt will have none of the stupid ECO crap things, EGR shoving bi products into the inlet for example, to reduce pollutants by 1% which choke your engine eventually by carbon on the inlet manifold and valves, swirl flaps get choked, requiring a complete inlet manifold replacement … That’s progress?

Who would have thought that walnut blasting would be a “thing” 20 years ago, direct injection on a petrol engine, well it’s actually a thing now … Progress?

Apologies for the subject change.

Oh yeah... I often take intake manifolds off modern diesels for a decoke. Leaking injectors and restricted intakes - is called "coal mining" in the trade...

 

[500e]

Trucks are getting the same .
Talking to Scania user to day he was not a happy bunny

 

[Domdom]

I’ve always hated stop/start, especially on turbocharged engines. Whoever thought that was a good idea? Car on a drive, up to temperature, turbo working away merrily, and then you come to a junction. The engine stops and oil pressure is lost. Such a nice way to treat a turbocharger, don’t you think?
Oil isn’t just lubricating the turbo, it’s cooling it as well so you get burnt oil accumulating in the turbocharger oil ways.
I just map it out. Button does nothing, problem solved.

As for other engine component life, there are so many problems which oil can’t fix. Manufacturing tolerances, the fad for tabless bearing shells, small sump capacities, long oil change intervals, weak timing chains, wet belts, and cheap oil filters to name but a few.

And as for this “Long-Life” oil, Pah! That just means the additives should keep it in spec for longer, it does not mean the oil is somehow miraculously staying clean. It’s still picking up all the junk and carrying it around the engine for longer causing more premature wear. Evidence of this is plentiful in the USA where bypass oil filter kits are quite common, and where they are fitted, it’s not unusual to see 500k miles with little discernible wear.