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08-14-2013, 05:53 PM | #1 |
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Introduction to Engine Oil
If you have a spare hour or so and have the interest in learning more about engine oils I would highly suggest having a read through this very thorough introduction article.
http://www.focfl.com/tech/articles/oil.html Let me know what your thoughts are after you've read it.
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08-14-2013, 06:33 PM | #2 |
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It's a long ass read isn't it haha. Though the conclusion I got from reading the article was that it would be even better to use a lower weight oil rather than a higher weight, i.e. either 0W20 or 0W30. Of course it depends on the individual engine, engine age/condition, oil pressures and oil flow using a particular oil weight in the given conditions. Which brings me to a question. Are we able to monitor oil pressures on our N54s without having to get a specific gauge?
I'm currently using Castrol Edge 0W40 and was considering trying the TWS 10W60 but after reading that I might either stick to the 0W40 or possibly even go to 0W30.
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08-14-2013, 07:13 PM | #3 | ||
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Excellent article to start on your oil obsession :P.. clearly explains the differences between grades and what *W* means
it doesn't cover EVERYTHING (like what oil is good for use with what fuel, other specific things) after this, if you've got it all, move on to bobistheoilguy forums for even more in-depth discussions even longer than this article on the use of ethanol with oils for example haha Quote:
though if you're running major oil cooling and your temps are actually quite reasonable, a 30>40 might be the choice it's very application specific ED: by hot i mean >212F... big dual oil cooler setup's might get you to that 212 mark tops though. if you went to a 30, and had higher temps, it would thin out a LOT more than a 0W40 would potentially. Quote:
i don't see a reason not to get oil from amazon anyway, when it works out to more like $15/L shipped for the good stuff vs $30-$40... and even the cheaper stuff like mobil 1 is $7/quart + post (and yes, amazon has it in 0W30) Last edited by flinchy; 08-14-2013 at 07:19 PM.. |
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08-14-2013, 07:25 PM | #4 | |
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Great read. Seems an oil pressure gauge is necessary to really know what is appropriate.
Quote:
To which the correct answer is "true." Maybe I'm confused? Seems the entire point of the article is to state that the only thing thicker oils do is make start up wear worse, so stating that an engine runs hot and needs a thicker oil doesn't seem (to me) to jibe with what he has presented here. Again, I could be confused.
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08-14-2013, 07:45 PM | #5 | |
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but, being application specific, if the difference in temperature drop isn't great enough, you're then just running REALLY thin oil and not protecting your engine as well as it should be. I believe people have tried thinner oils on the N54 before, and it just stayed hot, which leads to higher wear on the thinned oil. the other thing is that because it's running at a higher temperature, it works as a thinner oil regardless..? and, because the N54 is direct injection, it runs hotter (oil and coolant) by design for efficiency. so... thinner vs thicker for the N54, would depend if flow is being restricted, so you'd have to get a pressure gauge to even see. .. either way, you want the solution that gives less wear, and i guess we can only find that out if people try it out back to back, just a couple thousand km... take logs of temps... and do UOA's on the different thicknesses.. various oil cooler setups too. there's also the fact you get a few more HP going to a thinner oil haha |
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08-14-2013, 07:51 PM | #6 |
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So we need him to do a similar dissertation on the N54 and N55 engine families. Somebody put that in his comments section
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08-15-2013, 05:54 AM | #7 | |
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Castrol 5W30 EDGE professional viscosity at 40 C = 71.8 cSt Castrol 0W40 EDGE A3/B4 viscosity at 40 C = 79 cSt Castrol 10W60 EDGE TWS viscosity at 40 C = 160 cSt Castrol 5W30 EDGE professional viscosity at 100 C = 12.1 cSt Castrol 0W40 EDGE A3/B4 viscosity at 100 C = 13.1 cSt Castrol 10W60 EDGE TWS viscosity at 100 C = 22.7 cSt It looks to me as though the difference between the 5W30 and 0W40 is very small at these temperatures. If you live in a cold environment the 5W30 is probably better, but I think it wouldn't make much difference for most of us in Australia. Last edited by John_01; 08-15-2013 at 06:01 AM.. |
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08-15-2013, 10:08 PM | #8 | |
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