Posidrive Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 Oil change due and was wondering if might be worthwhile putting in some thicker oil as recommended by an acquaintance who is a mechanic at a nearby performance tuning center? He recommended Fuchs titan 15w50 synthetic See has just passed 130k and is consuming a little over a liter between 9k oil changes and the oil pressure has dropped a bit recently to about 45 psi at 2000 rpm going up to about 65 psi at 3000 rpm doesn't sound to bad but used to be noticeably higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky-Ricky Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 (edited) Whats your current oil grade? if its the recommended 5w30, then I would only go up to a 5 or10W40 and not 50. Your oil pressure is within spec. Edited July 11, 2015 by Tricky-Ricky Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posidrive Posted July 11, 2015 Author Share Posted July 11, 2015 It's currently 10w40 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky-Ricky Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Thicker oil grade will often help with a worn smokey engine, and increase oil pressure slightly, however its not a fix, if the rings are worn it will still smoke, just not as much, I would run a compression and leak down test to see if thats actually your problem, but if your saying that the oil pressure has dropped considerably, its a pretty good sign of general engine wear. I would also cut oil changes to 6K rather than 9K, I would normally change oil at 6K regardless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posidrive Posted July 12, 2015 Author Share Posted July 12, 2015 Odd thing is that apart from a bit of whitish smoke getting rid of condensation during the first few minutes while she warms up there is no smoke at all when she is fully warm and oil pressure is at its lowest. No nasty rattles to indicate anything really nasty wrong but would not be surprised if she is getting a little worn with age Seems worse on the really hot days we have had recently but temperature guage doesn't give any indication that she is running any hotter. I suppose that my main concern is that it won't do any damage using the thicker oil. Opening up the engine is just viable due to funds at the moment Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky-Ricky Posted July 12, 2015 Share Posted July 12, 2015 Water temp will not give an accurate indication of oil temps, the hotter the oil the more the pressure will drop IF the bearings are starting to wear, Using thicker oil should not damage the engine, it will in effect add more drag, as I said your oil pressure is still within spec so its up to you, using 1lt over 9K is not bad, some engines will burn certain types of oil quicker than others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Bradders- Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 i went from 5 30 to 5 40.. boom, valve seal went lol. never using anything different ever again!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky-Ricky Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 The 5w30 oil that's specified is as much for economy as for anything else, going from 5w30 to 5w40 wont cause a problem, least of all a valve stem seal, unless it was seal involving oil pressure, but even so the increase in oil pressure wont be much. Switching to a thicker oil on a high mileage engine is an old trick to bump up the oil pressure slightly, mind you I wouldn't call 130K particularly high mileage, and the oil shouldn't really need going to 10w50 unless there is considerable wear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarmoZ Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 I found going thinner to be better, I just topped with Castrol Edge TSF 0w-30 oil. Noticeable performance improvement. In fact Audi have now changed there stance on oil, recommending 0w-30 for year round use to its customers. 0w-30 is all the rage in NASCAR now aswell. Had no problems at all since putting this oil in my 350z. Edge is an innovative oil, the Extra strength of the oil more than makes up for the thinner viscosity, at operating temp it will be same as 5w-30 or 10w-30 but at cold start up (UK most of the time) it will flow better giving less friction and better protection, and since 75% of engine wear is at start up, this is important. NOTE* EDGE is the only Castrol brand that is ACTUALLY fully synthetic, beware, although Magnatec and other mid-range oils say fully synth, they actually are not, its just that UK regulations means they can state this. The Magnatec in Germany for exmaple is not allowed to be labelled fully synth, Edge however is allowed to be labelled fully synth all across Europe, including Germany. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tricky-Ricky Posted August 4, 2015 Share Posted August 4, 2015 I found going thinner to be better, I just topped with Castrol Edge TSF 0w-30 oil. Noticeable performance improvement. In fact Audi have now changed there stance on oil, recommending 0w-30 for year round use to its customers. 0w-30 is all the rage in NASCAR now aswell. Had no problems at all since putting this oil in my 350z. Edge is an innovative oil, the Extra strength of the oil more than makes up for the thinner viscosity, at operating temp it will be same as 5w-30 or 10w-30 but at cold start up (UK most of the time) it will flow better giving less friction and better protection, and since 75% of engine wear is at start up, this is important. NOTE* EDGE is the only Castrol brand that is ACTUALLY fully synthetic, beware, although Magnatec and other mid-range oils say fully synth, they actually are not, its just that UK regulations means they can state this. The Magnatec in Germany for exmaple is not allowed to be labelled fully synth, Edge however is allowed to be labelled fully synth all across Europe, including Germany. Do you have shares in Castrol? LOL! There is actually no difference at all in the oil viscosity's you have mentioned when it comes to running temp the 0 in front of the w30 simply refers to the cold viscosity, and once normal running temp is reached has no bearing whatsoever on hot viscosity, Cold viscosity does help with oil circulation, however the difference between 0W and 5W is negligible, and unless we had winter temps of below -30f there is no benefit in using 0W over 5W, even 10W will offer the same protection down to -15f, sounds a bit like you have been doing too much reading of the oil company blurb fella. Oh and semi synth is just fine for performance road use, if you do serious track work I would say use fully synth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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