Ron

I have a very low mileage 1997 C2S. I average about 1000 miles per year.

I have been using Mobil 1 15W 50 and changed it yearly regardless of mileage. I live in a climate where it's hot a good part of the year. I never drive car over 1500 rpms before oil is up to operating temp. Car has not and will not be tracked

I spent a fair amount time this weekend reading all the the old oil threads. So yes I do have a headache.

It seems there was not 100% consensus on what is the best oil for our older cars. I did see positive comments for Swepco, Brad Pen, Elf, Delvac and Shell Rotella. I sure I missed a few of the other oils.

The Shell has several different oils that might be a good choice. They have a full synthetic 5W40, blend 10W40, and a dino 15W40 to name a few. All these oils have 1200 ppm zinc. Technical guy I spoke to said oils have other anti wear packages too.

Do not recall seeing a post or thread that said going from synthetic to dino was bad. Is it bad.

So the question is what oil might be very good choice for my car given how its' driven and how many miles per year it sees?


Edited: The technical person I spoke with at Mobil say their 15W 50 oil has 1200 PPM of zinc.

firesm

I prefer a mixture of olive oil and corn syrup... with some royal purple mixed in - or whatever is on sale at K-Mart...

edit - For full disclosure I also install my engine under tray every second day...

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Ron,

Indeed, there still is a fair amount of confusion on this topic, even after all the discussions,....

For clarification and accuracy: one of the critical compounds needed to protect all the rubbing surfaces inside the engine is ZDDP. This contains both zinc & phosphorus in fairly equal amounts in order for it to do its job. Reducing P (to save the cats) leaves the Zn unable to function properly. There are many SAE papers that explain this symbiotic relationship in detail so I won't belabor this here.

The "technical person" at Mobil may have omitted this important piece of context here that BOTH Zn & P are needed in equal parts for protection so unless the 1200 ppm of Zinc is matched with the same levels of Phosphorus, it will not adequately protect the cams and rocker arms.

FWIW,...Mobil 1 V-Twin oil, a 20w-50, contains a robust package of ZDDP that works very well in these engines so I do recommend that product in the Mobil 1 line. There are also other excellent oils, but just make certain that the P matches the ZN in whichever product you choose.

Hope this helps,

Quadcammer

thats not a good idea.

I'm the last person to suggest that lower rpms are lugging, but 1500 max is a bit low. I'd up that to 3000rpm with light throttle.

Ron

yes you are correct I misspoke it is 3000 rpm I do not exceed until engine is fully warmed up.

badabing

Since someone else already opened up this can of worms......

I have a very specific question about Mobil 1 15W-50 vs VTwin 20W-50.

Currently running the 15w in my '96TT and was about to switch to the 20W based on positive comments and posted UOA's.

However, I recently read through the oil 101 thread posted by Robin a few years ago which was recently dragged to the top.

Without going to deep into it, the gist of it is that you want to have enough oil flow at a given temperature the most critical of which is at cold startup.

I live in NYC, drive max 2K a year, could realistically find myself starting up at 40F temps and I do not track or DE.

Am I giving up some cold start flow while picking up better anti wear additives by switching to the 20W and is this a wise trade off for my circumstances?

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

Both synthetics flow well enough at 40F to work just fine for you.

If you used a 20w-50 non-synthetic below 35 degrees, that would be a different situation altogether.

il pirata

The last spec sheet I saw had P at 1200 and Zn at 1300 for Mobil 1 15-50

IXLR8

Forums are full of those positive comments...based on what though?

I run Mobil 1 15W-50 for everyday street use and I doubt my cam lobes are suffering.

I run Mobil 1 5W-30 in my daily driver, now in its 13th year with 222K kms on it and I'd wish you luck to find any scuffing of the cam lobes (I've checked).

Ron

That is correct I have the downloaded pdf file somewhere, when I find it I'll try to post it or link to it.

Edited: link specs on Mobil 1 oils dated 10/17/2011 is below.

http://www.mobil.com/USA-English/Mot...duct_Guide.pdf

MielsOnWheels

Steve,

I've been getting my oil education on lately in preparation for my first oil change with the new car. I live in Richmond, VA and I'll be driving my car more than Ron, about 3-4k per year and not during winter.

I'd been leaning toward Mobil 1 0W-40 or the 15W-50, but you've got me intrigued by your comments on the V-Twin. Would that be a good choice based on my weather and usage? (I'm assuming it's ok to run a motorcycle oil in the car...)

ca993twin

Mobil 1 0W-40 is NOT a good choice for our air-cooled cars. Stick with the 15W-50 or the V-Twin 20W-50.

Steve Weiner-Rennsport Systems

THAT is stellar advice!!!!!!!!

No HTwo O

I just had the 6th oil change and UOA done on my Turbo during my 30 month ownership. I've covered over 26,000 miles during this time. I'll post the UOA in a few days when I get home from my current business trip and after the Memorial Day holiday.

I can tell you that my wear metals continue to drop even after 58,000 miles. My first oil change was with 15W50 Mobil Ext. Perf. The last 5 oil changes have all been Mobil V-Twin 20W50. The results for me have been excellent.

Ron

I think I'm just going to stay with the Mobil 1 15w-50. The specs. seem pretty good. Possibly the zinc and phosperous where not at the level of the current formula when I read the old oil threads from 2007 and up.