oil

[C191JOE]

What's the best engine oil to use in JOE?

15/40? Halfords best or another brand?

1985 S series 1.6 35,000 miles manual

[B18 GPC]

I know its ment to come from the same tanks , but id go for something with a brand..

you want to see the mess halfrauds 10-40 made to a costomers camshaft after he was ment to put in 0-30 shell , but put in 10-40 as advised by halfrauds , into his 03 plate vw bora !

i would imagne , 15-40 is a fairly safe bet.

i run mine with 1.5 ltrs 20-50 {classic motor oil , green tin , same design as halfrauds stuff!}, 1.5ltrs shell helix 10-40.

i would avoid Castrol GTX or simular if your really after doing good for the engine..

ive heard too much about it :S

[Oli]

I'd personally reccommend Millers 10/40.

[Peter J]

Any good engine oil will have been properly analysed and have the API quality specification on the can. This means far more than the brand name.

API S.. is for petrol engines
API C.. is for diesel engines

Most modern oils are suitable for both petrol and diesel engines, so will have both a petrol and a diesel quality classification.

For petrol engines the lowest quality is API SA - this was obsolete years ago. As quality has improved they went to API SB, API SC etc. I think the top quality now is about API SM

Similarly the first diesel engine oils were API CA - obsolete now. I think the latest and best diesel engine oils are are up to about API CL

The SAE specification relates to oil viscosity (thickness) and has nothing to do with quality. The car handbook advises on the best SAE oil viscosity for the engine. But better oils have been produced since the handbook was printed, so its better to go for a higher API specification.

If you buy a branded oil like Castrol you pay extra for the name and their advertising budget. You can buy an oil of equivalent quality (API specification) for much less from a manufacturer that doesn't spend so much on advertising :)

[Rich]

I have for last 6 years or so only ever used Uniparts own brand oils, they used to be called DX 3 now they are branded Unipart. Its a cheap, but good oil. I used Castrol Magnetex once in my 1.3 years ago, and it burnt it like no tommorrow, an engine that had never burnt much oil, and didn't after I changed back.

If you change the oil regularly, i.e every 5000 miles or so, then using a cheaper oil will be fine as it gets changed before the end of its life.

I wouldn't recomend Halfrauds, and would never recommend there filters either. My mates dads Vauxhall Vectra diesel, wouldn't run properly, was down on power and just sounded like a bag of nails. We spent ages looking for air leaks and such, and eventually replaced the 3 month old Halfrauds fuel filter, which had broken up and collapsed inside the casing! Problem solved.

[Peter J]

I've had a bad experience with a Halfords oil filter too. When I tried to unscrew it to replace it, the body of it broke loose from the plate that screws on to the oil filter housing. So I kept turning it and nothing was happening. I ended up having to break the oil filter up so as to get to the mounting plate and unscrew it. This is something I have not had with any other oil filter.

---------

Incidentally, a neighbour who is a retired technical college lecturer and whose brother runs a garage, never changed the oil in his Rover all the time he had it - 9 years. The engine appeared to suffer no ill effects. His present car is a Citroen, and he hasn't changed the oil in the 4 years he has had it from new - again with no apparent ill effects. I tend to change mine once a year but, in the light of this, I wouldn't worry if it was a few months over.

[Rich]

Its strange then, the TD engine I have (which is now being re-manufactured) which had been completly neglected, and had not had an oil change in years, so much so the oil had turned to a sort of gloopy grease, the neglect resulted in worn bores which made excessive crankcase pressure, and effectivly ended up destrorying the engine at a mere 80k.

The ex AA van I have, which was maintained impecably by the AA then the next owner religiously changed the oil every 5000 miles still starts, runs and drives like new with no back pressure from the crank, after nearly 170k.

My 1.3 LX which I religiously serviced, still starts and runs perfectly after over 120k even after being left for 3 years. Its better than the 1.3 van which has only done 65k but not been serviced as often.

From my experiences with older engines, changing the oil regularly will greatly increase the engines life, performance and economy.

Rich

[Peter J]

I was surprised too Rich, I have always changed my oil fairly regularly and still do. Of course the trade tells us to change our oil often, but then they would say that wouldn't they. They used to tell us to change our spark plugs every 12,000 miles - I have been using the same ones, (cleaned and gapped regularly,) for 50,000 miles and the engine still runs sweet as a nut.
I know and trust this guy to tell me the truth. He is a gentle driver and doesn't use his car a lot, even so I was also very surprised to hear he never had an oil change in 9 years.

PS: Maybe he was using better quality oil?

[Peter J]

From my experiences with older engines, changing the oil regularly will greatly increase the engines life, performance and economy.

Rich

But surely the only objective test would be to compare two fleets of identical new vehicles on similar work and with similar drivers, one where the oil is changed regularly and one where it isn't. I guess the only people with the resources and inclination to do a test like that are the oil manufacturers. But they are hardly likely to tell us we can change our oil less often?

[E_T_V]

As it is winter a 10w-40 semi synthetic would be my choice. Millers is pretty good but to be honest look at the ACAE? rating (similar to the API but a different governing body). I've found some of ASDA's finest offerings to have better ratings than some of the premium grades. The A ratings are for petrol engines, the B ratings are for diesels. (Most often they'll have both ratings on the bottle. You want at least an A3, but A4 and A5 are better still. The same goes for the B ratings if you have an oil burner. Depending on the milage covered and the condition of the engine a 5w-40 would be even better assuming that the oil consumption remained tollerable.

[Rich]

Peter,

I am not saying in any way that your friend is "making it up" for want of a better way of putting it. Maybe he does use a better quality oil, but your only talking in years, I haven't changed the oil on the DLX for the last two years! However, I have only done about 1000 miles in it in that time, therefore the oil is still clean. Maybe he is not doing enough miles to merit the change?

I can't get away from the facts that the properties of the oil will get broken down and cut up by working in the engine. The oil will become contaminated with carbon etc, and the filter will become clogged with crud. In an older designed, and higher mileage engine, I personally would rather keep changing the oil and filter regualy.

[Simon]

Unipart Silver (now superceded by something called DX) semi synthetic, changed at strict 12,000 mile intervals with a Unipart oil filter works well in my S series Maestro!

[C191JOE]

I went for 10/40 part synthetic with an ACEA rating A3 B3 and an API of SL CF.

JOE was the cause of a long conversation between two of the older salesman at the Rover parts shop I go to in Cambridge. They both owned Maestros in the 80s from new and watched them disintegrating before their very eyes.
They confirmed my suspicion that somehow Opporto Red cars lasted longer then other colours, although there seem to be very few Opporto Red ones about now.

The upshot of all the reminiscences was that I got the oil for £8.95 (5 litres)
and the filter for £2.16.

Keep 'em talking!

[Miracle maestro]

I went for 10/40 part synthetic with an ACEA rating A3 B3 and an API of SL CF.

JOE was the cause of a long conversation between two of the older salesman at the Rover parts shop I go to in Cambridge. They both owned Maestros in the 80s from new and watched them disintegrating before their very eyes.
They confirmed my suspicion that somehow Opporto Red cars lasted longer then other colours, although there seem to be very few Opporto Red ones about now.

The upshot of all the reminiscences was that I got the oil for £8.95 (5 litres)
and the filter for £2.16.

Keep 'em talking!

I guess you've been talking to Gerald?