what the hell do i do!!!

[gtr355]

my car has recently had a new engine installed(0km).anyway the mechanic had put in castrol formula r (5w30) oil in.the car has now done 200kms.what do i do.ive heard synthetic oil is ultra bad to run an engine in on but dont hsv's use a synthetic from factory???what do i do. can i simply drain the oil and put in a mineral oil and things will be fine????

[Wazza]

Do you trust your mechanic/engine builder? Id personally ask them what oil to use, they've done it all before and probably know better than most what to run an engine in using. Infact, some may deny warranty if you dont run it in using a specific type of oil (be rather hard for them to prove though!)

[Steve'sR8]

When i recently had my 3,000km service done i asked the same thing, & was told they don't put Mobil 1 in until the 10,000km service which would normally be the 1st oil change. I had them change the oil & filter at 3,000km & they used a semi synthetic instead of Mobil 1, which i'll switch to at 10,000km. Perhaps call your local HSV dealer & ask what they use when they replace an engine, but i doubt it would be a full synthetic.
Cheers,
Steve.

[VX2VESS]

i'd drop it out asap and put a mineral run in oil or just mineral oil. Then change that and the filter at 1500ks for another mineral oil. run synthetic if you wish after 5000 k's

[Dacious]

Chevrolet Corvettes, all LS2-engined cars from GM like the Pontiac GTO (and as you've noted HSVs) have Mobil 1 from new. Most of the synthetic oil myths are related to friction modified oils first introduced in the 70's and don't apply today. Friction modifiers as used in the original Castrol GTX would interfere with the run-in process. Just like we don't use 'summer' and 'winter' mono-grades, or flushing oils anymore, mineral oil 'superiority' on run-in is jsut an old wives' tale.

I had my oil changed to Mobil 1 at 1,000km and the three changes since. My car has done 24,000km, the oil barely moves on the dipstick between 10,000km services and the engine runs quietly and smoothly. If your mechanic is providing you warranty on a new motor, do you think he'd take any risks if he thought it would cause a problem?

This is from the official Mobil 1 website:

You are getting incorrect advice. Mobil 1 fully synthetic oil is an excellent choice for all operating conditions and will not void your warranty. In fact, General Motors uses Mobil 1 as original equipment (factory fill) on many of its vehicles, including Chevrolet Corvette, Chevrolet Cobalt SS, Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS, Chevrolet SSR, Pontiac GTO and several Cadillac models.

If GM uses synthetic oil on it's most expensive products from brand new, maybe it's because it's the better option?

If you go to the Castrol website and check the oil recommender, for HSV vehicles it recommends Magnatec or Formula R in different viscosities depending on model of car.

[VX2VESS]

most dealers stopped using it when they were having problems on new motors. not sure they have gone back to it for new motors yet. gm were looking at it also due to problems on some motors. magnatec is mineral.

synthetic does run a little cooler so must reduce wear. not what you want in the first hour of operation when most of the ring bedding happens. Want to get the rings hot

To be pedantic about proper ring bedding, run in a new motor on a dyno then use synthetic would be the preferred method.. 3 or 4 runs should bed the rings,after that fill it with synthetic and your done. can't really do this to max effect on the street traffic etc can try.

My motor ran bed in oil from a dealer i didn't ask for it

i lstill like this guys theories http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

[Dacious]

GM and Mobil have millions of dollars in rolling roads and spend millions co-developing motors and oils - no offence to the motortune guy, but he is like anyone else posting info on the internet; well-meaning but all care, no responsibility. It might run insooner using his method - it might also wear out much sooner by glazing or burnishing components like bearings or journals or cam lobes! You could also de-temper rings by running them too hard before they are polished.

As he's presumably building race motors which get more rebuilds than you have hot lunches and presumably get stressed much harder than road engines, there's no way of knowing if he's full of it or not. In general you also build race motors much looser to start with with more linishing of bearing jouirnals - you can't afford to waste track time with extended run-ins, and the average racer don't have the patience! Imagine a drag racer doing 200 2/3 throttle passes to run his new fueller motor in! You also don't care about oil usage - just change it every meeting and keep topping it up!

You'd have to track each individual motor through it's life to test his theories. Maybe he's very good, or maybe he gets no repeat customers!

My dealer is a major HSV dealer, the service manager recommends Mobil 1 for LS1s and happy to put it in at 1,000km provided I paid for it and the filter. There is no warranty issue. Normally Holden does not change initial fill oil/filter until the 10K service.

The LS1's oil-usage problems were design and QC issues and not related to synthetic oils in any way. How many HSV VZ oil-usage stories have we heard of? Not much more than zero. The cars have been out for over a year - every one came with Mobil 1 from the factory. By now, especially with the paranoia about the issue with GM motors we'd be hearing if there was still a problem.

I would happily put any good quality synthetic or mineral oil of the correct rating like Castrol Magnatech or Formula R in my car. When my car goes off lease/warranty and I assume servicing I am going to use Aral sythetic, partly because it is at least as good as any oil of the same rating ( I have experience of it in road and racing bikes) and also because I can get a deal on bulk quantities.