Which engine oil?

[crankedup]

I run my Bayliss-Thomas car using Castrol XL30 and it runs very sweetly with no oil burning or other problems. My question is should I switch oil to a 20/50 multigrade as so many other owners of pre 1930 cars seem to? My engine is an Meadows 4 cylinder E.B.

[niva441]

The Castrol classic department may be able to advise, based at the MG Owners club.

[url] www.castrol.com/castrol/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=9002097&contentId=7003933 [/url]

[crankedup]

Thanks Niva441, I did consult Castrol and they did say use S.A.E.30 but this is an catch all reply and do'esnt take rebuilt engines, better oils or anything else into consideration. Obviously I'm niot doubting Castrol for one minute but so many people use 20/50 oils and say do not use the 30 grade. Looking for discussion I suppose.

[72EuropaTC]

Havne't the foggiest, but...

Dave Richards at Classic & Sports Car is a really helpful guy. Sounds like the kind of question he'd like (might tell him you've got a "catch-all" reply from Castrol though). Try posting him your question on their website?

Also David Burgess-Wise of Classic Cars for Sale - he covers a more appropriate era.

[hog 1]

Your beautiful Meadows engine was designed in the days before multigrade oils were invented. The clearances in engines that are 60+ years old are much greater than engines that are around 30 years old, when multigrades started to be manufactured.
I use Millers Classic 30 in my Meadows, Coventry Climax and Standard Special Engines, costs about 17 per 4.5 litres.
An expert to ask [and buy from]is the 'Oilman', he posts on many car forums and worth a search.

[crankedup]

Thanks for replies, my instinct tells me to stick with the 30 grade. I noted yesterday on a classic run out that several cars had dropped off with overheating issues, lucky me was OK and I had the 30 grade in the engine too, so it can't be bad.

[lowdrag]

I'm not sure I agree with one of the replies here, since I have three cars with rebuilt engines in the garage and it depends on how you set about the rebuild for what purpose the engine will be used. My E type runs on 8:1CR and uses any oil I can find. One D type uses straight 20/50 and the high performance engine Magnatec 10/40 or Valvoline if I can find it. Rebuilding an engine today uses much finer tolerances than 60 years ago and IMHO requires a more up to date oil. Citing my own cars as an example, the E type uses no oil, the lesser D type about a litre every 2,000 miles but the racing engine, designed to be a loose engine from the start, uses probably a litre every 750 miles. Personally, I'd only use an oil like SAE30 for running in purposes, switching to a 20/50 afterwards.

[hog 1]

I was talking about engines which have been rebuilt using original spare parts or n.o.s. parts and not 'improved' in any way. Although I have updated my engines by installing full flow oil filters, as the original ideas back then were to remove the oil pan and wash out the mesh fiter inside, which is a bit of a pain in the arsenal.

[crankedup]

72EuropaTC said:

Havne't the foggiest, but...

Dave Richards at Classic & Sports Car is a really helpful guy. Sounds like the kind of question he'd like (might tell him you've got a "catch-all" reply from Castrol though). Try posting him your question on their website?

Also David Burgess-Wise of Classic Cars for Sale - he covers a more appropriate era.

Yep think I will post that up elsewhere as suggested. The replies thus far have been interesting with the differing views coming up, which is where I came in with the Q. It is such an important issue that wider discussion and views will be useful.