Oil Grade preferences for your LS3

[eman1]

I would not be suprised at all if it was not Valvoline. Which dealer was this ?

I’ll PM you

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Now that lots of Ls3s will be out warranty and accumulating a few kilometres what is everyone going to use for oil changes ?

Stick with certified dexos oils or try different stuff ?

Just bought this. It's on special

https://www.supercheapauto.com.au/p...adnczn_BDY9fT4j_1zRoC080QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Ginger Beer]

I stay away from anything that says fuel saver

As for oil weights, manufacturers recommend oils that are as light as possible to give better fuel mileage

Whilst lighter oils do give better mileage, they don't stand up well when pushed hard

A 5w 30 might be fine for a daily that gets driven sedately, but I wouldn't put it anything I leaned on

Give a 10w 40 or 50 a try

In the end the only real way to see if your chosen weight and brand is get an oil analysis done, that will tell you if it is working and the additives are holding up

Not affiliated > https://www.mainlube.com.au/filtergram/

 

[lmfvf2ssredlineute]

I stay away from anything that says fuel saver

As for oil weights, manufacturers recommend oils that are as light as possible to give better fuel mileage

Whilst lighter oils do give better mileage, they don't stand up well when pushed hard

A 5w 30 might be fine for a daily that gets driven sedately, but I wouldn't put it anything I leaned on

Give a 10w 40 or 50 a try

In the end the only real way to see if your chosen weight and brand is get an oil analysis done, that will tell you if it is working and the additives are holding up

Not affiliated > https://www.mainlube.com.au/filtergram/

a 5-30 weight oil is fine for a performance street car, check out YouTube KRE v8 super cars, theirs a clip about the 5-30 nulon oil used in there v8 super car engines, mikeing up cranks , checking bores and bearings for wear after hard race miles at bathurst ect and a 5-30 oil used shows little to no wear in v8 super car engines, that being the 5-30 race oil, so for a street car i do not think you need a heavy oil for engine protection, otherwise v8 supercars would use a heavy oil, and they cop a thrashing for hours on end with a 5-30 oil, watch the YouTube clip, times have changed with modern oils

 

[Ginger Beer]

a 5-30 weight oil is fine for a performance street car, check out YouTube KRE v8 super cars, theirs a clip about the 5-30 nulon oil used in there v8 super car engines, mikeing up cranks , checking bores and bearings for wear after hard race miles at bathurst ect and a 5-30 oil used shows little to no wear in v8 super car engines, that being the 5-30 race oil, so for a street car i do not think you need a heavy oil for engine protection, otherwise v8 supercars would use a heavy oil, and they cop a thrashing for hours on end with a 5-30 oil, watch the YouTube clip, times have changed with modern oils

I assume their oil is only in there for that race, I know I use to change my oil after each day when I was into tracking my car, high boost and engine temps would cook the oil and contaminate the oil with alot of fuel from blowby

For my street car I go 5k km between oil changes

The difference between a race engine and a engine is a street car is when the oil is changed, and the tolerances in the build

Light oil = more power
Light oil = better fuel economy

But, the engines need tight tolerances, oil should be based on the tolerance, amongst other things.

When talking to mainlube, who do alot of analysis of oils used by race teams as well as heavy industry plant, said for my stock bottom ended LS1, that if I was going to lean on the car hard to use 10w 60, but for just driving around and giving it the occasional hit a 10w 40-50 is fine.

They also said that they had good analysis reports from Castrol Edge 10w 60 running in everything from daily drivers to race cars.

In the end oil choice will be hard to determine without an analysis.

Me, and I'm no expert, I've chosen a heavier oil based off what mainline found doing analyses.

So far my engine has not eaten itself, which is nice

 

[tml678]

I’ll be leaning towards Penrite 10-Tenths, 100% PAO/Ester, probably in the 5w-30 flavour.

Really like this stuff too, one of the few 100% PAO synthetics that meets Dexos1 Gen2 (Motul ecolite is the only other I know of) and it’s available through an Australian distributor, get a good wrap on BITOG as well:

https://www.ravenol.de/en/product-range/motor-oils-for-passenger-cars-1/ravenol-dxg-sae-5w-30/

It’ll be a while yet though, got factory warranty until 2024

 

[lmfvf2ssredlineute]

I assume their oil is only in there for that race, I know I use to change my oil after each day when I was into tracking my car, high boost and engine temps would cook the oil and contaminate the oil with alot of fuel from blowby

For my street car I go 5k km between oil changes

The difference between a race engine and a engine is a street car is when the oil is changed, and the tolerances in the build

Light oil = more power
Light oil = better fuel economy

But, the engines need tight tolerances, oil should be based on the tolerance, amongst other things.

When talking to mainlube, who do alot of analysis of oils used by race teams as well as heavy industry plant, said for my stock bottom ended LS1, that if I was going to lean on the car hard to use 10w 60, but for just driving around and giving it the occasional hit a 10w 40-50 is fine.

They also said that they had good analysis reports from Castrol Edge 10w 60 running in everything from daily drivers to race cars.

In the end oil choice will be hard to determine without an analysis.

Me, and I'm no expert, I've chosen a heavier oil based off what mainline found doing analyses.

So far my engine has not eaten itself, which is nice

bathurst is a long race 1000ks , flat out 7500rpm all day long, thats a lot more torture than a hot street car gets in years of use, oils have moved on from the old days, if a 5-30 weight oil can take that amount of sustained rpm at tracks like bathurst in a v8 super car and show no next to no engine wear , well that tells you something, i am no expert either but watch the video on youtube kre v8 supercar engine oil, they build, analyse, test wear, time service components ect, mega expensive engines , thats what they use a 5-30 weight oil does the job

 

[07GTS]

just remember that the bearings are a restriction so pressure before the restriction is what shows on the gauge, so if a bearing is getting alot of work and heating up is it better to have a thicker oil with more pressure which means a slower amount of oil is going thru the bearing or a thinner oil that has slightly lower pressure (less restriction) so more oil can flow thru the bearing helping it to cool down... also look at nascar they can go even thinner oils and tighter bearing clearances to chase every last HP

 

[Immortality]

bathurst is a long race 1000ks , flat out 7500rpm all day long, thats a lot more torture than a hot street car gets in years of use, oils have moved on from the old days, if a 5-30 weight oil can take that amount of sustained rpm at tracks like bathurst in a v8 super car and show no next to no engine wear , well that tells you something, i am no expert either but watch the video on youtube kre v8 supercar engine oil, they build, analyse, test wear, time service components ect, mega expensive engines , thats what they use a 5-30 weight oil does the job

Thing is, those engines are blue printed and built to exacting tolerances. V8 supercars also don't need to worry about thousands cold start cycles which is where wear tends to occur. V8 supercars use a few engines a year IIRC (per car), so a couple of thousand K's between a full rebuild. Not much in common with your daily driver.

 

[Skylarking]

I always understood oil had a dual purpose, the primary purpose is to keep metal parts separated while the secondary purpose is to cool the engine.

To keep parts separated requires a high film strength which relates to oil viscosity and the wear and friction-control package added to the base oil stock. But it’s all real complex chemistry as hydrodynamic and elastohydrodynamic lubrication and boundary layer conditions are all engineered. Synthetic oils have better film strength and thicker viscosity oils generally have better film strength.

To cool parts requires oil flow to carry the heat away, less flow makes allows the oil to get hotter while moving through the bearing and not enough flow will cook the oil within the bearing. The thicker the oil, the less the flow rate and the higher the oil pressure. And I’ve read that oil provides 30% of overall engine cooling so it’s not trivial.

As is, oil pressure and flow rate is a designed parameter within the engine. The the oil pump itself and the bearing clearances and tolerances along with other parts of the oil system within an engine all play a part. How much variation in oil viscosity an engine can safely tolerate before one or another engine design aspect is compromised I’ve got no idea.

Too thin or too thick can’t be good but the question is what is too thin or too thick. Other than GM’s engine designers, who really knows the engines viscosity tolerance. I suspect an oil temp and pressure gauge could be used to gain some indication if the engine isnt happy as different oil viscosities are tried, Oil analysis is another tool to get a handle on what’s occurring to the oil and the engine.

Me, as I’m still under a warranty, I’d get the best quality oil I can rationalise and change oil at 1/2 the factory service schedule for piece of mind. If I do a track day, I’d change the engine oil and brake fluid after the event, again for piece of mind.

Even with a quality full synthetic oil, what will kill the engine is frequent short trips and thus a buildup of combustion blow more and water resulting in acidic oil and sludge which ain't good...

For some owners, oil film strength issues may be the least of their problems