Viscosity discussion for older LS1`s (100k+)

[st3r3otyp3]

If you have a spare bottle, dont waste it and chuck it in for 5000k's. Yes it is Turbo rated. The sticks for the surface is true. The strength of Magnatec lays in the Ester Group 5 base it contains. Its a Group 1 or 2 mineral oil with Group 5 ester. The 3 major benefits of Ester are it has a natural polarity to metal, meaning it sticks to it. Nothing to do with Magnets, but more like static etc. Second, its solvency, which means it has a natural detergent effect on internal surfaces and cleans seals, as well as softening them. (What hardens seals are solvents like kerosene, oil flushes, dirty oil etc). Internal seals are like skin, they need certain properties in oil or additives to keep them soft and pliable. Third benefit is some esters have a natural anti wear/high load bearing capability like zinc etc. Castrol Edge calls its anti wear ester 'Di ester booster' Mobil 1 call is 'Supersyn', and so on. Not all oils need ester to perform(Shell Helix Ultra, and many other semi synth or mineral oils with use more common additives), full ester oils dont need some standard additives to perform(being full ester, have natural detergency so dont need the calcium and seal swellers etc), some oils must use ester to perform(PAO Synthetic like Mobil 1, Castrol Edge, Penrite Sin 1 almost always use ester for seal swell and detergency)

Problem with magnatec is its too expensive, and may rely too much on the ester component which is like 10% and skimp on the rest. For Castrol, Edge is the pick of the crop, some of the best oils out there. Go for Shell Helix Plus High Mileage, 15w50, it is a better Semi Synthetic in that, it has a Group 3+ Synthetic oil as well as the Group 5 Ester Synthetic oil with a good Group 2 base mineral oil.

100,000+ is not old for a LS1 or any engine. Search for the oil threads, many things repeated over and over, many good oils out there, many false opinions and old wives tales as well. Good luck !

Wow you now your sh#t, so it is turbo rated they really should place it on the lable IMO, very indepth words like ester really got me clicking and checking, learning FTW.

 

[rb26dett]

I was using mobil 1 10w 30 in my VT, but will now be going with castrol edge 10w 60

 

[Nanos]

my ls1 has done 220,000kms, been using castrol edge 10w60 since about 180,000kms was using magnatec but found it to be getting rattles so i changed to 10w60 and its all good. uses no oil between changes

 

[st3r3otyp3]

burn baby burn

The LS1 is also burning the magnatec a bit (I have no oil leaks BTW) took it to ACE ford cruise (not all fordz there TF) on the W/E and after coming back would guess between 300ml-500ml was missing... hmmmm. picked up a bottle of penrite 10~50w from SC to try first before I raise the lower end any.

 

[savage1987]

The LS1 is also burning the magnatec a bit (I have no oil leaks BTW) took it to ACE ford cruise (not all fordz there TF) on the W/E and after coming back would guess between 300ml-500ml was missing... hmmmm. picked up a bottle of penrite 10~50w from SC to try first before I raise the lower end any.

Not being a smartarse but are you sure this 300-500mL wasn't just used to fill your oil filter etc? Lots of people tend to forget this doing their own oil changes.. level drops a bit on first startup.

I'm interested in this thread although the opinions are all going to be different, as I have a 170,000km LS1 in the shed waiting for a body

Sam

 

[st3r3otyp3]

yer its had 5.7 litres of oil when my hand book says 5.1 ltrs with filter... wait for it....hmmmm
though I`d guess valve stem seals are clapped, but even for that... its still quite a high burning rate.
P/S no smart ass comment within there to be seen, sam.

 

[Drewie]

A lot of the early LS1's were notorious for oil burning, it was to do with the low tension rings fitted to the pistons, hence why so many were rebuilt under warranty, my VX SS was fitted with the later VYII pistons under warranty, I recall talking to another LS1 owner at the dealers back in 2002 and he said his LS1 used the entire sump of oil between services and he nearly siezed the motor, he obviously never checked the levels. So maybe yours is one of the motors that should have been rebuilt but never was. Most were fixed but there is bound to be some that slipped through the net.

Just as a side note, my VX SS was dealer serviced from new the last two services have been done at a performance workshop that specialises in LS1's, both the dealer and the new workshop have always put 6 litres of oil in the motor, if you check the oil after the engine has been stopped for a few minutes the level is around the full mark, however if you check it after leaving it sit overnight the level is higher, usually into the the first bump of the ripple area on the dipstick. The reason I was told they put a little more in was to over come oil surge if driven hard. Mine has always had 6 litres put in for the last 60,000 km. You also need to check them on a very level surface, even on a very slight slope I can get a different reading on the dipstick.

 

[R1DG3Y]

ok
i recently changed the oil in my LS1, and used 10W30 like its says in the manual. since then the knock sensor came on and car was playing up for a week but its all good now, and im loosing oil pretty quick.

just curious on what grade oil i should use instead (so i can change it over again)?
LS1's done 162000kms

cheers

 

[Drewie]

In the owner handbook that comes with the car it says that you can use 10w30, 15w40 or 20w50. I have always used 10w40 (not 10w30) as that is what the Holden dealer used,
just changed to a local workshop who services and mods lots of LS1's and they use 15w40, the 15w40 seems fine in mine, no noises and doesn't use any oil between 5k services.

 

[st3r3otyp3]

A lot of the early LS1's were notorious for oil burning, it was to do with the low tension rings fitted to the pistons, hence why so many were rebuilt under warranty, my VX SS was fitted with the later VYII pistons under warranty, I recall talking to another LS1 owner at the dealers back in 2002 and he said his LS1 used the entire sump of oil between services and he nearly siezed the motor, he obviously never checked the levels. So maybe yours is one of the motors that should have been rebuilt but never was. Most were fixed but there is bound to be some that slipped through the net.

Just as a side note, my VX SS was dealer serviced from new the last two services have been done at a performance workshop that specialises in LS1's, both the dealer and the new workshop have always put 6 litres of oil in the motor, if you check the oil after the engine has been stopped for a few minutes the level is around the full mark, however if you check it after leaving it sit overnight the level is higher, usually into the the first bump of the ripple area on the dipstick. The reason I was told they put a little more in was to over come oil surge if driven hard. Mine has always had 6 litres put in for the last 60,000 km. You also need to check them on a very level surface, even on a very slight slope I can get a different reading on the dipstick.

6 litres, first ripple, how about your rear main seal!, I`d say it may need checking. overfilling oil too much = ****ed rear main.