Papamurphdog

Ok, went to your site and there are 8 Gibbs choices. Which one to run in my car? Been using Mobil 1 syn 15w 50. You can see the mods in my sig. What to choose?? XP4 is in the photo... Also, what exactly is the rod bearing clearance in a 2.5L turbo motor?? Help me Obiwan...

Waterguy

Synthetic oil does not shrink seals. It does, however, do a much better job of cleaning sludge out of your engine. If your seals are being sealed with sludge, switching to synthetic will make them leak. Fix the leaks and have a clean, happy engine.

I switched to synthetic at 115k miles and had to fix two leaking front seals. I just got back from a 2,100 mile trip, used 1/2 quart of Redline 15W50 oil (despite some long hard boosts in hot weather with A/C on), no oil leaks and the oil still looks new. Engine now has 126k miles and a dozen track days on it. Redline made a believer out of me.

ehall

AND, Redline has plenty of ZDDP. The moral of this story, guys, is to use an oil with proper ZDDP, in the first place. AGIP 4T, Redline, and I'd bet, but don't know, Gibbs, have plenty of ZDDP. There are others, as well. Remember that "racing oils" may need to be changed a bit more, simply because pure racing oils have very few detergents in them. You don't want sludge building up.

fbgh2o

Amsoil claims higher levels of zinc in their oils. Does anyone know whether their Dominator 15w50 offers a reasonable level of ZDDP?

ehall

don't know. I won't do business with them due to their communist business model. I can't stand MLM companies.

fbgh2o

Hmmm.... Communist you say. Can I assume that they are selling at cost?

boston951

The Agip passenger car dino oil (ie, 10W-30 SUPER XL) does not have ZDDP and will need it added to be at the desired level.

ehall

I run the AGIP 4T. It may be a bit thick for Boston winters, but it works great here in Florida. 10w30 oil, in any of our cars will probably leak pretty well, unless you are on a fresh rebuild with MUCH attention placed on seals and gaskets.

333pg333

10w/30 really not a great idea for our cars unless your name is Mr Claus.
Look at how low a temp range 20w/50 goes AND you get all the extra protective benefits of a heavier oil. Possible downsides is a fractionally worse mpg result. If you're worried about mpg this is the wrong car for you.

boston951

If I were brave enough to switch my low mile stock original motor over to a synthetic, then the Agip 4t would be on the short list.

boston951

I actually went with the 10W-40 dino Agip on the last oil change. The 10W-30 was merely an example. There was also a 20W-50 dino oil available, but I run my car in the cold New England weather (up until the first snow).

INURGRL951

I usually go away from the pack and run castrol syntec 5w-50. Which i always run after i rebuild an engine with new seals. Before a build or just an old engine I stick with a non syn oil of castrol 20w-50. If the engine has ran regular oil for a while even on a rebuild i wouldn't use synthic because like Ehall was sayin and alot of us know you WILL have leaks.

boston951

I think that Agip 20W-50 dino will be the best choice for my next oil change.

pk951

Just ckecked the back of a can of Mobil-1 5w50 it reads Meets API SM CF ACEA-3
B3.B4 MB229.3 MB229.1 (VW505.00) PORSCHE APPROVAL 2002

The 5w40 Mobil-1 truck oil meets API CI-4/ch/4cg 4/cf
Gasline engines meets SL SJ

From what I understand this oil meets our needs for ZP protections.

Papamurphdog

I don't believe those numebrs relate to ZDDP as it pertains to this thread at all. BTW, a "2002" standard is to the point of this thread...cars older than 1990 need the ZDDP. BTW, it is almost 2009, so an '02 approval is outdated as well. I can't imagine that any new 2008 or newer standard is going to take my '86 and my '90 into account. Or the race motor for that matter.