What Oil goes into Your Retro?

[ChasR]

This is something that I found varies from person to person. My mate for instance said to put in 15W40 in the 'B with the 7k engine, whilst everyone else said 20W50. Some say it will kill it, others say nay. It seems to be fine on 15W40 holding good pressure despite what people said.

Sooo, what I am going to ask is what do you put in your Retro? Never touched it, what's recommended or a personal preference?

[Autofive]

I use 15 / 40 in both the V6 Cortina and V6 Zephyr - oil pressure on seems fine

i don't use a brand name oil - as i like to change it every 2000 miles

[BenzBoy]

Whatever's to hand! ;D Usually 15w40 in the Benz, although 10w40 is recommended in the handbook. The service history shows 20w50 being used in the past, when it was quite new. As the engine was designed in the 1960's I reckon it's pretty comfortable on anything really.
Regular changes are most important I think.

[Team Blitz]

The biggest thing going on right now in Retro motor oiling, is the oil itself.

The zinc additives (ZDDP) put in the oil for years to help with flat tappet sliding on camlobes has been removed to a sub-adequate level for long life. This was done by the EPA here, for example, because the zinc in the oil found its way into the catalytic converter matrix and shortened cat life.

The result has been a spate of camshaft lobe failures in non-roller motors.

The solution? Several designer oils, like Joe Gibbs Racing, and various others have filled the niche.

Better yet, what I'm doing for my customers is stocking ZDDPlus, which I sell for $8 bottle, an additive which restores oil content back to full ZDDP levels of content. The main use is for non-cat flat tappet (meaning non-roller) motors. The amount of protection is fantastic. I have hired my own lab tests to independently confirm the ZDDP content.

When we do a Pinto 2.0L rebuild for one of our customers, we're telling them they have to use this product or risk almost certain cam-wiping.

Norm

[Zapp Brannigan]

I use 20/50 in the Alpine and Austin 1100 (and have done in all my other watercooled ‘old’ cars). I am currently using the Halfords green stuff as it’s the easiest to get hold of but I’ve used Duckhams and Penrite in the past which seem to be good. In the Beetle (and the Citroen GS when I had it) I use Morris 30. I don’t think more modern oils will necessarily do any harm to old push-rod engines, but they are quite a lot thinner and designed to be used on engines with more ‘precision’ machining. I personally wouldn’t put modern stuff in one of my old cars!

[dollywobbler]

The 2CV was originally spec'd for 20/50, but it's a definite no-no during the winter as it's just too gloopy and badly affects starting. In the summer, 20/50 can be good but I tend to use 15/40 which is fine whatever the weather.

I've always used 'cheap' oil and when I pulled out the original engine, it had done 166,000 miles and it wasn't anything lubricated that was at fault! Change it every 3000-4000 miles.

[J.P]

Millers MVT 20w50 in the Mini.

The metro ran on Castrol 10w40 oil that was in a large barrel that was being thrown away because it was supected to have been contaminated. Free oil ftw. Ment i changed it before every trackday but in the long term could have done damage.

[wez]

I use sunflower oil (chip fat)... but as fuel lol

Mine just get whatever is suggested in the handbook to be honest, usually castrol brand, or halfords own make if I decide to do a service at 4pm on a sunday and theyve got no offers on anything else. None of my tat wagons are worth putting 'magic' oil in to be honest.

My MK1 XR2 has a rebuilt 1740cc crossflow in it, that gets the good stuff

[LowStandards]

Whatever mineral oil of the right viscosity...

She's ran fine for 32 years on the stuff, new oils probably so full of detergents and the like, its bound to feck something up!

Oh, and this 'classic' oil you get from Halfords and the like for god knows how many pennies, its just the same as say morrisons brand, £4 for 5 litres stuff...

[Deleted]

Veggie oil ;D

But for lubrication i use 15/40 for both sierra's and 10/40 for the x-flow!

[dollywobbler]

Oh yeah, I always use mineral oil in the classics. In fact, synthetic can be very damaging, especially if the engine has recently been rebuilt.

[Samage]

Halfords own-brand 15w40. Does the job well enough.

[hongkongphooey]

5/40 fully synth for the Celica,15/40 for the Supra,20/50 for the Hiace.

[jrevillug]

In the tired engine in the Imp at the moment, I'm using Asda Smart-Price £4/gallon '20/50'. It's curse word, but the engine uses so much oil that it isn't worth spending the money on.

When it gets it's rebuilt engine, that'll have either Duckhams Q 20/50 or Castrol classic oils XL20w/50 (which can be bought, including home delivery, for £90 for 5.5 gallons - not bad considering that I pay £19 for a gallon of the Duckahms).

James

[mudbitz]

Asda do a 5 litre cheap oil especially designed for older engines which aint hi spec or high performance
using it at moment
seems ok in my 1.2 clio
don't work for asda just stating cheap in these tough times

[Fennec]

Smartprice or Tesco value.

[bstardchild]

www.scoobyparts.com/acatalog/MILLERS_CFS_15w-60_OIL.html

[bodieanddoyle]

castrol TT. well it is a two stroke ;D probably switch to putoline mx5 when I run out. not helpful at all am I?
20/50 in the 2002. almost anything, it gets an oil change twice yearly. it wasn't designed to run on owt fancy, asda forecourt oil is probably better quality controlled than run of the mill stuff back in '74. I used the last of my CPL drum last time, at one point all three of my cars used 20/50 mineral so I got it in bulk. buying 25 litres a time was cheap

[bodieanddoyle]

oh, and due to someones advice I put 15/40 in my 3.1 capri once. sod all oil pressure, not even half way on the gauge at motorway speed

[sootyridesagain]

I use Valvoline VR1 Racing 20w50 mineral in my 12v Carlton. It's a pretty decent quality oil, and does make a difference. My last Monza came with 10w40 semi in it, it smoked heavily and pinked a lot too. After switching to 20w50, the smoking and pinking stopped instantly and it hardly used any oil at all after that!