Engine oil

[greenacc]

I would be putting a synthetic 5w40 in it as I do with most cars I work on in warm weather Aus. At those km you have gone beyond the skope of the owners handbook and you are now 'on your own'. It still starts smoothly in cold Sydney morning 0-5C and protects better under load and in got weather than 30 grades. Also fills the increased bearing clearances you have in a 300 thousand km engine better under load. That's my thoughts at least.

 

[losh1971]

Amount of cylinders does not matter. They both list GF as the specified oil. Don’t just get any 5w-30 because thats not actually getting whats recommended. It just so happens to be that GF is almost exclusively 5w-30 between brands.

See this is where it's BS, the V8 is not a new design it's based on old tech. So why does it need to GF oil? That just doesn't make sense. What does make sense is that GM to make it easier, just specify 5w 30 because it's suitable for a wide range of vehicles and it's easier for them if they don't have to carry five or six different engine oils when they can have one that will be ok across the entire line up.

I think you will find it similar in most garages, where they have on hand just a couple of grades of oil and they predominantly say use 5W because its the most widely used oil out there now.

 

[lmfvf2ssredlineute]

just use any major brand name synthetic 5-30 or 5-40 weight oil that you can get at a good price
i buy 5-30 nulon synthetic when its on special for around 29-35 bucks for 5 litres and stock up when its cheap
i drive a vf2 ute 6.2 bought new and
wifes vf2 6.2 w497 supercharged since new both have used 5-30 nulon dexos oil and had no problems
any major brand is good, just choose one that suits you wallet

 

[Sam_100]

I use Penrite GF-S 5W-30 and service the car every 7,500Km which equates to about 6 months worth of driving. I figure its cheaper changing the oil sooner that having problems later on. I also have noticed the oil comes out a lot darker than my old VX 3.6 after similar amount of kms. I assume this is a function of the direct injection.

The car has just tipped over the 100,000km mark and am getting the transmission serviced next month.

 

[greenacc]

I use Penrite GF-S 5W-30 and service the car every 7,500Km which equates to about 6 months worth of driving. I figure its cheaper changing the oil sooner that having problems later on. I also have noticed the oil comes out a lot darker than my old VX 3.6 after similar amount of kms. I assume this is a function of the direct injection.

The car has just tipped over the 100,000km mark and am getting the transmission serviced next month.

Don't know how direct injection makes the oil dirty?
Just wanted to point out though, how funny it is that people go out of their way to use oil that meets the manufacturers specs, like dexos1 or 2 or GL5. When a lot of what these specs are about is laying the 15000km service interval. Then they go and change the oil at 7500km, completely negating the bed for 15,000km oil specs. It is a messed up world we live in! At least you can be 100% sure the oil is good for 7500.

 

[J_D 2.0]

The issue is Holden didn't necessarily get it quite right. 5w 30 is common so they will just tell you to put 5w 30 in everything accross the board even if it has 300k on it.
But don't believe me, go ask a couple of garages what they recommend and see if their opinions differ.
Also are we talking V6 or V8?

Exactly. The 5w30 specification is for fuel economy, not engine longevity. Also the manufacturer doesn’t gIve a shite what happens after the warranty period.

I run 10w40 in my SV6 and my SSV as both of them have high kms now. IMO you should really be looking to step up a grade of oil once you get over 150,000kms or thereabouts IF you are consuming oil between services or your oil pressure is getting low.

If your not burning any oil then happy days, keep running what the handbook says. But once you get past 150-200k kms its probably going to be burning quite a bit between services and my motto is “better thick oil on the dipstick than no oil”.

Burning a litre of oil every few thousand kays just so you can follow what the handbook says isn’t a wise course of action and if you forget to check the oil frequently enough it’s bye bye engine!

 

[J_D 2.0]

See this is where it's BS, the V8 is not a new design it's based on old tech. So why does it need to GF oil? That just doesn't make sense. What does make sense is that GM to make it easier, just specify 5w 30 because it's suitable for a wide range of vehicles and it's easier for them if they don't have to carry five or six different engine oils when they can have one that will be ok across the entire line up.

I think you will find it similar in most garages, where they have on hand just a couple of grades of oil and they predominantly say use 5W because its the most widely used oil out there now.

And they probably spec 5w for Northern America winters of minus 30 degrees Celsius. Not even relevant here in Australia but GM wouldn’t care about that in the slightest.

 

[Z31na]

Any engine burning oil, regardless of its Km’s is a good candidate for thicker oil. OP hasn’t actually stated that there is any problem with the engine so it still perfectly fine to use the original spec.

I have two town delivery cars at work that do stop start driving everyday. Main one is a Kia, 238000km ish. About 10-20 short trips around town per day, depends on how busy we are. Still runs perfectly fine on the spec’ed oil. Toyota with 378,000. Shouldn’t of made the 3 hour journey from its old branch to mine about a month ago. Dipstick was bone dry. We put what our catalogue recommends in and got it to our mechanic. He said defiantly burnt its oil and we should see how it goes. The Toyota doesn’t get used as much as the Kia but it still hasn’t used any more oil since it was refilled with the spec’ed oil. We’re starting to think maybe the last mechanic used the wrong oil. Now, given we were promised a brand new car and got given that sh** box we dont see it as a big loss it it dies. But if we catch it chewing oil in time, we’ll still put thicker oil in it.

 

[johnmw1]

An interesting topic, and now I'm wondering if I'm using the correct oil for my Vy V6 Commodore sedan which is not far off 330,000 Km and which I have owned since new. Currently using Penrite HPR 15w-50 and do about 600Km per week, and change my oil about the 15.000 Km interval. It doesn't appear to be blowing any smoke or using oil, but I do notice it's a bit sluggish to start up the first time for the day.

I would like to know because I need to do an oil change now. Would it be doing it any harm by going back to a thinner oil?

Cheers,
John

 

[Skylarking]

I would like to know because I need to do an oil change now. Would it be doing it any harm by going back to a thinner oil?

Oils can be like religions as everyone has their beliefs on what is correct.

But obviously what your doing is working especially if you’ve had 330,000 kms of good trouble free motoring. So no need to make drastic changes though you could use slightly lighter oils during winter if the sluggish starts aren’t due to a tired battery…

What’s almost certain is that Holden would believe you’ve held onto your car for far too long. They’d probably be of the belief you should have bought 3 or 4 other cars from them in that timeframe. By not doing that you’re to blame for them going out of business