Castrol Edge? 10w - 60w or 25w - 50w

[Tez82]

Just wondering which viscosity you guys use? I have been using the Castrol Magnetic and yeah doesn't seem to be as good. I have heard from some that they use 10-60 and 25-50. Not sure which one is the go on a stock LS1, although there is like double price difference between the 10-60w ($70) compared with 25-50w ($33)....

Tez

[Nutter]

Not a big fan of castrol oils myself, but in winter i use penrite 10w50 in summer penrite 15w-60 both under $30

[hotbox]

ive just changed from magnatec to 10w-60 edge, definately sounds quieter.

[Mr Gen]

I use edge 5w-30w its what it recommened on the castrol site but i think its a bit thin going to change to something thicker soon

[kng55]

I'v just serviced my ss for the first time sins the warrenty ran out. I got
tolled to use mobil 1 super syn 10W-30. it seems to be good so far, but
it's about $80 5lt :confused:

[OPPYLOCK]

20W/50's and 10W60's are too thick for LS1's.
Unless you're doing a lot of track days and strip work, something along the lines of a 15W/40 will be just right.
I've found 5W/30 a bit thin even though they are recomended by many oil companies.
Basically you want to run the thiniest oil possible while still retaining sufficient protection.

[Blown 454 AWD]

10w60 is fine for your LS1 LS2 & L76 epically since you're in Brisbane.

Really depends how much protection you would like.

As an Advance Trade Automotive Engineer and 30 years involvement with oils I've yet to find reasonable evidence on why a 10w60 is too thick.

[Nutter]

20w/50 is not to thick, thinner oils are factory recomended to get every last kw and the best power figures. In this country a 15w/60 is not to thick in the LS1.

[Grif]

10w60 is fine for your LS1 LS2 & L76 epically since you're in Brisbane.

Really depends how much protection you would like.

As an Advance Trade Automotive Engineer and 30 years involvement with oils I've yet to find reasonable evidence on why a 10w60 is too thick.

The man has spoken! I personally use Edge 25w50 in my baby, feels sweeter then the factory water they put in.

Cheers,
Grif

[trex101]

10w60 is fine for your LS1 LS2 & L76 epically since you're in Brisbane.

Really depends how much protection you would like.

As an Advance Trade Automotive Engineer and 30 years involvement with oils I've yet to find reasonable evidence on why a 10w60 is too thick.

I seriously doubt that you can use a 10w60 oil when the factory spec a 5w30, what the min oil pressure at idle using the 10w60?

[Blown 454 AWD]

I seriously doubt that you can use a 10w60 oil when the factory spec a 5w30, what the min oil pressure at idle using the 10w60?


Not sure, motors can very as to how much wear they have before application.

Why not ask Sonny what he thinks of the Mainlube 175 Synthetic Race Oil SAE 10w60 as he's just put it in his SV300, he sounded pretty happy when I spoke to him the other night.

[Tez82]

Yeah I don't think 20-60w is even too thick in Australia, there are soo many thin oils being used these days just to gain a few extra kw's. However 20w-60w means cold start normally around -20 degrees C oil viscosity is at 20w...

I have spoken to Sonny and he said the 25w-50w Castrol Edge is pretty good stuff, although I have been told its not a fully synthetic oil compared with 10w-60w thus price difference :p All your comments are appreciated as I know there are heaps of oil threads out there :p

Grif mate I might take ur advise hehehe and give it shot with the 25w-50w....

Tez

[markone2]

Another Castrol 10w/60 convert....3years and 770 hard hits........only Oil I'll use or recommend :)

[trex101]

Not sure, motors can very as to how much wear they have before application.

Why not ask Sonny what he thinks of the Mainlube 175 Synthetic Race Oil SAE 10w60 as he's just put it in his SV300, he sounded pretty happy when I spoke to him the other night.

I'm sorry, i just couldn't get it. Can someone kindly explain why it's ok to used such a thick oil, wouldn't the startup wear be much worst? As some of you might know, 90% of engine wear is actually startup wear while the rest during operation.
Probably mainlube 5w30 would be more suitable then the 10w60 rating.

one example

Mobil 1 10w30
cSt@40'c = 62
cSt@100'c = 10

Castrol 10w60
cSt@40'c = 174
cSt@100'c = 23.5

If the clearance of stock LS1 engine is design for 10cSt at operating temp, why would you run something double as thick(23.5cSt)?
If avg ambient Summer temp at 40'c, you would be cranking 6 time thicker viscosity (62cST) with Mobil 1 10w30, just imagine what viscosity you will be cranking with the 10w60. That's 17 time thicker (174cSt)!
And that's during summer, what about winter when temp hit's 5'c or less?

Viscosity Calculator (http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/3655/VI.html)
I just did a calculation with Viscosity calculator for Castrol 10w60.
cSt@10'c = 908 that's 90 times thicker
cSt@0'c = 1847 that's 184 times thicker

[CV860L]

I'm sorry, i just couldn't get it. Can someone kindly explain why it's ok to used such a thick oil, wouldn't the startup wear be much worst? As some of you might know, 90% of engine wear is actually startup wear while the rest during operation.
Probably mainlube 5w30 would be more suitable then the 10w60 rating.

one example

Mobil 1 10w30
cSt@40'c = 62
cSt@100'c = 10

Castrol 10w60
cSt@40'c = 174
cSt@100'c = 23.5

If the clearance of stock LS1 engine is design for 10cSt at operating temp, why would you run something double as thick(23.5cSt)?
If avg ambient Summer temp at 40'c, you would be cranking 6 time thicker viscosity (62cST) with Mobil 1 10w30, just imagine what viscosity you will be cranking with the 10w60. That's 17 time thicker (174cSt)!
And that's during summer, what about winter when temp hit's 5'c or less?

Viscosity Calculator (http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/3655/VI.html)
I just did a calculation with Viscosity calculator for Castrol 10w60.
cSt@10'c = 908 that's 90 times thicker
cSt@0'c = 1847 that's 184 times thicker

I agree 100%, I went through this debate (via my father) with lab technicians at Castrol about 5 years back, the final outcome was they recommended 15w/40.

My father was an oil blender for Castrol for 35yrs+ and when I told him about tuners recommending 10w/60 for my LS1 he went and got some advice from the Head Lab Technician who had also been there for 30yrs+.

At the time he printed off a number of pages of figures and centistoke measurements (as above) done on a wide range off vehicles including Castrol sponsored race teams, I can't recall the whole detailed explanation but the outcome was that there was absolutely no benefit in running 10w/60.
Not to mention the loss of horsepower that comes with running oil that thick.

[trex101]

I agree 100%, I went through this debate (via my father) with lab technicians at Castrol about 5 years back, the final outcome was they recommended 15w/40.

My father was an oil blender for Castrol for 35yrs+ and when I told him about tuners recommending 10w/60 for my LS1 he went and got some advice from the Head Lab Technician who had also been there for 30yrs+.

At the time he printed off a number of pages of figures and centistoke measurements (as above) done on a wide range off vehicles including Castrol sponsored race teams, I can't recall the whole detailed explanation but the outcome was that there was absolutely no benefit in running 10w/60.
Not to mention the loss of horsepower that comes with running oil that thick.

Ideally, we should run a oil starting at 10cSt and run 10cSt at operating temp that doesn't shear. We all know this magical fluid doesn't exist, the best option would be to find the lowest starting viscosity 30wt or 40wt oil.

[tuff304]

Has anybody had any experience with Nulon synthetic 10w-40 and 15w-40 oils?

Cheers

[VX2VESS]

Has anybody had any experience with Nulon synthetic 10w-40 and 15w-40 oils?

Cheers

do a search on nulon.

i've used both the gold versions, current 15/50 syn seems ok really, cheap enough for 5K changes...


http://www.nulon.com.au/products.php?productGroup=oil

[Blown 454 AWD]

I'm sorry, i just couldn't get it. Can someone kindly explain why it's ok to used such a thick oil, wouldn't the startup wear be much worst? As some of you might know, 90% of engine wear is actually startup wear while the rest during operation.
Probably mainlube 5w30 would be more suitable then the 10w60 rating.

one example

Mobil 1 10w30
cSt@40'c = 62
cSt@100'c = 10

Castrol 10w60
cSt@40'c = 174
cSt@100'c = 23.5

If the clearance of stock LS1 engine is design for 10cSt at operating temp, why would you run something double as thick(23.5cSt)?
If avg ambient Summer temp at 40'c, you would be cranking 6 time thicker viscosity (62cST) with Mobil 1 10w30, just imagine what viscosity you will be cranking with the 10w60. That's 17 time thicker (174cSt)!
And that's during summer, what about winter when temp hit's 5'c or less?

Viscosity Calculator (http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/3655/VI.html)
I just did a calculation with Viscosity calculator for Castrol 10w60.
cSt@10'c = 908 that's 90 times thicker
cSt@0'c = 1847 that's 184 times thicker




trex101 I’m very aware what the text book says about viscosities however, if they were always correct Mainlube and most of the other specialised oil companies would be out of a job, in allot of situations their specs. just don’t allow a long machinery life.

The info you have is technically correct however, when put into practice the outcome can often be quite different, especially if one is prepared to R & D this area and monitor the out come.

At around 20C your engine will have around double the oil pressure it would at operating temperature. Now to think that around 70 to 80 psi is not going to force oil very quickly into all the necessary areas is a myth, if you could put a tap on the side of your engine in an oil gallery and turn it on the very smallest amount you would be stunned how much oil would flow/squirt @ 70 to 80 psi in 1 to 2 seconds.

I’m sure most of you have herd an engine start up with no oil or no oil pressure, they are bloody noisy, the big ends knock their arses off. When using a 10w60 or even a 20w60 a motor is dead quite on start up, not the sort of reaction you would expect from a motor with oil starvation from too thicker oil.

When I first starting working with Team Brock (now Brock Race Engineering) and Maritimo Off-Shore Racing, both were using Mobil 1 10w30 and both were having serious oil pressure issues under power and had tried most things, checking bearing clearances, new oil pumps, washers under the relief springs etc. I just changed them to the Mainlube Synthetic Race Oil SAE10w60 and all issues disappeared, they had to take the washers out of the relief springs as they whinged about dents in their oil gauges (they were joking of course) as the pressure went through the roof, even this momentary extremely excessive oil pressure caused no damage or problems.

I have herd of “bearing blast” from extreme oil pressure when cold however, have never seen this and believe me, I’ve tried some very extreme things with oil viscosities over the years.

Another situation is the Maritimo’s little 8.2 litre V12 naturally aspirated Lambo’s running on pump gas at 950 hp @ $250,000 per engine, they run 6 engines, 2 boats run 2 motors each (270 kph) and 2 spare. The 3rd boat runs 2 x Detroit 2 stroke diesel engines that are supercharged and twin turbo charged running 37 lbs boost @ 1450 hp per motor.

Anyway the Lambo’s run at 50C (yes I would much rather see at least 70C however, they have their reasons) we were running the Mainlube10w60 race oil and I changed them back to a 20w50 and the wear almost doubled, so much for a thinner oil give less wear, even at a cooler temperature, the proofs in the pudding.

It’s not just oil, normal food machinery grease has a base oil of ISO 68 (SAE 20) as the major oil companies believe that food machinery grease usually operates in a freezer, I haven’t come across the need for a food grease in a freezer as of yet.
Mainlube 375 Food Machinery Grease has an ISO 900 base oil (SAE 240) as food machinery is usually under severe pressure and must endure wash down with boiling water and detergents daily, the grease needs to have nuts, hence we kick arse with our greases as well. Most of you will see a trend by now, just like the T56 and the wear and noises produced, the standard oil is too light.

These are the things the text book people don’t get to see as they rearly get out from behind their desks. Mainlube is renowned for changing lubricant viscosities in machinery and monitoring the reaction with Filtergram Wear Metal Analysis.

At the end of the day, if there is no metal in your oil, then you must be doing the right thing. Any noticeable reduction in wear metals in your oil and you are doing the right thing, any increase in wear metals and you are doing the wrong thing.

When machinery manufactures pick (yes they pick not design) an oil or grease for an application, it’s done completely from the text book and when people push the machine a little harder than the manufacture designed it for (and of course that wouldn’t be any of us would it) that machine creates an abnormal wear mode and that’s when companies like Mainlube get the job as the manufactures only cater for the norm.


It’s quite funny really, no one tells Tuna about how to run Turbo’s and no one tells Sonny how to assemble an engine and I bet both certainally don't follow the text books word for word, they have there own experinces on what works better however, every bugger who can read is an oil expert.

We have labs consulting Mainlube from all over the world asking how xxx could happen to the machine their oil is in, after I check their oil analysis, then combine this info with Filtergram coupled with our hands on field experiences, it's often easy to explain where the problem is, and it’s usually not the area they think it is, we are engineers who carry out machinery trouble shooting, we don't just flog oils and make claims, we have monitored the circumstances we speak about for many years, others just print off more from the text book. Without challenging the info.

Hopefully this will let you see this from our point of view, a text book engineer will never agree with us as they aren't hands on and see what we see.

Lucky for us or we would be out a a job if they got it right every time.

[Grif]

Didn't i say the man has spoken?! Thanks again 450 kW Adventra, your knowledge and information is invaluable, even after being attacked by textbook warriors.

Cheers,
Grif

[Dacious]

Yes, internet PhDs can be a problem, I'm one myself from time-time. And I am old enough to remember flushing oils and winter-summer monogrades. And straight 60-weight in my Ducati with rollerbearings and 4psi oiling system which needed five minutes warming-up before riding.

I can also see Mr 450Kw is passionate about his product and committed to it, and for his vehicle or a similar it may be the answer. But most people aren't doing what he is.

The oil running in a forced-induction LS1 developing twice the specific power and a hell of a lot more heat than it was designed with; and the frequency with which such a motor is rebuilt and maintained, may require 60 weight racing oil.

But presuming like most racing oils it has little in the way of dispersants, scavengers, detergents and anti-wear compounds it may not be the solution for a person who drives 99% on the road, sticks to recommended service intervals and does not super- or turbocharge their motor within an inch of its' life.

You are not just talking about an engine oil, but a whole new maintenance regime. That may be the price of admission for such an engine. But is it necessarily so for the average LSx developing ~ 1 hp per cubic inch? Would the owners of such vehicles be prepared for it? Most of us want to go a little faster than stock but not open our engines if we can help.

Most cold-start wear is prevented nowadays by additives that cause residual oil to cling to components until fresh oil is pumped up - and a lot of internals are still luricated by splash, which is not aided by thicker oil. Oil goes black because the additives are a) cleaning the engine b) suspending the contaminants so the filter collects the larger, wear-causing particles and the rest gets dropped in the change. If you don't have these additives you may need flushing oil and more frequent rebuilds to de-sludge in a daily-driver.

If 60 weight oil is the sole answer to longevity and reliabilty, why did Williams Honda use 30 weight Mugen racing oil in Keke Rosberg's 1000+hp V10 turbo 1.5? Many times the qualifying grenade engines would be melting running over the finish line after one hot lap due to the boost they were using to develop 700bhp per litre.

But that was a championship winner so rods weren't flying out of bed at 17,000rpm or spinning bearing shells or breaking mains. When Honda was racing F1 endurance bikes prior to synthetic lubes they could not keep cams in their motors due to high-lift, high-tension double valvesprings even with high viscosities. Then they tried castor-bean oil which is slippery with amazing film strength. Low viscosity, goes off in hours when subjected to heat. But after a few hours at super-high speed component wear is negligible. Fine if you want to change oil every day and it won't tolerate many fuels.

The current 250 two-stroke GP bikes develop over 100hp. They run on oil, mixed at 50:1 with fuel, which has the consistency of sewing machine oil. After 700-1000kms (which is the fatigue life of pistons, rings and cranks) the parts come out with the machining cross-hatching still visible. The oil is 100% consumed but it demonstrates viscosity is not everything.

Why does GM use 5W/30 Mobil 1 not only as the engine oil but also the assembly lube in LS7s? A naturally aspirated 370Kw, 7.000rpm 7 litre motor has to be generating enormous crank journal/bearing loads. Are they mugs to Mobil advertising $$$$ to risk $15,000 hand built engines with likely a high percent of rich drop-kick owners?

No - the reason why is the entire engine and coolling system is a package designed to deliver that specific power while not requiring oil like treacle to avoid metal-metal at operating temps which are kept lowish. And to have a service life of 200,000+km while passing emissions laws and developing within a few percent of rated power from a motor with fairly normal service intervals. Stick a blower on it of course and all may change....

[trex101]

Didn't i say the man has spoken?! Thanks again 450 kW Adventra, your knowledge and information is invaluable, even after being attacked by textbook warriors.

Cheers,
Grif

No means am i attacking 450kw Adventra, we are all here to share information and learn from each other strength and expertise. The flow & exchange of information is what makes online forums great.
Civic discussion of technical information is not attacking each other credibility.

This is the link where i post in BITOG (delicated lubrication discussion forums)
BITOG (http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=016137)

[trex101]

Some UOA with xxW30wt oil.

http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=003538#000000
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=002952#000000
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000847#000000
http://theoildrop.server101.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=001747#000000
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=001415#000000
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=001121#000008
http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000299#000000

[Blown 454 AWD]

trex101 you are quoting ppm oil testing, while ppm is an extremely good tool for oil condition, it is not a good indicator of wear.

ppm only can registers particles under 7 microns, when wear metal particles are produced they start much larger than this and get milled down by being forced through load bearing surfaces by the oil flow, penetrating the oil film and damaging the machine.

A superior wear metal monitoring system that is truly Proactive Predictive is Filtergram see here (http://files.mainlube.com/files/Filtergram/New%20Filtergram%202.pdf)

I haven't got time for a game of table tennis with posts on the forum, use you search button on my self and save me writing all this again as I've lost count on how many newbie’s come along as text book warriors trying to convince me to change my beliefs about what I do. The evidence I have is overwhelming.

It is you that needs to expand your beliefs as I have proved what I preach so many times over I have lost count. I believe a Mainlube Distributor has just been appointed in Singapore, as they get going you are welcome to supply them with an oil sample (or mail one me one) and I will carry out a free Filtergram for you to compare with ppm. This will show the lack of info with ppm when it comes to wear metal analysis, you only get numbers.

You are entitled to your opinion the same as I however, I'm not sure of the ethics of using / combining another forum to try and add weight to you point of view.

My job is to reduce wear in machinery, this Mainlube does better than any other company I have found in the world, so far.

You can take or leave my advice, this is your choice.

[trex101]

trex101 you are quoting ppm oil testing, while ppm is an extremely good tool for oil condition, it is not a good indicator of wear.

ppm only can registers particles under 7 microns, when wear metal particles are produced they start much larger than this and get milled down by being forced through load bearing surfaces by the oil flow, penetrating the oil film and damaging the machine.

A superior wear metal monitoring system that is truly Proactive Predictive is Filtergram see here (http://files.mainlube.com/files/Filtergram/New%20Filtergram%202.pdf)

I haven't got time for a game of table tennis with posts on the forum, use you search button on my self and save me writing all this again as I've lost count on how many newbie’s come along as text book warriors trying to convince me to change my beliefs about what I do. The evidence I have is overwhelming.

It is you that needs to expand your beliefs as I have proved what I preach so many times over I have lost count. I believe a Mainlube Distributor has just been appointed in Singapore, as they get going you are welcome to supply them with an oil sample (or mail one me one) and I will carry out a free Filtergram for you to compare with ppm. This will show the lack of info with ppm when it comes to wear metal analysis, you only get numbers.

You are entitled to your opinion the same as I however, I'm not sure of the ethics of using / combining another forum to try and add weight to you point of view.

My job is to reduce wear in machinery, this Mainlube does better than any other company I have found in the world, so far.

You can take or leave my advice, this is your choice.

Pls don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to convince you or anyone in this forum about which brand is better then the other. Why the hostility, I’m not trying to promote other oil brand to compete with MAINLUBE. I know MAINLUBE is the "best oil".

Since there's no room for discussion about oil technical and you are convinced that 60wt oil is the holy grail for all LS1 engine, be it heavily modify or not, winter or summer, then be it.

Oh, fyi the limit for spectrometric oil analysis are 10 microns not 7 microns. Your "filtergram" are basically analytical ferrography, both spectrometric and ferrography work hand in hand, each has it's strengh and limitation. I know as we maintain SOAP program on our fleet of aircraft, ferrography will only be used when the trend spike (investigation).
We would normally change the 6 million dollar jet turbine when spectrometric fail, for flight safety reason.

[Tez82]

I have just added in 5L of Castrol Edge 10w - 60w and dammm the engine sounds like it has marbles in it now hehehe.. grrrrr might put a few k's on first and see how it goes, lifter noise for sure though so meh.

I need to add a bit more oil in though, but the don't come in 1L bottles... Will adding a bit more oil in ie 600ml or so reduce noise? and if so you can only get Castrol Edge in 0w-40w or 5w-30w in 1L containers...

I was hoping that if I do a few k's on the car she might quiten down a bit? any have experiances like this, car has always used holdens oil which was magnetic etc...

Cheers

Tez

[MNR-0]

Ive been running MOTUL 20w50 mineral for 9 months now. Not a bad oil at all. I need to change it every 5000kms though as it does its job so well by the time it comes out its all black and smells of petrol - just what oils are supposed to do - the engine sponge.

I just changed to Castrol Edge 20W50. Reason is its more accessible, and I do a lot of peak hour driving, and I need good oil pressure at low RPMs so I want something that glasses up less. Im looking forward to seeing how that comes out in a few months. From what I hear it seems to be good stuff.

The engine is quiet for a H/C car, probably more so than when it was stock. No complaints here about the stuff...

Im a believer in thick oils, especially for modified engines. This Edge 20W50 is made for pushrod V8s. I don't drive a WRXSTi turbo, so I dont bother with the lightwweight olis...

[Speedy Gonzales]

If you have cracked your motor open and done any cam or bottom end work, there is no way I would advise using a 40 grade oil, definately a 50 grade minimum.

[Victor]

Just wondering which viscosity you guys use? I have been using the Castrol Magnetic and yeah doesn't seem to be as good. I have heard from some that they use 10-60 and 25-50. Not sure which one is the go on a stock LS1, although there is like double price difference between the 10-60w ($70) compared with 25-50w ($33)....

Tez

My WK 5.7L Statesman Manual recommends 20-50 if 10-30 isn't readily available.

[The Glassy]

Hi all

For years in my Ls1 I used Castrol at a low weight of 5w.

Ok for Perth conditions but in summer recommend a 10w.

Just from personal experience.:yup:

I think most Holden Dealers use XT10w30 or maybe its changed?

Cheers

[VT-099]

Would anyone here in the know advise changing to a thicker oil in the summer?

I've been using a 5w30 full synth over the colder months and was thinking about switching to a 15w50 full synth for the summer. yes/no?

[trex101]

Go for 5w40 year round oil. Redline, Royal purple or Mobil delvac 1 would be good.

[Maz]

Gotta remember guys...

If you compare a 10w60 oil and say a 20w40 oil. The 10w60 is in fact THICKER at a 20 degree start up. So very misleading to your average person as you'd think the 20w40 would be thicker at start up but that is not the case.

Also the final number has a big influence on the cold viscosity as well.

For example with 10w30 and 10w60 the first oil is MUCH thiner on startup when in fact they both have 10 rating. From this you'd also expect that 60 weight oil to be much thicker when warm when in fact its only just noticably thicker. So really the second number number is just as important when it comes to the cold viscosity of the oil.

A good description to your average person would be that the second number is the "average" viscosity of the oil across all temperates

10w60 oil i would only ever use in warm climates on an LS1 that uses a bit of oil. Alot of ls1's are pretty loose and have over 100,000km on them so really the 10w60 wont be that bad. For a tight(new) LS1 in winter 10w60 is definitely too thick, lots of wear on startup.

[Tez82]

I ended up dropping the Edge and put back in normal mineral oil and sounds good again :D hehehe Not sure hey, been told by a few sponsers here that Synthetics arn't good for the LS1's... Just means have to change every 5000k's now :( Oil pressure was up higher with the edge stuff in, however car did seem to rattle a lot more grrr noisey lifters... Still a bit of a rattle when warm startup however not too bad compared with the Edge stuff.. Car doesn't use any oil maybe 300mls in 5,000ks :)

Holden use 10w-30w to get by emmisions etc when cars come off the factory line..

Tez

[boyley]

It would be good to see 10 engines side by side with all your recommendations in them. Then I'd like to see the sump plugs unscrewed and see which engine seizes last. I would then know which oil to use.

Signed totally confused.

I'll stick with the engine manufactures recommended oil for now changing every 5000km.

[tigrrss]

[QUOTE=450 kW Adventra;726475]trex101 you are quoting ppm oil testing, while ppm is an extremely good tool for oil condition, it is not a good indicator of wear.

Well can some one advise me on what oil to use. My car is a vortech blown LS1. I'm sure the tuner put in edge 10-60. My tuner is away on hols so I cant contact him. My car doesn't seem to use oil and is only a tad noisey on start up.
Can some one tell me where to buy mainlube in Melb and how much per 5 lt is it and can you buy it in 1lts as well.
Confused:fewl:

[boyley]

Brock Performance Footscray is a registered reseller

[Darkrayne]

Funny.. Holden was using magnatec in mine until i asked for something else they recommend that I'd be happy with.. they recommended Penrite HPR10.. have been using it for over 6 months now and haven't had any probs!..

i think it's a 10/60?

[boyley]

Its 10w50 mate just looked it up, thats interesting Holden are recommended other oils.

Might try it next change. Any comments on its performance compared to the regular oil

[Darkrayne]

Its 10w50 mate just looked it up, thats interesting Holden are recommended other oils.

Might try it next change. Any comments on its performance compared to the regular oil


To sum it up.. have always used Penrite in my holdens.. and haven't had any probs relating to oil ever.. so I'll stick with them! :)

id swear the engine feels a little free er revving.. and not one bit of smoke ever comes out the zorst under hard acceleration.. not to mention she doesnt burn oil at all.. oil levels always seem to stay near on full..

[MNR-0]

Edge 25w50 is not synthetic - it is mineral.

A LOT of engine builders recommend mineral because they soak up a hella lot of the crap. If your tolerances aren't that tight - and a high revving LS1 isnt a terribly tight engine - then thicker weight is fine.

Using a 25w50 weight I get 60PSI on cold startup and about 39psi at operating temps. If you are running stock non-adjustable rockers sometimes its the preload that makes the noise - not the oil.

People need to accept these LS1s use oil and plenty of it compared to tight tolerance turbo WRXs and the like. Also, doing silly things like swapping in cooler thermostats can dramatically change the lubricative qualities of an oil, to the extent that it doesnt clean and lubricate and comes out as sludge.

The state of a tune has a marked effect on oil effectiveness. If its running too rich it will blacken up with all the unburnt carbon deposits, the spark plugs will not self clean and cylinders will look will charcoal deposits. That alone can lead to increased engine wear and cylinder washdown.

The best thing you can do for your engine and oil is to keep it in tune, and let the engine warm up to normal operating temps. before doing the 100m burnout out the front.

[Francis knight0]

Hi all.

Just a quick question.

First up has anyone here ran their late model 6L motors consistently on the heaver Castrol Edge 25w 50 oil?

Reason I'm asking (before you all say thats way to thick and SG rated) It's actually got SM level detergency just SG for its high zinc rating. Anyway, I heard a guy talking about how he has used it in his engine, almost from new!

So Im firstly keen to hear from anyone doing, done this and or anyone with thoughts on what could happen????

[Wonky]

First up has anyone here ran their late model 6L motors consistently on the heaver Castrol Edge 25w 50 oil?

Plenty of us here use 10w60 after reading Steve from Mainlube Oils posts on 10w60 dramatically decreasing wear.

[jimco]

Oil's ain't oils,ain't oil's! every one will have their preference,mine is 20w 50 Royal Purple. Ran the same brand in 10w 40 but for me lower oil pressure and noisey motor were the issues with that weight also wanted extra protection for blown & cammed.

[seedyrom]

The heat from my turbo really thins my oil quickly, so it has to be 10w/60 or my l pressure will often drop below 10 psi on a hard launch after the engine is hot.

I think I also need baffles in my sump, but can not be ****ed to pull the sump off again with the engine in the car

[Phillshz]

You`ll find that manufacturers are going to lighter/thinner oils for a few key reasons. Tighter tolerances,lower mechanical pumping losses (internal engine drag) and fuel economy. Lower emissions are a by product of better fuel economy,which is a by product of less drag .... less fuel used = lower total emissions. It ends a up a win/win for them to use lighter oil.
HSV spec a 10w-30 for LS1`s ( and these are cars that will in theory,get flogged harder than SS`s ) The engines will only make their advertised power/fuel consumption figures with a sump full of slippery light weight oil (mobil 1 in HSV`s case) and premium fuel.
You will see higher oil pressure with thicker oil but you will have less actual flow. It`s like using a straw in a thickshake vs in a cup of coke.

Cheers Phill

[lidar]

AND THE WINNER IS?????? I am sorry lads, but I am now even more confused as to which to use. I have an Ex Highway Patrol VY SS with (now) 125,000 kms on it. Was a country highway car and i imagine had good long kms each day. Also the usual hard flog during the day. Since I have had it (80,000kms) it has used no oil at all. I have tried different oils and notice some make the lifters noisy. I have been using Nulon 15W-40 for the past 3 oil changes (5,000) which has so far proven to be ok. Slight lifter noise. Before I used Penrite 10W-50 which made the lifters rattle loudly. So I am in limbo as to what I SHOULD be using. I imagine all engines have a different DNA!! I thought the consensus was Castrol Edge on LS1. Great threads put up I must say. Great reading....... :)

[seedyrom]

Sorry mate. Its a shit.
And here I am unable to choose between an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy s2 ... That's just a flip of the coin type decision.

You're ****ed in trying to decide on an oil from this site :)

[Vulture]

Maybe the difference is so insignificant that it really doesn't matter?

[seedyrom]

true. I sometimes wonder exactly how much "noise" these noisy engines are actually making. Its a clunky old holden. Not a roller :)

[etrocket]

What's peoples thought on penritec15-60. Only 35 bucks

[jimco]

The heat from my turbo really thins my oil quickly, so it has to be 10w/60 or my l pressure will often drop below 10 psi on a hard launch after the engine is hot.

I think I also need baffles in my sump, but can not be ****ed to pull the sump off again with the engine in the car

Hi.
I run 6ltr's of oil in my LS1 as their windage tray is quite high and it will not bother the crank, some circuit racers run 6.5 ltr's in their LS1's.You just modify the dip stick accordingly.

Regards.

[seedyrom]

Cool, thanks for that. Will top up extra. I do run 6 Litres, but might put another .5L in.

Obviously dont want to put too much in :)

[VZ_V8]

IMO you try Castrol Edge 10w60 and unless the engine starts making noises it didn't before you stick with the Edge. Steve from Mainlube has done filtergrams to see the amount of wear metal in the oils after use and has said on numerous occasions that besides Mainlube's own oil which shows the least wear, the Castrol Edge comes in next best as far a wear metal is concerned. At the end of the day the oil is there to provide protection against wear on the metallic components and if someone who develops oil for a living and has done actual testing (rather than getting a "professional" opinion from their 2nd cousin's, uncle's, dad's, mechanic mate) says this is the one to use, I'm going to use it.

Just my 2c

[Wonky]

Exactly my thoughts Tim! :goodjob:

[Francis knight0]

Out of interest does anyone know the Zinc and Calcium in the edge range?

[lidar]

Sorry mate. Its a shit.
And here I am unable to choose between an iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy s2 ... That's just a flip of the coin type decision.

You're ****ed in trying to decide on an oil from this site :)

:)) Looks like it mate.. Mainlube for me then...

[VZ_V8]

Out of interest does anyone know the Zinc and Calcium in the edge range?

Sorry, I can't help with that question. I have looked at the TDS for Edge 10w60 in the past and IIRC there was no information about the constituents of the oil. Maybe try emailing Castrol.

But I have to ask why? By Zinc I assume you are referring the ZDDP? When I was researching oils for my dads racing mustang which has flat tappet running gear all the information pointed to using an oil with a high ZDDP content because from what I could tell this is what provided the greatest protection between metal on metal components like the cam lobes etc. However I also found out that ZDDP is bad for catalytic converters which in that case wasn't a problem as the car doesn't use them. I would have thought however that the companies producing the higher quality oils would be using the optimal level of these constituents? Are all these questions about oil just so you can choose one for your car? Why not just try one for however many Ks you like to leave the oil in for and then send a sample to Mainlube to get a filtergram done? If your not happy with the results look at something different.

[VZ_V8]

Mainlube for me then...

I hope you have deep pockets :lol: @$39.40/L +GST and only available in 5/10/20L containers your looking at minimum $433.40 because 5L isn't enough :shock:

(Mind you, if I could afford it, I would use it!!)

[Francis knight0]

Wow that's alot. I don't doubt it's good stuff and I know Steve knows he stuff.

Zinc has been steadily removed from engine oils as the ratings go up. Your right to much is bad but to little is worse. It's a grey area as to what the sweet spot is but I perfer oils with over 1100 which I know Penrite do regress of the rating.

Calcium amounts also seem to vary but I like to use it as a guide of the quality of the add pack.

Both these are figures Castrol seem to be tight liped about which means you would need to get a VOS done to find out. That's not an issue but it just adds $35 to the cost of the oil.

That's why if someone has one or a UOS then it would be great to share it and help others keen to find out more about the add pack.

[CalaisRider]

After a lot of test and try of lotsa brands and mixes I am now running Nulon 15/50 Synthetic in the engine to that I've added Nulon E20 . For the A6 I am now running Nulons A6 Dextro 6. Then in the diff I have 80 /140 synthetic - but because I have a Harrop Tru Trac LSD that whines a lot I run approx 50% mix with Nulon G70 to the diff mix - works fine!!!

I'm sure its not everyones cup of tea but works for me. Yeh its pretty much all Nulon.

Pete

[VX2VESS]

The man has spoken! I personally use Edge 25w50 in my baby, feels sweeter then the factory water they put in.

Cheers,
Grif

25/50 isn't that just mineral?

[munz]

Possibly a noob question:


Does anyone know if Castrol Edge Sport can be mixed with Castrol Edge Titanium?
I figure its just a name change but have a little bit left over from my last oil change and since then they have changed to titanium.

[ATOMIC MALOO R8]

my oil pressure gage reads 228 kpa hot IDLING on 10/60 edge and gets up to 548KPA at 6800rpm