What oil would you use...
Discussion
Some might remember I had endless cooling / engine problems with my Caterham. After going back to the local Lotus shop and several calls to Caterham in Uk, I got the car back. Over 6 months of returning problems, and less than 450 miles of enjoyment this year, I decided to take the car somewhere else.
They are rebuilding the k-series 1.8 vvc engine atm.
I have always used Castrol 10W60. Would this be the best choice or will I be better off with something else? The car will be used on the road, but also on the track.
They are rebuilding the k-series 1.8 vvc engine atm.
I have always used Castrol 10W60. Would this be the best choice or will I be better off with something else? The car will be used on the road, but also on the track.
allen l said:
Some might remember I had endless cooling / engine problems with my Caterham. After going back to the local Lotus shop and several calls to Caterham in Uk, I got the car back. Over 6 months of returning problems, and less than 450 miles of enjoyment this year, I decided to take the car somewhere else.
They are rebuilding the k-series 1.8 vvc engine atm.
I have always used Castrol 10W60. Would this be the best choice or will I be better off with something else? The car will be used on the road, but also on the track.
Why is the engine being rebuilt? And have the cooling probs been addressed?They are rebuilding the k-series 1.8 vvc engine atm.
I have always used Castrol 10W60. Would this be the best choice or will I be better off with something else? The car will be used on the road, but also on the track.
As others have hinted, a something-w-60 is going to be too thick at operating temperature. The usual advice is to use the thinnest oil that will still give you adequate pressure when running at operating temperature.
Oil is a favourite subject of mine; I claim no special expertise, but I have read as much as I can find. The biggest mistake that people seem to make is to take a "more is better" approach to oil pressure. It is not pressure but flow that lubricates. A thicker oil gives more pressure than a thin oil, but at the cost of reduced flow. This is why you should be gentle on an engine until the oil has come up to temperature, and you will have noticed that oil pressure is highest when the oil is cool.
In a hard working engine like a high revving K-series that is being used on track, I would use a fully synthetic oil, with an API rating of SJ or higher.
More info here: http://www.api.org/certifications/engineoil/pubs/u...
There's also an Opie Oils thread over in General Gassing, where the Opie Oil guys will be able to give you professional advice.
Finally, check that whoever is rebuilding the engine will be using new stretch bolts and the latest uprated head gasket and oil rail.
James
In theory the more you pay the better the base products are used so some brand names are better than repackaged alternatives, there is a reason why they are a little cheaper.
A decent fully synthetic will resist shearing, breaking down over a semi or mineral, the semi and mineral will have additives to support them, these brake down over time shortening the oils life, the fully synth does not always require these support products.
In the K you can use a 0w,5w or a 10w The lower the number the better start up protection given first thing this morning for instance.
For normal engine running temperatures the /40 is recommended, this will give good film strength with good fuel economy while maintaining good oil pressure, in race conditions some have used a /50.
The more you go above the recommended /40, the higher the pressure, this increases engine work load to move the oil round creating heat and the result will be higher fuel consumption and loss of BHP.
I use Mobil 1 0w/40 fully synthetic in my 1.8 K series and Comma 5w/30 fully synthetic in my Raceline Zetec.
With cooling, what Antifreeze do you use and what mix, you should be using an OATs antifreeze with a 50/50 mix, unfortunately most manufactures will not list your car or the rover applications, you will also find one brand suggesting a blue and another a red or green, also an MGF red and LOTUS Elise green even though they are the same engines.
A common thing I find is that people have cooling problems, they do not want to pay for antifreeze that they will lose so they top up with water, the system then boils letting out steam from the pressure cap undetected while running, the water top up continues and the problem gets worse. Drain the system, get the correct antifreeze and mix, this will help solve the problem and protect the head and block from corrosion around the Gasket leading to gasket failure.
I use Green in my 1.8 K elise and Red in my 2.0 ZETEC 7
Hope this helps.
A decent fully synthetic will resist shearing, breaking down over a semi or mineral, the semi and mineral will have additives to support them, these brake down over time shortening the oils life, the fully synth does not always require these support products.
In the K you can use a 0w,5w or a 10w The lower the number the better start up protection given first thing this morning for instance.
For normal engine running temperatures the /40 is recommended, this will give good film strength with good fuel economy while maintaining good oil pressure, in race conditions some have used a /50.
The more you go above the recommended /40, the higher the pressure, this increases engine work load to move the oil round creating heat and the result will be higher fuel consumption and loss of BHP.
I use Mobil 1 0w/40 fully synthetic in my 1.8 K series and Comma 5w/30 fully synthetic in my Raceline Zetec.
With cooling, what Antifreeze do you use and what mix, you should be using an OATs antifreeze with a 50/50 mix, unfortunately most manufactures will not list your car or the rover applications, you will also find one brand suggesting a blue and another a red or green, also an MGF red and LOTUS Elise green even though they are the same engines.
A common thing I find is that people have cooling problems, they do not want to pay for antifreeze that they will lose so they top up with water, the system then boils letting out steam from the pressure cap undetected while running, the water top up continues and the problem gets worse. Drain the system, get the correct antifreeze and mix, this will help solve the problem and protect the head and block from corrosion around the Gasket leading to gasket failure.
I use Green in my 1.8 K elise and Red in my 2.0 ZETEC 7
Hope this helps.
bikemonster said:
Why is the engine being rebuilt? And have the cooling probs been addressed?
As others have hinted, a something-w-60 is going to be too thick at operating temperature. The usual advice is to use the thinnest oil that will still give you adequate pressure when running at operating temperature.
Oil is a favourite subject of mine; I claim no special expertise, but I have read as much as I can find. The biggest mistake that people seem to make is to take a "more is better" approach to oil pressure. It is not pressure but flow that lubricates. A thicker oil gives more pressure than a thin oil, but at the cost of reduced flow. This is why you should be gentle on an engine until the oil has come up to temperature, and you will have noticed that oil pressure is highest when the oil is cool.
In a hard working engine like a high revving K-series that is being used on track, I would use a fully synthetic oil, with an API rating of SJ or higher.
More info here: http://www.api.org/certifications/engineoil/pubs/u...
There's also an Opie Oils thread over in General Gassing, where the Opie Oil guys will be able to give you professional advice.
Finally, check that whoever is rebuilding the engine will be using new stretch bolts and the latest uprated head gasket and oil rail.
James
Hi James. The engine is being rebuilt as I had endless cooling problems. Took the car to the Lotus shop, they bled the system and sent me home. After a couple of times the problem got worse and in the end, every time I revved the engine to 7,000 rpm a couple of times, exit coolant... They lifted the head and discovered a hgf. They repaired everything and I took the car home. A couple of hundred miles further I got the same problem and ended up with all the coolant on the street again. As others have hinted, a something-w-60 is going to be too thick at operating temperature. The usual advice is to use the thinnest oil that will still give you adequate pressure when running at operating temperature.
Oil is a favourite subject of mine; I claim no special expertise, but I have read as much as I can find. The biggest mistake that people seem to make is to take a "more is better" approach to oil pressure. It is not pressure but flow that lubricates. A thicker oil gives more pressure than a thin oil, but at the cost of reduced flow. This is why you should be gentle on an engine until the oil has come up to temperature, and you will have noticed that oil pressure is highest when the oil is cool.
In a hard working engine like a high revving K-series that is being used on track, I would use a fully synthetic oil, with an API rating of SJ or higher.
More info here: http://www.api.org/certifications/engineoil/pubs/u...
There's also an Opie Oils thread over in General Gassing, where the Opie Oil guys will be able to give you professional advice.
Finally, check that whoever is rebuilding the engine will be using new stretch bolts and the latest uprated head gasket and oil rail.
James
This time I took the car to someone who had built an engine for me before. He discovered the water ways of the engine weren't ok (now fixed). The head gasket was of an older type and after some asking, my bolts had been re used.
After I had seen the engine, we decided to swap lots of parts for new, including an oil rail, new stretch bolts, latest gasket, etc, etc (don't know every part in English). My question for the oil is because the engine will be like new. As it's a standard k-series I already had my questions about 10w60 oil. Don't think I'll be using that again.
allen l said:
freerange7 said:
I use Green in my 1.8 K elise and Red in my 2.0 ZETEC 7
Hope this helps.
James
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