Should I run synthetic or just plain old dinosaur oil?

["Turbo-T"]

New Turbo T owner here...and about to change my oil for the first time on this car.

I kind of always thought turbo cars were best to run with synthetic (fluid bearings), but before I go buying it I wanted to find out if it's safe to run regular dinosaur oil?

Also if it's ok to run dinosaur oil, what grade should I run? 5W-30? 10W-30?

I'm in North Carolina, right now it's been getting in the 40's at night and mid 60's in the day. Summertime it's usually a muggy 95 in the day and mid 70's at night.

Thanx in advance.

 

[1baad6]

oil

I always run mobil 1 synthetic 5w30 and 1 bottle of ac delco engine oil supplement,and mobil 1 oil filter,never had any problems and I use this in all my vehicles,I am a firm believer in good oil,but this is just my opinion but if you want your car to last and perform,then good oil is a must

 

["Turbo-T"]

Thank you. I was planning on running a good AC PF-52 filter.

Also I know there seems to be an issue with newer oils not having enough zinc because it plays havoc on the catalytic converters....and because todays engines pretty much use roller camshafts...

But what about the 231 cube V6? Is it a roller cam or a flat tappet? Is it necessary to run the EOS? Or could I get by with just oil only?

 

[jcawley3]

mobil 1 full syn 10/30 with larger oil filter here.....

 

[1baad6]

oil

If you run a hyd roller,you dont need eos,but a flat tappet cam you should run it, the reason being is that alot of oils today dont use zinc,the way I look at it you can never be to careful when it comes to your prize possession,so always try to run the best oil you can.

 

["Turbo-T"]

Thanx, and I was reading up on cams, mine is a Poston GN110T cam which I'm guessing is a flat tappet cam.

I've used the Shell Rotella 15W-40 that has the CJ in the circle. Supposedly it's one of the only few oils remaining that has zinc in it. Does anyone run it in their turboed engine?

 

[turbotype87]

engine oil or synthetic

I have always used castrol 5w-30 synthetic oil with a PF-52 Oil filter and never had a problem. Good luck with your turbo car.

 

[callmeebryan]

Shell Rotella-T 15W-40 all the way.... oil change every 1500miles!

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

ive always used amsoil turbo formulated 10w30 or 5 w30, I cant remember. but when our local place quit sellin it, I went to 5w30 mobile 1 synthetic. Ive always used the largest wix or mobile 1 oil filter I could find. I too change my oil at around 1500 miles or so. I will start usin zddp here for the next oil change.

 

[BlackBandit]

FWIW a 5w-30 oil and a 10w-30 oil both have the same viscosity when warm, the 5w-30 just flows better when cold. Same holds true between 15w-40 and 10w-40 and so on and so forth. Food for thought. james

 

["Turbo-T"]

And doesn't Synthetic tend to flow easier than 5W oil when cold and then still have good viscosity when warm?

 

[Turbo6Smackdown]

yes on both accounts. And theres only one sort of person, that calls that city fayettenam. Hows it goin man. You 82nd or SF.

 

["Turbo-T"]

yes on both accounts. And theres only one sort of person, that calls that city fayettenam. Hows it goin man. You 82nd or SF.

Neither, I'm actually a maintainer at Pope, been here the last 8 years, still waiting on my orders so I can leave this crap hole town and not look back.

 

[ttypewhite]

I run regular Vavoline 10W30. I change my oil very frequently (once a month), so Synthetic oil would be a huge waste of money if I had to spend for that every month.

 

[SloGN]

being thats it's all stock i would try and run no less than 10w40 dino oil or a 15w-40 or a 20w-50 synthetic the syn oils are a tad thinner than the same weight of dino oil. i'm currently using 10w40 on my new engine and when it gets broken in. I'm going to switch over to full synthetic AMS oil 20w50 racing oil.

 

[BlackBandit]

the syn oils are a tad thinner than the same weight of dino oil.

That's not true. If you look at the oil data sheets the synthetic and the mineral oils both are at about 10 cs at 212f. That means they're the same viscosity. Also, there is no difference in the viscosity of a 15-40 and a 10-40 at operating temperature unless the oil is beyond it's service life. As long as both are servicable the only difference is that the 15w-40 will not provide as much protection on startup. Below is a link to some oil data sheets. Pay attention to the cs rating at 100C. That's operating temp. The cs is basically how thick the oil is. Also look at the cold ratings. Another thing to consider is that oil does two things. It provides a "cushion" for the bearing to ride on. It's other often overlooked and VERY important function is to cool the bearing. It does this with flow. If you go to a heavier oil without changing any other variable in the system then pressure WILL go up and flow WILL go down. The trick is finding the happy medium. Just some stuff to think about when picking an oil.

 

[conn84gn]

Rotella 5W-40 synthetic

 

["Turbo-T"]

I always run mobil 1 synthetic 5w30 and 1 bottle of ac delco engine oil supplement,and mobil 1 oil filter,never had any problems and I use this in all my vehicles,I am a firm believer in good oil,but this is just my opinion but if you want your car to last and perform,then good oil is a must

If you run a hyd roller,you dont need eos,but a flat tappet cam you should run it, the reason being is that alot of oils today dont use zinc,the way I look at it you can never be to careful when it comes to your prize possession,so always try to run the best oil you can.

Thanks, I picked up a bottle of Mobil 1 5W-30 full synthetic, what did the owners manual specify?

Also the EOS stuff....I went to my Chevy dealership, they didn't have it (but could order it) and they said the bottle says "not for use as an engine additive"....they even showed the pic of the bottle where it said it at.....

 

[A2000RICH]

guys---i'd like to answer some of these questions in no particular order-------i've posted this on other threads but here's some food for thought-----a recent test on mobil one 5w-30 and 10w-30 this september showed that it had zero zddp-------this is critical to protect our flat tappet engines and GM EOS is no longer available-------as for the dealer that said that EOS was not intended as an additive they are not telling the whole truth--------EOS (stands for Engine Oil Supplement concentrate) in its original container had different instructions than what was on the latest version in the black plastic bottle with the same contents-------if you really want to read the previous instructions i will be glad to scan an older bottle and post it just let me know-------Gm changed their mind and decided they didnt' want folks to add it to oil of modern cars for catalytic convertor warrantry issues so they changed the label to say "assembly lubricant"------now they've taken in off the market to show what they think of our older cars-------more bad news-------valvoline 10w-30 also had ZERO ZDDP as well and i cannot state strongly enough how bad a choice that would be for a stock turbo regal----------black bandit is correct about viscosity----------30 weight is 30 weight no matter if it is synthetic or dino oil--------10w-30 means that at 0 degrees it will flow like 10 weight oil--syn or dino----if it flowed any different it would not be labelled 10w----------the 30 means that at 200 it flows like 30 weight no matter if it is syn or dino----------there are conditions where 10w-30 syn and dino part company and that is at temperature EXTREMES----------at -40 degrees the 10w-30 dino would probably be like tar and the syn might still flow----------same is true at higher temp extremes like 350 plus--------the dino would probably be like charcoal and the syn might be just a little thin----------the only real advantages of syn oil is just at the temperature extremes--------performance at normal temperatures is simply a matter of what additives are in the oil formulation--------as for our turbo regals the factory clearly states that 10w-30 is the viscosity of choice in most of the temperature ranges we are likely to encounter with 5w-30 acceptable in colder than normal conditions----------i would never run 15w-40 or 20w-50 in one of these cars if it had normal bearing clearances (approx 1-1.5) for the very reason black bandit stated----------viscosities like this are for diesel applications and specially prepared racing engines--------as for Rotella 15w-40 it is great for slow revving diesels with large bearing clearances and engines that have low power to bearing area ratios-----------20w oil is not going to offer good protection at startup for a turbo regal engine no matter if it is synthetic----------as for the zddp content of Rotella????there have been three label designs for Rotella 15w-40 since first quarter 07----------the only one that has a reasonable amount is the one that only has yellow in the "shell"-------the versions with CJ-4 are sorely lacking----------guys things are changing really fast in what used to be a very stable industry and if you don't keep up with whats happening to the oil industry you might find yourself wishing you had----------it took decades to get from SA to SD and we have gone from SJ to SM in just a few years........................RC

 

[BetMinesFaster]

+1

Thanx, and I was reading up on cams, mine is a Poston GN110T cam which I'm guessing is a flat tappet cam.

I've used the Shell Rotella 15W-40 that has the CJ in the circle. Supposedly it's one of the only few oils remaining that has zinc in it. Does anyone run it in their turboed engine?

I run Rotella 15W40 in mine also, comes out clean and engine sounds healthy...