VS II V8 home service

[VSPantha]

Hi All,
I'm doing my first home service on the weekend and have a couple of questions that hopefully someone will answer. I've done a search and to tell the truth found only confilicting information of 'this is better than that' etc so really just want some straight answers if possible.
I was planning on going with Ryco air/oil/fuel filters, but unsure as to which oil and spark plug/leads I should go with.
From the posts I read a lot of people seem to like the Penrite oil... my car has just gone over 170000K's, doesn't use any oil or water and the engine is totally stock.
What would be better choice of oil for my engine... HPR15 or HPR30?
As for leads... is there any benefit in going bigger than standard ignition leads (ie 9mm or 10mm TopGun?) or just stick with the standard holden or bosch ones?
How often should the spark plugs get changed?
Thx in advance

[greenfoam]

Go to Holden and get the Bosch dizzy cap and rotor. Go somewhere else and get the black "Bosch sport" leads, the ones with yellow writing (they are the best lead and fit perfectly into the bosch cap and bosch plugs unlike the other brands, all the faster stock 5 litre guys here threw their top gun leads inthe bin years ago, me included).

You can get whatever oil you feel like, so long as it's a good one in the 15-45/50 ish range, most people will tell you to run a mineral oil but I think semi synth is fine

[stocky]

my top gun leads suck. never fit properly onto the plug without having to crimp it myself somehow. ill be getting bosch next time i do the leads.

penrite hpr 15 or hpr 30 is a good choice for oil. i use the 15 now

[undar8ed1]

I use(d) multigrade 20w-50w halvoline oil avalible from caltex in my VR V8 (the owners manual states 20w-50w by the way)
Change your sparkys every 24 months or 40k, just get genuine GM ones as they are nippon and made in japan these have a default 1.5mm gap you need a 0.9mm to 1.0mm gap (buy a feeler gauge from a hardware store) and adjust them.
other times for changes

oil and filter every 6months
fuel filter every 24 months
air filter every 6 months
water flush every 12 months (though get nulon on your next one and it lasts about 4 years)

[VSPantha]

Thanks for your input guys.
I'll go suss out the oil situation today and see what's on offer. The plugs were done 10000K's ago, and the radiator/water pump/ hoses etc about 3 or 4 months ago (had 3 leaks in the radiator, then the water pump bearing went 3 weeks after I put the new radiator in) so the coolant is fine this time round.

Greenfoam... good advice about the dizzy & rotor... I've never replaced these... is it just a matter of remove the old and drop in the new or do you need to adjust after installing? I'll try to source the Bosch leads before xmas (would Repco or Supercheap usually stock these?)

On occassion my lifters seem to have a bit of a tap dance... is it worth using some of that lifter additive when I change the oil or is that stuff more or a gimick?

Cheers fellas

[VrWagz1]

I'll agree with the 20/50 mineral oil, but being in townsville where its hot you may want to check what locals are running. But here in NSW 20/50 is a good grade. If the plugs are 10k old then they definatly need doing if they not platinum plugs. Rotor capis a bit dificult as its in a prick of a position but is very doable, just allow yourself a bit of time to do it, same goes if you have ABS as its probably in the way of the driverside spark plugs. This will take you a good hour or 2 to do. Good news is the oil is a peice of cake. If you run the front end up on ramps ou'll find the sump plug easy to get to and the filter is in an easy spot to get to. The filter you will probably find a good grip(rubber coated gloves if you got them) will undo it.

[VSPantha]

Hey Wagz.
I was thinking of getting the Penrite HPR15 oil... anyone up here in the stinking hot far north think something different would be beneficial?
undar8ed1 suggested changing plugs every 40000km? So should I do 'em in this service (they're just the standard NGK's)? I was going to get one of these spark plug wrench's from supercheap auto...
TFT Flexible Spark Plug Wrench - 16mm, TF2187 - Supercheap Auto... the plugs are 16mm aren't they? Would one of these make the job easier or should I just get a socket bit the right size? (I wanna make this as painless as possible). And yes the car has ABS.
I went to Holden and got the dizzy cap and rotor today, will go shopping on Thursday for the filters, oil and leads etc... probably best to do the plugs to get the best out of the other new ignition parts going in.
With the dizzy cap & rotor replacement... is there any chance I could screw something up changing these myself? It's just that I'm 25k's out of town, and it's kinda difficult (and expensive) to have to get a mechanic out this way if something goes horribly wrong!

[greenfoam]

With the dizzy cap and rotor. If your leads don't have numbers on them number them first and draw on a paper how they were. Also when you put the new rotor on be sure to push it right down and locate it properly (it can take a firm push) Then stick your new cap on and replace the leads how they were. The only thing that can really go wrong is if you get the leads one position wrong all the way around and then it wont start but that's easy to fix.

If in doubt Follow this picture



Oh yeah also let the engine cool down first and put something comfy on the engine as you will be laying on the manifold to do this. And undo the engine covers, there's a wingnut under the one near the throttle body and 2 allen bolts holding each of the top two that cover the heater hoses. If you mark on the old cap with a white texta where lead number 1 was plugged into first, then mark the new cap in the same spot with number 1 before you put it on then in that case you can't get it wrong

[VSPantha]

Sounds easy enuff
No doubt I'll be yelling for help on here if I get stuck!
Thx Greenfoam

[VSPantha]

Hi Guys,
Got everything today needed for the service. Just wanted to know what should the gap be for the spark plugs? Max Ellery manual says 1.0mm... holden workshop manual says 0.8mm-0.9mm?? I ended up getting Nippon plugs from Holden if that makes any diffference. The guy at Holden said that the gap shouldn't need adjusting?
Cheers guys and merry xmas all

[greenfoam]

Anywhere from .9 to 1.1 . If they are pre gapped at 1.0 then leave them there. If they are not pre gapped then set them to 1

[VSPantha]

Thanks Greenfoam

[VSPantha]

Just put in the new dizzy cap, rotor and leads... what a fun job that was! It was a lot harder to remove than it was to put back in. But good news is that it fired up first go
The tip of the rotor was a little bit warn and grungy, but the dizzy cap inner contacts have some serious marks on them so hopefully it will make a difference... it's got a bit of a smoother idle too!
I found the easiest way to get them out was to remove the conduit from the leads and weave them out back to the dizzy one by one, that way I had all the leads on the cap so i could follow the pattern for the new set, then put the cap on and thread the leads back where they have to go one by one, then put the conduit back on, a couple cable ties and clip it back into place. The whole thing took just over an hour which I think was good for my first go

Greenfoam, I got the Bosch leads you suggested, but they don't have the wide top end of the boot to secure the heatshields... is this going to cause any problems?

[levymetal]

to add my own question (), how often should you change dizzy cap and rotor button? i had my plugs/leads/cap/button replaced by a mechanic 12 months ago (10-15,000kms ago) before i knew anything about motors, but although my car seems to be working fine at the moment i was thinking about replacing the whole lot. the leads themselves look very shit and didn't really fit well at all. i don't know about the quality of the dizzy cap either because that's something i can't tell . also, what should the spark plug gap be set to for gas?

edit: 1000

[VSPantha]

I read in my workshop manual earlier that the dizzy cap/rotor should be done ~ 100,000k's
Anyone please correct me if they know.

[Brett_jjj]

I'd halve that at least.Even 50,000 seems to long.

[VS_Pete_1]

I used to work with a guy who would change everything leads, plugs ect every 12 mths.
Bit over the top but his car was always running at it`s best.

[VSPantha]

I've got a bit of a problem... Did the dizzy/rotor and leads yesterday, changed the oil, oil and air filters today. Went for a drive out to my sisters place this afternoon (about 15k's from my place), went like a dream... smooth acceleration etc... then when I went to come home I got about 200 metres from my sisters house and the engine started missing... so I turned around went back got a light and checked the leads etc... no5 seemed to have pulled back a bit and one of the leads on the dizzy seemed to click in a little more when I pressed on it (I'm thinking air in the rubber boot maybe?). It was already dark and the engine was hot so will have to check it properly in the morning when I have some light and the engine is cold.
I got the Bosch sports leads that greenfoam recommended... would the terminals need to be crimped a bit more to seat on the plug properly? Weird thing is that they don't seem to be loose on the plugs, but number 5 lead definately moved down about 5mm when I pushed it this evening.
When I put the rotor in, I lined it up and felt the little guide inside it go into the groove in the rotor, and it dropped on nice and tight so I don't think it's that. The car idles nicely, and drove fine this afternoon until the motor got warmed up.
I'm hoping it's as simple as tightening the connector... do I just use a pair of long nose pliers inside the boot to tighten them? ... anything else I should be looking for?
Thanks guys

[VSPantha]

Seems to be running well now. Pulled the dizzy out and checked firing order... that was all good. Made sure there was no air bubbles in the dizzy plugs, put in a new set of plugs and crimped the leads. Just took it for a short drive and so far so good

[VS_Pete_1]

Good to hear.
Now drive the F****er
What oil did you use

[calais24/7]

Does it run any better mate, i use ryco filters for the past 3 oil changes and havnt had a problem. However im regretting the oil i put in as i think its to light for my old girl i used a 10w40 should have been atleast 15w40 if not a 20w50. Anyways Is the car smoother and should reduce your consumption slightly. But well done and i guarantee you saved your self a heap of $$ by doing it yourself

[VSPantha]

I ended up using Castrol GTX2 (20w50)... was going to use Penrite HPR15 but then thought that it may just be a little thin for the hot climate up here.
As for running... now that the miss has been fixed *touch wood* it's a lot nicer than it was.
The oil was a bit overdue to be changed and was pretty black so I'll be doing it every 5000k's now instead of every 10000.
With the new ignition bits it feels like a couple more ponies have been let out
Economy wise I haven't taken it for a long enough drive to measure before/after... but I usually do about 400k's a week (250 highway minimum to/from work) so hoping it will be good. I have to say it was chewing fuel randomly... some days would be great of fuel, other days would drink it like it's going out of fashion. Same with power...
Filter wise... it had repco filters in it before but I think the Ryco air filter was a better build quality, and supposedly the oil filters have some anti drain back thing so will see how it goes.
The old plugs were NGK... seemed like the gap was random on all of them... I kept so will check them later. Replaced with AC Delco from holden... will see if that changes things
I gotta say... the drivers side plugs were a pain in the butt to change... especially cyl2 & 8 (thanks to the ABS) but otherwise the overall service job was pretty damn easy

[Haydz]

glad to see someone giving it a go themselves.


i myslef havent been game to venture into the dizzy cap and rotor button. seems like a pain in the ass to me. ( huge hands) so ill probably just buy the bits and pay someone to do it for me.

[VSPantha]

Oh I may have spoken too soon! Went down to the shops about an hour ago... got to the highway (about 200m from my place) and the idle started getting rough... turned around, went for a quick lap up my street, everything seemed fine... went back to the highway started to accelerate... had a few misses... hmmmm.
Went to the shops, got in the car to come home, didn't seem to do it again but the idle was a little rough... think it may be a dodgy lead
Got home, turned off the car... started it up again... idle is fine... went for another quick lap... jolt jolt jolt... pulled up... idle fine
I'm guessing I have to swap out the new leads for the old leads and see if it still does it... if not I'll phone supercheap and see if they have another set in stock.
With regards to leads... Greenfoam recommended I get the Bosch supersport... which I did... Anybody else had issues with these leads? Wondering if I should just go back to stock holden leads??

[VrWagz1]

If its a lead then your just unlucky i would say. Its unusual for that to happen but it does once in a while. It could be one of your new plugs too. Anyones guess as to which one though.