Engine Oil

[Billygoat]

I have a 1986 944 Turbo 220bhp with 106k. I want to change the engine oil. Can anyone give advise as to which oil is best suited to this car.

Thanks.

JB

 

[Diver944]

Because of the heat from the turbocharger you should have a fully synthetic oil which will resist breaking down in extreme temperatures. The ideal viscosity should be 10w40 for normal road use but if you run the car very hot on track then it may be wiser to go to a 15w50. Older engines may well spring leaks if you use a thin oil like 0w40

Call our forum expert 'Oilman' (Simon Barnard) at Opie oils 01209 215164 and he can advise you on specific brands and even some good prices for club members

 

[John Sims]

I use Mobil 1 15w/50 in Beaky when I can get it (which isn't often).

Several professional people I respect rate Castrol RS 10w/60. Oil man belittles this product as apparently it is too great an operating band which can only be achieved with using viscosity enhancers which are quickly broken down giving you 10w/50......but then 10w/50 works for me.[]

Do not use 0w/40. It is too light - even if it will stay in the engine. A friend of ours had big problems with her 924 after "investing" in the lighter weight Mobil 1.

 

[944Turbo]

I suse Silkolene Pro R (from Oilman) though I think he reccomends Pro S, Pro R is available as a big saving in 25l drums and I forget the viscosity but is ok for a 944T down to minus 10C, I also like the red colour []
Tony

 

[sawood12]

I'm also on Silkolene Pro but 5w40 and it's fine. No leaking, in fact i'm losing practically zero oil at the moment not even the handbook stated 1ltr per 1500 km. I like this stuff because it's an Ester oil which means it's polarised and clings to engine parts when cold giving you better protection immediately on startup (like Magnatec). Mobil 1 and most of the other more common fully synthetics are not Ester oils and therfore don't have these properties.

Brace yourself for a couple of potentially daft questions:-

1. Why go to a 50 viscosity oil for tracking? Surely the thicker viscosity is going to increase oil temps through friction within the oil itself?? And cause more drag on the engine iteslf?

2. Why would your oil get any hotter than normal if you are driving the car hard on track - shouldn't the engine and oil cooling systems be adequate enough to control the temps?

 

[Fen]

Basically the more fuel you're using the hotter the oil will get (assuming the engine is correctly tuned), because with more properly burned fuel there is more heat generated. A 50 grade oil retains viscosity at higher temperature better than a lower grade; you don't want it to turn to the thickness of water. 1l per 1,500km is the upper end of acceptable oil usage, not the normal. It's unusual for a Turbo not to use any, but that's not a bad thing.

 

[oilman]

Personally I do not recommend moving to a 50 unless oil temps warrant it and as a rule of thumb above 120degC warrants it. Below that a decent race 5w-40 like Silkolene Pro S is a better option.

Cheers
Simon

 

[944Turbo]

and I always post this from the handbook, []

 

[944Turbo]

But then I live in the warm south, so -10 is very unlikely
Tony

 

[ukporker]

I have recently changed from mobile 0-40 to Silkolene Pro S 10-50 and am very pleased with it. I was using about 1 litre every 1000 miles with several leaks but after a recent trip to Scotland (1200 miles) with the Silkolene in I have only used half a litre and the the leaks are not as bad as they were.
I suspect that if I got the leaks sorted I would not be using any!!

Richard
Norfolk
1987 951

 

[Frenchy]

Rob,
Mine runs Rich on 18 psi [] i use Magnatec and hAve no problems with it very rare top ups.

Still not got round to fitting my Tial DPW too busy sorting the new 220, would not mind some pics of yours in situ if you get some time ?

Frenchmeister []

 

[robwright]

Frenchy,

Will sort some out as soon as I get the opportunity.

Rob

 

[oilman]

If you are considering Magnatec as an upgrade, I'm guessing you are using something fairly basic and mineral based. As the car has been chipped, the oil temperature will have increased a bit and that will help to burn oil. Mineral and semi-synthetic (semi's are all 100% mineral oil based, just modified) oils burn off easier than synthetics as they are a mix of different sized molecules and the smaller ones evaporate and burn. In a synthetic, all the molecules are the same size, so the evaporation rate is a lot less. Have you got any idea what the oil temperatures are in your car?


I would probably use a 5w-40 synthetic and you will find those through the link below.


http://www.opieoils.co.uk/c-656-5w-40.aspx


Out of those, the best ones are the Silkolene Pro S, Motul 300V, Redline and Gulf Competition. The Motul 8100 X-Cess, Gulf Formula G, Fuchs Supersyn and Mobil Synt S are good, cheaper alternatives. The cheaper ones are mineral based synthetics that have been modified enough to be legally called synthetics. They should burn off at a slower rate than a mineral or semi-synthetic oil though.

 

[sawood12]

The features of Magnatec are nothing to do with oil consumption. Magnatec is an Ester oil which means the oil is effectively statically charged meaning that it never fully drains away from the surfaces it touches - at least the ferrous metal surfaces. This means they remain covered with a very thin film of oil and provides better protection in those first few seconds of the engine turning when you start the engine and improved protection for the first 10mins or so of each journey until your oil has come upto operating temp. This is not a marketting gimick - it is a real and very effective property of Ester oils. I wouldn't use anything else. Even my Focus gets a good Ester oil as my wife does so like her short 60 second journey's down to the shops!

Your increased oil consumption since you've increased boost is probably due to one of two thing - either the increase in pressure differential across your turbo oil seals drawing oil though when on boost or more oil being drawn through your air oil seperator (AOS).

In terms of compression, the only time my engine was compression tested at around the100k mile mark the results fell within the 'Just Run In' band. I never got the actual results so I can't advise on the actual numbers, my specialist did it as part of the cars first major service after I asked him to give her a damn good looking over to understand what i'd bought. I wish i'd asked him for the results now.

 

[robwright]

Hi Scott the turbo is a recon K60 that I acquired from Lynsey about two months ago so fairly confident it is OK. As for solutions are there any??? Or should I just accept it as an occupational hazard of increased boost?

 

[944Turbo]

Im not sure that magnatec is a proper ester oil, certainly there are better oils available,
Tony

 

[sawood12]

Whether or not you accept it is upto you - I wouldn't like to speculate as to what the source is in your case. I'm not sure how you'd go about checking the turbo but i'd not expect a newly reconditioned turbo to pass oil through the seals. I guess it depends on what the oil consumption is. If it is within the handbook guidelines then I guess no harm is being done, but if it is outside then burning excessive oil isn't a good thing. My car used very little oil in normal road driving - I often wouldn't need to top up the level between services - however on the few trackdays I did it did use more oil and I had to top the level up a few times through the day (maye a couple of litres), so I guess it depends on how much driving you do on boost!!

 

[oilman]

Magnatec... It does contain ester of some sort. However this is where castrol are being from a marketing point of view quite clever. In order for ester to be effective in oil ideally you need upto around 20% content, on top of that it works best blended with a pao synthetic base stock. Magnatec has a few % content so they can say its there for sure but does it really do anything..? Plus its blended with a mineral base stock so really not taking full advantage of what the addition of esters in an oil can do.

The genuine ester/pao blends cost a lot more and there is a good reason for that.

Cheers

Guy

 

[Copperman05]

I would also suggest you put in a good quality ester based fully synth oil, probably not magnatec but one of the ones oil man recommends, silkolene pro s for example, more expensive yes but still very cheap compared to how much you would spend on petrol over the same miles.

Edd

 

[robwright]

Scott it is just a niggling thing really when you see that puff of blue smoke out the back when burrying your foot hard. What makes it worse is when others make comment but they don't really uinderstand what is going on under my bonnet!!! Even for a modern car to be approaching the 300 BHP mark is no mean thing. Consumption is definately within the factory guidleines although I admit these are quite large lol. I am guessing I will just have to live with it [] Engine wise the car runs like a dream. I will be looking at the suspension when I eventually get the money together (or age forces me into a corner). Would still like to compression test it to ensure I am not passing too much by the rings. I have all the equipment just need to get my hands on figures for what is acceptable.