The FTOA Oil Thread

khunjeng · Post by **khunjeng** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:48 am

for anyone reading this being more confused:

Full Sync oil and Dino (minerial) oils these days perform relatively similar. However a Fully Sync will last well over 10,000kms and thats its main advantage. Numerous UOA on all types have proved both can prodcue similar results however only the Full Syn can go the longer OCIs. These days I would just use the Full Sync. So for a fully syn oils, changes every 5k are a waste of time and money in a daily driven car.

However I have some concern over the high rev'ing nature of the FTO and if u are driving it hard might want somethinng a little better than your std Magna.

The answer is really more complicated than Yes or No and i subject to different points of view.

I believe that any oil will work, but I'm more intrested in what is the best oil for my applciation, in this case a NA, hi-reving 2.0l engine that sees a lot of KMs. For the 300rwkw skyline the choice of redline is not so hard.

The agrguement can go both ways, use a cheaper oil and chnage more often. Use a better oil and change less.

Top notch fully syn oils I knwo of are Mobil1s, Redline, Motul 300V, RP, German Castol.

In reality you could use anything, but I do highly rec. a xxW30 thickness...I'm not going into it again but your car will love you for it.

Use Mobil 1 if its hard to choose...you cant go wrong with that for a daily driven application.

Personally I will keep using the Redline 5W30 a sI am in the middle of testing this, after another 6000km I will do another sample to see any trends.

FTO338 · Post by **FTO338** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:34 pm

While on the topic of oil and Mobil 1, Mercedes use Mobil 1 as their standard engine oil.

And i know someone is going to say Ferrari use Shell, yes they use Shell engine oil, but not your average off the shelf one.

EURO · Post by **EURO** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 1:58 pm

khunjeng wrote:

Personally I will keep using the Redline 5W30 a sI am in the middle of testing this, after another 6000km I will do another sample to see any trends.

I have mentioned this before - but a number of mechanics have told me that the most engine wear occurs at cold start - therefore ONLY use a 5w-30 oil. The only time he suggested a thicker oil was if I was going to have my engine rebuilt and for a bit more protection for the first (X) kms...

thats just my experience - and I have used 5w-30 ever since.

khunjeng · Post by **khunjeng** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 2:19 pm

EURO wrote:
khunjeng wrote:

Personally I will keep using the Redline 5W30 a sI am in the middle of testing this, after another 6000km I will do another sample to see any trends.
I have mentioned this before - but a number of mechanics have told me that the most engine wear occurs at cold start - therefore ONLY use a 5w-30 oil. The only time he suggested a thicker oil was if I was going to have my engine rebuilt and for a bit more protection for the first (X) kms...

thats just my experience - and I have used 5w-30 ever since.

I agree Dave an its in here somewhere....there are figures like 90% of the wear thorwn about but I'm not sure how accurate. Also with a good 30 weight your operation viscosity is not much less than that of a 40...so IMO there its a no brainer for a daily driver.

The best is oil to get (if u can get it) is German Castrol, the only one made in germany I believe. Mobil, like Shell changed their base stock formulation to a group III not long ago...which is a downgrade. Its getting crap reviews on the oil forums. Different oils for different countries guys.

But for a daily driven car...M1 is good enough.

layzie · Post by **layzie** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:00 pm

I've just changed from Castrol Magnatec to Castrol's Edge 5w-30. I can feel a slightly better difference while driving.

How long you guys normally leave your engine to warm-up (from cold start) before driving it? just curious.

how many km's you guys normally drive in a 6month period?

thanks

khunjeng · Post by **khunjeng** » Sat Jan 06, 2007 10:43 pm

layzie wrote:I've just changed from Castrol Magnatec to Castrol's Edge 5w-30. I can feel a slightly better difference while driving.

How long you guys normally leave your engine to warm-up (from cold start) before driving it? just curious.

how many km's you guys normally drive in a 6month period?

thanks

the edge is a ok product.. good to see u have a good weight. I would do about 15,000kms a year so half of that.

As for the warm up...its not good for you car to be left at idle for long peroids. Basically start it, maybe ldel for 15-30secs and drive off. It warms up best whilst driving.

Just dont hammer it until your water temp has reached op. temp. Remember just becayse your water temp is right doesn't mean u oil is, but its a good enough guide.

Just drive normally for 5min and you should be fine. The 5W30 will give u much better startup protection.

What grade oil did u ue before? did your engine eat any oil?

You might find the low visc. may help form an better seal around your rings and may help curb your consumption (if there was any).

FTO338 · Post by **FTO338** » Sun Jan 07, 2007 1:40 am

layzie wrote:I've just changed from Castrol Magnatec to Castrol's Edge 5w-30. I can feel a slightly better difference while driving.

How long you guys normally leave your engine to warm-up (from cold start) before driving it? just curious.

how many km's you guys normally drive in a 6month period?

thanks

I had very bad experience with Castrol Magnatec, it slows the car down big time.

I warm up all my cars around 5-10mins

With my old job, i do around 900km in 6mths

I do that in a week now.

layzie · Post by **layzie** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:24 pm

khunjeng,
thanks for feedback....
i normally leave the car to idle 2mins before driving off slowly. I previously used Magnatec which does seems a slower response compared to the edge, guessing from the 10w-40 VS 5w-30.

Have you guys ever left the oil in the engine for longer than 6months?

thanks

FTO338 · Post by **FTO338** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:37 pm

layzie wrote:
Have you guys ever left the oil in the engine for longer than 6months?

thanks

Yep and i just warm the car up longer then usual. It runs fine.

khunjeng · Post by **khunjeng** » Mon Jan 08, 2007 9:51 pm

layzie wrote:khunjeng,
thanks for feedback....
i normally leave the car to idle 2mins before driving off slowly. I previously used Magnatec which does seems a slower response compared to the edge, guessing from the 10w-40 VS 5w-30.

Have you guys ever left the oil in the engine for longer than 6months?

thanks

I have...I think the redline oil in my car is about 4-6 months old now. But its about to get changed. It was 12,000kms since the last oil change, did some tests and everythings seemed ok. The current Viscosity was ok still which is a good sign. I could probably go another 5000 easy but will change anyway.

khunjeng · Post by **khunjeng** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 11:19 am

Oil Filter Update...

Last weekend I was in discussion about K&N oil filters. The conclsuion is that the K&N ones are really good and tests have shown them a good blend for flow and filtration.

I'm looking up K&N to see what is the part number for the FTO. Its a great little filter with a hex nut on the end to make it easy to get on/off.

In addition I cut open a jap mitsi FTO filter on the weekend. They were a good construction with a silicon. So there is nothing wrong with any of the jap filters either.

K&N pics and details to come.

JOeJOe · Post by **JOeJOe** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:40 pm

Just wondering if anyone have ever used VP oils, they claim that it's 100% ester synthetic.

RallyMad · Post by **RallyMad** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:05 pm

The K& N part number is HP 1010 or HP 1006. I've used them for most of the time I've had my car and I really like them.

I run Penrite 10/10th's 15w40.
I've found it really smooth though I do tend to need to give the car a minute or two to warm up, especailly on the occasional sub zero day up here.

khunjeng · Post by **khunjeng** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 6:10 pm

RallyMad wrote:The K& N part number is HP 1010 or HP 1006. I've used them for most of the time I've had my car and I really like them.

I run Penrite 10/10th's 15w40.
I've found it really smooth though I do tend to need to give the car a minute or two to warm up, especailly on the occasional sub zero day up here.

yeah its quite good hey? the nut on the top sure helps. All the tests I have seen show good results also.

Not sure about Penrite, think its a group 3. So no my first choice but for you app, prolly just fine.

RallyMad · Post by **RallyMad** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 7:02 pm

Yeah agreed, very easy to work with. Especailly after the filter that was on the car when I bought it was soo tight I could only get it off by sticking a screw driver through it.

I've never read this full thread. Think I should, will do actually.

Group 3?

RallyMad · Post by **RallyMad** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:01 pm

Ah ok. Understand Grade 3 now. Will be getting some Motul for the next change.

Just something that hasn't really been discussed yet I was wondering about. Mainly time. I only do about 1,500Km's in 6 months so I usually change the oil and filter well before I've done anywhere near 5,000 let alone 10,000 which I have also been told is achievable with a synthetic oil.

I did let me last change run a little late was nearly 8 months and the mtor was running considerably smoother after the oil change.

So, For those that don't do many kays on our cars should we stick more to the 6 month rule?

khunjeng · Post by **khunjeng** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:34 pm

RallyMad wrote:Ah ok. Understand Grade 3 now. Will be getting some Motul for the next change.

Just something that hasn't really been discussed yet I was wondering about. Mainly time. I only do about 1,500Km's in 6 months so I usually change the oil and filter well before I've done anywhere near 5,000 let alone 10,000 which I have also been told is achievable with a synthetic oil.

I did let me last change run a little late was nearly 8 months and the mtor was running considerably smoother after the oil change.

So, For those that don't do many kays on our cars should we stick more to the 6 month rule?

obviously you don't drive it much, but the question is: do you do frequent but very short runs or infrequent, but longer runs (say 10-15 miles at a time at least)? In the first case, I might be inclined to change it more frequently. In the second case, I would probably go 6 months. Three things to consider..

Kms, Time and Driving Style.

Others do 1 year changes, but for the sake of $50 I'd just change it. For a short trip, use a 5W30 for good startup protection..

RallyMad · Post by **RallyMad** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 6:56 pm

Ah ok, thanks. I usually try to avoid short trips. Most the time I drive it for at least 10 km's mostly avoiding stop and start traffic. So I guess I am heading the right way for a decent 10w40 especailly considering it does get driven fairly hard

and you've gotto love the mivec rush

Yeah fair enough, I guess for peace of mind I do usually try change it every 6 months.

Thanks

khunjeng · Post by **khunjeng** » Mon Aug 06, 2007 9:45 pm

RallyMad wrote:Ah ok, thanks. I usually try to avoid short trips. Most the time I drive it for at least 10 km's mostly avoiding stop and start traffic. So I guess I am heading the right way for a decent 10w40 especailly considering it does get driven fairly hard and you've gotto love the mivec rush

Yeah fair enough, I guess for peace of mind I do usually try change it every 6 months.

Thanks

MIVEC appreciates a 5W30, I would not put in anything else.

RallyMad · Post by **RallyMad** » Mon Aug 13, 2007 11:13 am

ah, right. Thanks. I'll just need to do a little more shopping around to get the right viscousity then. I just like to support local performance shops is all. That way I get bigger discounts on larger items from the shop I go through.