What kind of oil should I put in my TGP? It has 170,000 miles on it. It's about 300 miles past due for an oil change.
Anyone????
I have used Castrol GTX for a while in all of my vehicles and I think that's it a decent oil. I would say just to use a quality name brand oil and a good oil filter. Stick with the AC delco filters and do not use fram!! Also, I've used an oil additive for awhile now and it called Lucas Oil stabilizer and I would recommend it for higher mileage engines.
I have a light knock in my motor. Last oil change I used Castrol GTX for high mileage engines and the lucas oil stabilizer. Made the knock worse.
personally i would go ahead and switch to Mobil 1 full synthetic and stick with AC Delco filters. i use conventional Valvoline 5w30 in my car but i don't have a turbo either. i think switching to Mobil 1 will do more good than bad considering the oil gets so hot after going thru the turbo. i pulled the oil pan off of my 3.1 a couple months ago when i did the 5-speed swap and the pump pickup screen was perfectly clean. the pan had some paper thin chunks of stuff in it but nothing too bad. i used like two cans of brake cleen on it and got the pan pretty clean. btw, i know this is gonna sound REALLY bad, but.....i have like 6000 miles on the oil and filter right now. the oil is still clean and smells 'right'....i check it every day. i plan on changing it really soon but i've been working so many hours lately i don't have the time. and there is no way i'm paying $30 to have it done for me. oh well that's my take on it. :)
joshua
Thanks for the replies. i'm going to start with 2 qts. synthetic and 2 qts.regular until the next oil change and watch my oil press. gauge real close just incase. Next change I'll go to all synthetic.
Heres just something to watch out for when doing an oil change. I did an oil change on regular mobil oil in my wifes regal. When I poured in the first bottle it poured really quick, almost like water and it looked real light in color. I poured in a second quart, same thing. I poured in the 3rd and 4th quart of the same exact brand and grade of oil and they looked darker and poured considerably slower, much more like you would expect from 10w-30 oil. I suspect this thin oil must have come off the top of the batch at the plant and was very high in additives or just the lighter had risen to the top. I called mobil and they sent me a check in the mail.
I immediately drained and did another oil change b4 driving on that thin oil. Dont just pour and ignore. :shock: :?
I use Mobil 1 full synthetic and AC Delco filters. My oil comes out clean everytime it gets changed. I did use Royal Purple turbo formula once. Pretty good oil, but expensive stuff. I'll probably put in Royal Purple again next spring.
Would the Lucas Oil Stabilizer mix in with 2 qts. synthetic and 2 qts. regular oil?
As having been a former synthetic dealer, IMO, you're asking for problems w/ full synthetic in these older cars, unless you have recently done a full rebuild and have NEW gaskets that are not seeping. Synthetic has significantly smaller particulate size, and will seek out leaks plus it tends to clean out the pluged up pores of the gaskets of the oil sludge, therefore in a few thousand miles you'll be fighting leaks all over.
My opinion is that oil flow is key to these engines, especially the turbo, so a thin natural oil is good, allows lots of flow to cool things. The measure is oil pressure, maintain a minimum of 18-20 at idle, and it will increase at rpm, and you'll be fine. Oil pressure is not the objective, flow is, so as long as you have enough pressure with thin oil to indicate some backpressure to the pump, you have oil flow. I have herd a lot of discussion on this topic, and seems to align with the above. This is a ballance, though.
As for the stabilizer, it is a pure natural product, so therefore would be very susceptible to heat degradation, therefore promoting sludge, you're worst enemy. I personally try to stay away from all that gook, stay with a good grade oil, change frequently, the objective is to be clean when drained, otherwise you waited too long!
Please, don't misunderstand me, I am a proponent of synthetic, I use it in my IROC, but it is a very freshly built engine (less than 7500 miles on the clock) and still very tight. Synthetic is running about 50# pressure at idle (yes, the guage is accurate!!!!!), and it does'nt drip a drop. Amazing for a 15 year old, wish all were that good. I won't put it in my Corvette, though!!! I don't drive it often enough to keep the valve seals wet, so it would pour oil out them so I use a thicker natural oil in it to resist seapage until the seals get wet again. It smokes some on startup, most would say this is bad, but I know why and it does'nt foul plugs 'cause the seals seem to rehydrate fairly quickly, so I am living with it and enjoying driving it occaisionally.
My TGP gets a good grade of natual oil, 5W30.
I have followed this plan now for 30plus years, yes I am still a kid at heart! I have not had an oil related failure yet, and everything runs awsome.