best oil

[gear_dawg]

I am currently in the process of thinking about changing oil weights (HD 40 to HD 60) due to the amount of miles on my power plant. The oil req. is 10w-30 at this point; however, I have noticed that this oil is too thin to use from now on. HD40 has the best qualities as I can see so far. First it coats the parts with a thick residue. Second, it stays in the piston rings longer that the thinner oils. Finally, it takes far more heat to break down that what I have used in the past.

What is the best oil weight I should use for my power plant?

Currently:
164K miles
3.8 Litre
4.5K Max RPM (Red Line)
No known odd noises, shakes, destablizations, chokes or other symtoms that might indicate a problem. Any suggestions? Ideas? Should I even go to HD60?

One more question, If you can possibly find out, What would happen IF I would put gear lube in a power plant? If you absolutley have to find out, try it on an old lawnmower. I cant seem to get mine fixed, other wise I would be able to tell you what happens.

Thanks,
Gear

[Monstrobolaxa]

One more question, If you can possibly find out, What would happen IF I would put gear lube in a power plant? If you absolutley have to find out, try it on an old lawnmower. I cant seem to get mine fixed, other wise I would be able to tell you what happens.

I'll answer his one tomorrow after my test...I have the answer in a book I have around here....conserning the oil weight...I can't help you on this one!

[gear_dawg]

Ok Monstrobolaxa, thanks man.

Gear

[Monstrobolaxa]

Well acording to what I have found the oil used in a gearbox is called a Hypoid lubricant (or extreme pressure lubricant) it's much more viscous then a engine oil....a usuall number for the viscousity of a F1 oil is anywhere between 0 and 5W.....for a gearbox oil it's anywhere between 70 and 140W!

So the biggest problem I can see of using a gearbox oil in an engine is the lower flow of oil due to the high viscocity of the oil....this low flow will also mean that the oil probably will spend more time in the engine which will increase it's tempreture alot more....though there is the advantage of spending slightly more time in the oil radiator.

This high temperature of the oil has some problems that come with the high temp....the oil could break up...or pass it's boiling point which might creat vapour lock in the colling pipes....! This might limit even further the oil cooling and "injection" onto the piston...which then would heat up and could cause a major engine failure!

Another disadvantage is due to the high viscocity it will retard the movement of all parts that are lubrified by the oil.....so there will probably be a slight loss of engine power....

So it seems that the biggest problem might be down to cooling....in the case of a road and race car.....but the loss of power in the race car is not good at all.

Hope this helps gear_dawg

[Guest]

What ever you do don’t put gearbox oil in your motor...

Gearbox lubes have different requirements to engine lubes, so they put different additives into them. For instance gearbox oil (normally) has Teflon in it. This Teflon will get deposited onto your bearings.

With out going into too much detail. The main problem with using a thicker oil is getting it to flow when its still cold. The rings and valves will be running dry for longer with thicker oil. Trust me we did a lot of work on failure analysis.

There are just so many people designing oils its actually difficult to comprehend it all.
Its like baking a cake, you cant just throw in random stuff. Sure you could put more icing on but there is a point where it becomes too much. For instance using aftermarket additives may improve certain (very specific) aspects of the oil performance but will most probably sacrifice others..

What I would recommend is synthetic oil. They can be expensive but I would pay the extra for the peace of mind... PS if you replace oil replace the filter. Open the filter and check for shiny iron particles on the filter paper. if there are a few here and there its ok. If it looks like quite of filings a lot its a sign of things to come....

[Monstrobolaxa]

hehe......I it seems that I was kind of right...I kind of took a shot in the dark....I just checked the viscocity of the oil and gerabox oil...and tried to imagine how it would work! It seems I have good imagination!!!...and it works in the right ways!

[gear_dawg]

Mornin' from Texas or Evnin' where ever you may be on God's green acre.

First off, I would like to say thanks for your help. The reason I asked is because I had a guy at work tell me that my oil was "Crystalizing" in my engine. So far HD40 has worked best. It is a Recycled oil that has been purged through a series of filters. When I open the bottle, it is very clear and it is almost yellow. In other words it looks cleaner and if there is a problem, I have a faster time to find out after I change my oil.

If you are interested in checking on the name of the oil it is:
GOLDEN STATE. Other than that they make HD30 from what I know. Further more it is only 1.29USD per quart. Not bad for the kind of oil your getting. One more thing, it has NO additives which is why I like this oil.

Ok guys, I'm out,
Gear

"I, the unwilling led by the incapable, have been doing so much with so little for so long, that now I can do the impossible with nothing in no time at all."

[Guest]

Dont bother with expensive synthetics, just use some Prolong and you get better parameters all round.

[sharkie17]

synthetic oil does make a difference...


and the best synthetic oil in the world is:

Amsoil.