synthetic oil question

Boosted516

Supramano
Apr 13, 2008
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Long Island, NY
I bought my car with with 130k miles and 8k miles on a rebuilt head, new hg, and supposedly new piston rings. I want to do an oil change and was just wondering about switching to synthetic. I read the oil basics and was a little confused. I know you have to put a certain amount of miles on a motor before switching to synthetic on a rebuild and was wondering would this be the same thing. I plan on using Royal Purple 5w-30. I also plan on using a pureone or k+n filter. Thanks to anyone that offers any useful info
 

hvyman

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Apr 17, 2007
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after a rebuild you want to switch to synthetic any time after around 2500miles. your at 8k so your fine.
 
C

Chaz

Guest
hvyman;1243637 said:
after a rebuild you want to switch to synthetic any time after around 2500miles. your at 8k so your fine.

5w30 seems a little thin, then again, I'm in the south. I am running the royal purple. It turns black really fast. That could mean its doing its job cleaning the engine or it could mean it can't handle the heat. I ran across a thread in another forum where a guy was dogging Royal Purple as it left some hefty crusties inside the turbo when he had it rebuilt, or at least more than the norm. He may just be blaming oil when he should be blaming himself for not letting his turbo cool down before shutting the engine off.
I would be curious to know if anyone else is running 5w30. Maybe I'm wrong
 

deabionni

The Lurker
Sep 16, 2007
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Kalkaska, MI
^^^Quite a few of us are running German Castrol 0w30. (Flows VERY well when cold, and is closer to a 40 weight in thickness when it's at operating temps).

The weight numbers on the outside of the bottle mean very little. The cSt numbers of the oil are the ones you really need to pay attention to. (I'm sure jdub will be along shortly, and he can clear all of this up for ya). :)
 

hvyman

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Apr 17, 2007
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^ i run 0w30 german castrol as well.

5w30 is not too thin and is what is recommend by the manufacturer.
 

rocketguy13

New Member
Sep 5, 2006
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dallas texas
Boosted516;1243608 said:
I bought my car with with 130k miles and 8k miles on a rebuilt head, new hg, and supposedly new piston rings. I want to do an oil change and was just wondering about switching to synthetic. I read the oil basics and was a little confused. I know you have to put a certain amount of miles on a motor before switching to synthetic on a rebuild and was wondering would this be the same thing. I plan on using Royal Purple 5w-30. I also plan on using a pureone or k+n filter. Thanks to anyone that offers any useful info

dont go royal purple, it is great oil for race engines that get rebuilt all the time but not for daily drivers. if you research it you will find that it is lacking a key ingredient... antil rust agents. it alows your internal parts that can rust to develop surface rust and eventally start pitting. i found this out when me and a friend were researching about oils used in LS motors in trans ams and camaros.
 

jdub

Official SM Expert: Motor Oil, Lubricants & Fil
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Feb 10, 2006
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hvyman;1243637 said:
after a rebuild you want to switch to synthetic any time after around 2500miles. your at 8k so your fine.

Actually anytime after 1000-1500 miles is plenty.


Chaz;1243675 said:
5w30 seems a little thin, then again, I'm in the south. I am running the royal purple. It turns black really fast. That could mean its doing its job cleaning the engine or it could mean it can't handle the heat. I ran across a thread in another forum where a guy was dogging Royal Purple as it left some hefty crusties inside the turbo when he had it rebuilt, or at least more than the norm. He may just be blaming oil when he should be blaming himself for not letting his turbo cool down before shutting the engine off.
I would be curious to know if anyone else is running 5w30. Maybe I'm wrong

Yep, you're wrong ;)
Read the Motor oil 101 link in my sig...that will open your eyes as to why you want to run an oil with the lowest 1st number you can find. And, don't be thinking a 0W-30 is "thin", the German Castrol the guys above are talking about is getting close to a 40W viscosity wise at engine ops temp (100 deg C).

The color of the oil has absolutely nothing to do with how well it is doing it's job. Another of the many oil myths.


rocketguy13;1243828 said:
dont go royal purple, it is great oil for race engines that get rebuilt all the time but not for daily drivers. if you research it you will find that it is lacking a key ingredient... antil rust agents. it alows your internal parts that can rust to develop surface rust and eventally start pitting. i found this out when me and a friend were researching about oils used in LS motors in trans ams and camaros.

I would not use the RP XPR line in a street driven car, but RP's standard line is a good oil. It is a Grp IV PAO...hard to beat that base stock. It's additive pack is slanted more toward the race crowd (especially those running flat tappet domestic engines), but it is turning in some great wear numbers from analysis. I wouldn't hesitiate to use it.

BTW - since when does oil need anti-rust agents :slap:

I'm thinking your "research" was based on "my buddy told me" vs the facts.
 

Supracentral

Active Member
Mar 30, 2005
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And although I know the limited value of the testimonial, the odometer in my hardtop MKIV is a testament to Royal Purple:

dash3.gif


It's now at 189,000 miles...

RP 5w30

Oil & filter changed every 8,000 miles.

Imagine the rust I must have built up... LOL.
 

deabionni

The Lurker
Sep 16, 2007
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Kalkaska, MI
Supracentral;1243901 said:
Imagine the rust I must have built up... LOL.

No kidding!!! You may as well throw out that paper weight that you call an engine, as that probably has more rust than the Titanic! :D
 

Boosted516

Supramano
Apr 13, 2008
475
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Long Island, NY
jdub;1243874 said:
I would not use the RP XPR line in a street driven car, but RP's standard line is a good oil. It is a Grp IV PAO...hard to beat that base stock. It's additive pack is slanted more toward the race crowd (especially those running flat tappet domestic engines), but it is turning in some great wear numbers from analysis. I wouldn't hesitiate to use it.

BTW - since when does oil need anti-rust agents :slap:

I'm thinking your "research" was based on "my buddy told me" vs the facts.

Thanks for clearing that up jdub. Would there be an advantage of 5w-30 over 0w-30 or vice versa?
 

Tire Shredder

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Sep 15, 2005
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Oshawa
Supracentral;1243901 said:
And although I know the limited value of the testimonial, the odometer in my hardtop MKIV is a testament to Royal Purple:

I'm hoping this post doesn't turn into a "post your miles" thread, but I thought I should comment. My Toyota Corolla has had conventional oil in it since it was new. I am the third owner, and know both the original and second owner of the car. It's had zero engine repairs, just basic tune up stuff...even original oil seals (excluding valvecover).

This car now has 275,000 miles (450,000km) and is still going strong. no oil leaks, has recently passed emissions and in the 2000km I have driven thus far, burned zero oil.

Bottom line is the car has had regular maintenance and regular oil changes. I just thought I'd point out that the largest factor in a vehicles longevity is the owner. I do believe quality lubricants and other products aid in this but to suggest your supra's running condition is attributed to the oil use is a bit misleading.

Properly maintained vehicles with conventional oil can last a long time too.
 
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jdub

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Boosted - If you want to us RP, the 5W-30 is what I would use. Like SC said above, he's been getting excellent results (backed by analysis) from the same oil on an 8000 mile change interval.

Personally, I like Castrol European Formula (aka German Castrol) 0W-30...also a PAO based oil. It's a thicker oil at ops temp and is only slightly thicker cold. Excellent results with this oil as well at the same change interval.

You won't go wrong with either one. I would use a Wix or NAPA Gold filter though.

TS - You are correct about conventional oils, but you will be changing oil more often. For a turbo motor, a synthetic is best IMO due to the heat experienced by these engines, well above what a Corolla experiences.
 

Tire Shredder

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Sep 15, 2005
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jdub;1244048 said:
\
TS - You are correct about conventional oils, but you will be changing oil more often. For a turbo motor, a synthetic is best IMO due to the heat experienced by these engines, well above what a Corolla experiences.

Agreed. I would always recommend synthetic oil for turbo and performance applications in general. As we know, turbo chargers can be very sensitive to lubricant quality (The CT26 seems to be fairly compliant compared to larger turbos with DBBs though). The cost difference between conventional and synthetic becomes much closer when extended drain intervals are used. However, it's important to remember this might not be ideal for some people. For instance, it would make no sense for me to run a synthetic oil in my winter car. Driven for only 5,000km a year, time between changes becomes more of a factor than mileage. With synthetic, I could leave it in for two years to use it's full intended lifespan! Unfortunately this is less than ideal. Two years is just far too long for condensation and byproducts to collect in the engine. For me, it makes much more economical sense to run a conventional oil and change it more frequently, on a time basis (two to three times a year).

Engine type, miles driven, driving habits, temperature and location all effect what lubricant is correct for the task. I want to make sure others reading this get the full picture. Some research and thought is required to chose the best oil for your application.
 

jdub

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German Castrol 0W-30....there's specifics in the Lube Section.
A lot of folks seem to be running it in Supra motors lately ;)