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Oil Advice and Recommendations here!

515K views 2K replies 475 participants last post by  benntrevv 
#1 · (Edited)
Hopefully this thread will save some time and people asking the same questions every day. (Sticky Admins?)

I'm more than happy to give oil recommendations and advice here which will hopefully build up to a useful OIL FAQ in time.

Just a short introduction first. My name is Simon Barnard and I run an oil distribution business in the South West. (We are an MLR Trader)

We sell the following brands: Silkolene, Motul, Fuchs, Castrol, Mobil1 and Total (totalling over 300 different oils) and deliver overnight throughout UK Mainland.

My web is here: http://www.opieoils.co.uk/ where you will find technical data on most the oils we sell.

We are more than happy to help in giving advice as we subscibe to proprietory databases that give use oil data on all cars back as far as the mid 80's.

We can give you the most suitable grade for any part of your car and can recommend products from our ranges. We even keep data and chemical analysis on some oils that we don't sell!

You can always PM or Email me if you wish to discuss a matter off the forum.

So my recommendations are as follows:

According to my reference books, the following oils are the OEM recommendations for your stock Lancers used as road cars.

Lancer 1300, 1500 (84-89) 10w-40 semi/fully

Lancer 1500 (88-92) 10w-40 semi/fully

Lancer 1600, 1800 gti 16v (88 onwards) 10w-40 semi/fully

Lancer 1800 GLXi 4WD (89-92) 10w-40 semi/fully

Lancer EVO VI (99 onwards) 5w-40 fully

Lancer EVO VII (2001 onwards) 5w-40 fully

Lancer EVO VIII (2003 onwards) 5w-40 fully

If you have modded your car, affecting BHP and temps or are using it for competition/track days then other factors need to be taken into account and I will have to deal with these enquiries individually.

I will however need the Make, Model, Year, Engine Size, Modifications (stock BHP vs Modded BHP) and stlye of driving (road/track) etc and I can more accurately recommend the correct viscosity oil for you.

Please also bear in mind that modding your car or using it in "anger" means the need for a more shear stable oil that will "stay in grade" rather than shear down with use so I would always in these situations recommend the use of a proper ester/pao synthetic oil, not a petroleum oil as is commonly sold and labelled as a synthetic oil.

Please feel free to ask.

Hope this helps

Cheers
Simon
 
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#4 ·
Could you go as far as to recommend a specific brand and weight for me?

99 E6, Standard at the mo but will have a "mild" state of tune (ie no internals) and gets used for at most "fast road" driving and the odd track day.
 
#9 ·
Simon
Your advice would be much appreciated - Evo VI Gems/uprated pistons and rods/induction/decat/Evo 400 turbo - 375-400bhp & similar torque figures. Use - everything from driving to work to track days. Presently got Shell Helix Ultra fully synth 5-40.
Look forward to comments/tips.
Neil
 
#10 · (Edited)
The recommendation is for 5w-40 which will be fine if you use a proper synthetic, shear stable one which has the ability to cope with any extra heat. If you are running higher than normal temps then it would be adviseable to use a 10w-50 fully synthetic.

Consider the shear stable Silkolene PRO S 5w-40 or Motul 300V 5w-40 as first choice unless you are running higher temps in which case I would use Silkolene PRO S 10w-50.

Cheers
Simon
 
#11 ·
Perhaps I should explain the reasons for not recommending what would seem the logical choice 5w-50.

Basically I've not yet seen a good one due to the wide viscosity range for a 5w-50 multigrade. (Fuchs do a PAO based one which is probably the best I've seen)

To make a multigrade work with such a wide range, it requires bucket loads of VI Improvers which makes it more prone to shear
meaning that within a couple of thousand miles it will be a 5w-40 or 5w-30 giving less protection over time than a shear stable 5w-40 which requires far less VI Improvers to make it work.

Hope this makes sense as it's difficult to explain.

Basically the wider the viscosity range the more prone the oil is to thermal breakdown unless proper (ester/pao) basestocks are used which are thermally stable and needing less VI Improvers to prop them up.

VISCOSITY INDEX IMPROVERS

As a lubricant basestock is subjected to increasing temperatures it tends to lose its viscosity. In other words, it thins out. This leads to decreased engine protection and a higher likelihood of metal to metal contact. Therefore, if this viscosity loss can be minimized, the probability of unnecessary engine wear will be reduced.

This is where viscosity index (VI) improvers come in.

VI improvers are polymers that expand and contract with changes in temperature. At low temperatures they are very compact and affect the viscosity of a lubricant very little. But, at high temperatures these polymers "expand" into much larger long-chain polymers which significantly increase the viscosity of their host lubricant.

So, as the basestock loses viscosity with increases in temperature, VI improvers “fight back” against the viscosity drop by increasing their size. The higher the molecular weight of the polymers used, the better the power of "thickening" within the lubricant. Unfortunately, an increase in molecular weight also leads to an inherent instability of the polymers themselves. They become much more prone to shearing within an engine.

As these polymers are sheared back to lower molecular weight molecules, their effectiveness as a VI improver decreases. Unfortunately, because petroleum basestocks are so prone to viscosity loss at high temperatures, high molecular weight polymers must be used. Since these polymers are more prone to shearing than lower molecular weight polymers, petroleum oils tend to shear back very quickly.

In other words, they lose their ability to maintain their viscosity at high temperatures.

Synthetic basestocks, on the other hand, are much less prone to viscosity loss at high temperatures. Therefore, lower molecular weight polymers may be used as VI improvers.

These polymers are less prone to shearing, so they are effective for a much longer period of time than the VI improvers used in petroleum oils. In other words, synthetic oils do not quickly lose their ability to maintain viscosity at high temperatures as petroleum oils do.

In fact, some synthetic basestocks are so stable at high temperatures they need little or no VI improvers at all. Obviously, these basestocks will maintain their high temperature viscosities for a very long time since there are no VI improvers to break down.


Cheers
Simon
 
#1,876 ·
Can I ask about your thought for Motul Sport 5w-50.

Perhaps I should explain the reasons for not recommending what would seem the logical choice 5w-50.

Basically I've not yet seen a good one due to the wide viscosity range for a 5w-50 multigrade. (Fuchs do a PAO based one which is probably the best I've seen)

To make a multigrade work with such a wide range, it requires bucket loads of VI Improvers which makes it more prone to shear
meaning that within a couple of thousand miles it will be a 5w-40 or 5w-30 giving less protection over time than a shear stable 5w-40 which requires far less VI Improvers to make it work.

Hope this makes sense as it's difficult to explain.

Basically the wider the viscosity range the more prone the oil is to thermal breakdown unless proper (ester/pao) basestocks are used which are thermally stable and needing less VI Improvers to prop them up.

VISCOSITY INDEX IMPROVERS

As a lubricant basestock is subjected to increasing temperatures it tends to lose its viscosity. In other words, it thins out. This leads to decreased engine protection and a higher likelihood of metal to metal contact. Therefore, if this viscosity loss can be minimized, the probability of unnecessary engine wear will be reduced.

This is where viscosity index (VI) improvers come in.

VI improvers are polymers that expand and contract with changes in temperature. At low temperatures they are very compact and affect the viscosity of a lubricant very little. But, at high temperatures these polymers "expand" into much larger long-chain polymers which significantly increase the viscosity of their host lubricant.

So, as the basestock loses viscosity with increases in temperature, VI improvers "fight back" against the viscosity drop by increasing their size. The higher the molecular weight of the polymers used, the better the power of "thickening" within the lubricant. Unfortunately, an increase in molecular weight also leads to an inherent instability of the polymers themselves. They become much more prone to shearing within an engine.

As these polymers are sheared back to lower molecular weight molecules, their effectiveness as a VI improver decreases. Unfortunately, because petroleum basestocks are so prone to viscosity loss at high temperatures, high molecular weight polymers must be used. Since these polymers are more prone to shearing than lower molecular weight polymers, petroleum oils tend to shear back very quickly.

In other words, they lose their ability to maintain their viscosity at high temperatures.

Synthetic basestocks, on the other hand, are much less prone to viscosity loss at high temperatures. Therefore, lower molecular weight polymers may be used as VI improvers.

These polymers are less prone to shearing, so they are effective for a much longer period of time than the VI improvers used in petroleum oils. In other words, synthetic oils do not quickly lose their ability to maintain viscosity at high temperatures as petroleum oils do.

In fact, some synthetic basestocks are so stable at high temperatures they need little or no VI improvers at all. Obviously, these basestocks will maintain their high temperature viscosities for a very long time since there are no VI improvers to break down.

Cheers
Simon
 
#16 ·
1000 Service

Simon,

After having discovered that skipping the 1000 mile oil change is a bad idea (even though Mistubishi state it's no longer required).

Could you please confirm what should be going in for the the 1000 to 4500 mile period.

I suspect the car ships with mineral, and semi-synth is usually used for this period, however, other members have said that straight to fully synth is OK.

Finally why is mineral/semi-synth used for the running in period, I understand that engine rpm is restricted and they are cheaper, is this the only reason, or there other issues involved.
 
#17 ·
Simon,
Do you have any comments about this statement from the factory.

Due to the short change intervals the factory recomendation is mineral oil 10/30,15/40 or 20/40, ACEA classification A1/A2 or A3,API classification SG or higher and there is no requirement to use semi synthetic or synthetic oil in the lancer evoloution.

Tony
 
#18 ·
Re: 1000 Service

PaulB said:
Simon,

After having discovered that skipping the 1000 mile oil change is a bad idea (even though Mistubishi state it's no longer required).

Could you please confirm what should be going in for the the 1000 to 4500 mile period.

I suspect the car ships with mineral, and semi-synth is usually used for this period, however, other members have said that straight to fully synth is OK.

Finally why is mineral/semi-synth used for the running in period, I understand that engine rpm is restricted and they are cheaper, is this the only reason, or there other issues involved.
I would recommend after 1000 miles changing to a synthetic 5w-40 like Silkolene PRO S or Motul 300V.

Running in is more effective on a mineral oil or hydrocracked semi-synthetic (petroleum based oils) as they are better for bedding in all the new parts. There are also cost constraints to using fully synthetic oils.

Cheers
Simon
 
#19 ·
Mineral oils are used to bed the engine in, if you were to use a full synthetic straight off you risk cylinder varnishing etc.

You can use any thing from a mineral through to a full synthetic once the car is run in, however a full synthetic will always be better than a semi or a mineral.

Cheers

Simon.
 
#20 ·
Black Knight said:
Simon,
Do you have any comments about this statement from the factory.

Due to the short change intervals the factory recomendation is mineral oil 10/30,15/40 or 20/40, ACEA classification A1/A2 or A3,API classification SG or higher and there is no requirement to use semi synthetic or synthetic oil in the lancer evoloution.

Tony
Yes, I would say that the theory behind this is thermal breakdown which occurs more rapidly in mineral oils. If they are changed at short intervals then they don't have time to break down.

However, this doesn't change the fact that synthetics are superior lubricants in the long term with regards to wear and that synthetics are vital if the car is modded or being used for track days etc.

There may be "no requirement" but performance cars are better protected by higher quality oils.

Cheers
Simon
 
#21 ·
Hi Oilman

Im using Mobi 1 0-40 SLX (I think) for my 2003 VIII GSR, This is what my dealer puts in and uses .. Im assumin this is still ok?

Ive heard the 1000 mile service is to go and also that AYC oil does no longer need to be changed at the interim services ( only every 9k now )

:D
 
#22 ·
0w-40 is fine in the later cars but it's not recommended in the earlier models.

It's probably Mobil 1 0w-40 which is a decent PAO and therefore a proper synthetic.

Mitsu Dealers generally seem to recommend all sorts of oils and this will be due to the deals that they have with suppliers.

0w-40 or 5w-40 would be my recommendation. You'd still be better using an ester based oil but there's not much in it apart from the Dealers price which will be high.

Cheers
Simon
 
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