Oil change help

[D18OCK]

Hi

Going to do an oil change on my 1500 spitfire tonight. was going to use 20W50 Mineral Oil. This is correct right?

My understanding is that synthetic oil is too much of a cleanser and will effectively strip the engine of all its nice oily build up.

Darren

[A911DOM]

D18OCK said:

Hi

Going to do an oil change on my 1500 spitfire tonight. was going to use 20W50 Mineral Oil. This is correct right?

My understanding is that synthetic oil is too much of a cleanser and will effectively strip the engine of all its nice oily build up.

Darren

Look up 'opie oil man' on here and drop him a message with car / age / current mileage etc and he'll bamboozle with lots of oily facts!

PS. Im not stalking you around the classic forum - its just a bit quiet in here and I happen to be into my triumphs at the moment

[VetteG]

If your engine has been used to mineral oil do not change to synthetic, your gaskets will let go and your new oil will very quickly appear under your car. The time to move to synthetic (assuming you want to) is immediately after an engine rebuild, run the engine in on mineral oil then change to synthetic after 1000 miles, but why bother.

G

[john2443]

If the engine was designed for 20/50 then use that - I asked the guy who built my Healey engine (Riley big four),expecting him to recommend £50 a gallon synthetic, and he said just use Comma 20/50.

[Magog]

Wilkinson do a dirt cheap 20w50 for about 5/6 pounds a gallon, I started a thread about cheap oil vs decent oil ages ago and the weight of opinion seemed to be slightly in favour of cheap oil and more regular changes I seem to remember.

[N Dentressangle]

Yes, just use mineral 20/50. Halfords sell 'classic' oil if you want to be posh, or I think I saw original Castrol GTX in there the other day.

If you put semi-synth in a Spit 1500 engine it won't do any harm, but it will make it noticeably more rattly and noisy. I didn't notice any extra leaks from mine, but the thicker 20/50 definitely made for quieter tappets, timing chain etc...

[lowdrag]

On the subject of 20/50, I was told recently that Duckham's is no longer made. Is this true or just an urban myth?

[Spitfire2]

Valvoline VR1 racing 20w50 is wonderful stuff which is picking up lots of fans in Triumph scene.

[davepoth]

IIRC all the "classic" 20w50 in the UK is made by Comma now, and just rebottled.

[ARH]

I always use comma 20w50 in my classics, and have done for as many years as I can remember, it is cheap and i change it every year, this is well within 3000 miles generally. Halfords 20w50 is rather expensive. I would guess wilkinsons oil is comma as the other oil they sell is. Don't be fussy about oil in clasics if you change it often as it will no doubt burn a pint every 500 miles as most old engines do.

[RW774]

ARH said:

I always use comma 20w50 in my classics, and have done for as many years as I can remember, it is cheap and i change it every year, this is well within 3000 miles generally. Halfords 20w50 is rather expensive. I would guess wilkinsons oil is comma as the other oil they sell is. Don't be fussy about oil in clasics if you change it often as it will no doubt burn a pint every 500 miles as most old engines do.

`you don`t get something for nothing`I`m afraid.Additives vary in price and alternative additives are cheaper but not always as effective.Alternative synthetic ZDDP additive can destroy a pushrod valve gear within hours of hard us.Its` surprising how little people value oil or are prepared to research its` content, for a given application.
If you needed a blood transfusion would you choose screened or unscreened blood ? Try applying this to your engine.It doen`t have a choice

[Hooli]

Halfrauds 20w50 worked in my 1500 Midget for years (same engine) after I found I couldn't find Duckhams Q anymore. I still use it in a 1977 Triumph Bonneville without issues.

[bigblock]

RW774 said:

`you don`t get something for nothing`I`m afraid.Additives vary in price and alternative additives are cheaper but not always as effective.Alternative synthetic ZDDP additive can destroy a pushrod valve gear within hours of hard us.Its` surprising how little people value oil or are prepared to research its` content, for a given application.
If you needed a blood transfusion would you choose screened or unscreened blood ? Try applying this to your engine.It doen`t have a choice

ZDDP is a medium containing zinc and phospherous which are essential components for longevity and lubrication in engine oils.

To comply with current American regulations modern synthetic oils must contain less than 800ppm of ZDDP unless they are for specialist applications.

ZDDP is at its most effective in concentrations of 1000ppm and above. It is worth searching for the brands that still contain ZDDP at the higher concentrations, Mobil 1 Racing for example.

[RW774]

Agreed V8,the synthentic alternative to ZDDP actually destroyed the valve train of a track anglia I believe, see `millers oils` website. Crazy but many of these cheaper oils have the cheaper alternative additives , or a ZDDP content less than the safe 800 ppm for any engine.
Speaking for the engine!
`Semi synthetic` description is also a farce. The content range can be anything between 2% and 40% to bear the title `semi`.The cheaper oils have this 2% which is the death knell for modern engines, running a smaller oil film clearance on the bottom end will reduce the life considerably in what is virtually mineral oil. Especially if it is left in the motor for some horrendous 12k miles or so.
Some of these oils I wouldn`t trust lubricating a door hinge , let alone an engine.
A transit has been given me,with turbo/engine failure , 220k on the clock. I was given another , a Mondeo with 228k, fully serviced at an engineering centre with attention given to oil changes using castrol,every 3/4k miles. The engine is now in my transit,with no blow by and a clean sump, it has just pulled a 120 and trailer back from Ludlow and has not used oil since we fitted it.
Plenty of compression and excellent oil pressure.
THAT IS GOOD OIL.
The engines I see clapped far too early due to use of cheap oil that does not fair well after big service intervals, is great for business. Bring it on.

[mattius]

i use Castrol Classic 20/50 in my spitfire engine, its the best oil i have found.
if i cant get that i use halfords 20/50 classic car oil.
used to run havoline vr1 but ditched it for its poor viscosity, compared to the castrol or halfords when it comes out the car the havoline is like milk, where as the rest are nice and oily.