Best Oil For Turbo Motors

[Mits3kGT]

Just curious as to anyones input on recommended oil for turbo'd motors or what any. I'm changing the oil in my VR4 and as of now i'm leaning towards 10w40 Full Synthetic from Castrol. Any opinions on Synthetic vs Conventional? Or what you put in?

[C.J.]

I used to be Mobil 1 synthetic or nothing

Now I use Castrol synthetic

If i was ballin' ide run Motul

basically ya everybody has their own opinions

[Mits3kGT]

i'm going to start switching over to Full Synthetic Castrol i think.
i used to put in Redline 10w40 Full Synthetic bc my dad is a dealer and got it cheap, but he sells so much of it there's never any left at the end of the month for me to have lol

[Coupelx]

i run royal purple in the stang because i get a good deal on it and motorcraft 10w30 in the merkur. theres no way in hell im putting full synthetic in a 160k mile motor. the oil would end up everywhere :lol:

[Kelvin]

anything 0w is good in my book

[CrazyPete]

royal purple

[Toolman]

Any opinions on Synthetic vs Conventional? Or what you put in?


The best oil is clean oil of course, so your best bet at turbo longevity is regular changes. If you are doing this, the only benefit of syn oil is that it makes your car lighter (by way of your wallet). Since day one, I have only used Castrol GTX, 10w30. Change it every 2500 miles. All has been well for the last 60k miles.

[swaggy853]

the only benefit of syn oil is that it makes your car lighter (by way of your wallet).

ummmm, yeah....no.

sounds to me like you need to do some more research on synthetics.

[Toolman]

the only benefit of syn oil is that it makes your car lighter (by way of your wallet).

ummmm, yeah....no.

sounds to me like you need to do some more research on synthetics.

Not at all man. You use what works.

[Mits3kGT]

ill admit i'm no oil expert, i've always just used 10w30 or 10w40 and either stay conventional or go full synthetic.

so what are the pro's and con's in conventional vs. synthetic??

[turbodaytona87]

the only benefit of syn oil is that it makes your car lighter (by way of your wallet).

ummmm, yeah....no.

sounds to me like you need to do some more research on synthetics.

Not at all man. You use what works.

Well lets see:

Synthetic does not coke with heat so you can shut your car off right away
Does not break down under high heat
Is more slippery so it protects parts better
Has a higher sheer pressure

[CrazyPete]

if you have a slow leak with dino oil forget switching cause your engine will leak big time and for turbo id use 5w30 or 20w50 or straight weight oil. On my old engine i had in the dsm i used quaker state bi syn oil i think its called high horse power or high performance oil i really liked that stuff and it was only a lil but more than the dino oil

[turbodaytona87]

I run 5w-30

[Toolman]

Well lets see:
[LIST=1]
Synthetic does not coke with heat so you can shut your car off right away

It is never a good idea to shut your turbocharged car off right away after running it hard. That is what the cool down lap is for.

Does not break down under high heat

ALL lubricants break down over time. Synthetic breaks down more slowly, thus allowing longer change intervals. Change your conventional oil on a routine basis, and this is a non-factor.

The OP asked for opinions, I gave mine. Having had outstanding success using nothing but conventional oil for many years and 60k+miles in a DOHC 8000rpm turbocharged application, I will continue to do so.

[swaggy853]

soo what about synthetics flow characteristics in the cold? Have we thought about this one?

[Daga]

if you all want to buy oil castrol synthetic come to my work i'll give you a deal!

[coop]

mobil 1 synthetic

[turbodaytona87]

Well lets see:
[LIST=1]
Synthetic does not coke with heat so you can shut your car off right away

It is never a good idea to shut your turbocharged car off right away after running it hard. That is what the cool down lap is for.

Say you don't cool it down fully, the synthetic won't coke and block the oil lines to the turbo

Does not break down under high heat

ALL lubricants break down over time. Synthetic breaks down more slowly, thus allowing longer change intervals. Change your conventional oil on a routine basis, and this is a non-factor.

I wasn't talking about time, I was talking about heat, like running your car hard, a synthetic won't break down

[Coupelx]

that may be but i have a bit of coin in my cars and letting them run and cool down after driving is something i do and will always do. synthetic or not.

its like saying its ok if i dont pull out she cant get pregnant the first time.

[Toolman]

soo what about synthetics flow characteristics in the cold? Have we thought about this one?


pre-oiler ftw

[Coupelx]

i dont drive the mustang when its cold. **** it probably wouldnt even start on e85.

[swaggy853]

soo what about synthetics flow characteristics in the cold? Have we thought about this one?


pre-oiler ftw

what does that have to do with anything?

[fmstruck]

Synthetic does not coke with heat so you can shut your car off right away

Bad idea. Letting your turbocharged anything idle after working it has more to do with the fact that the charger was just spinning 100-200,000 rpm. If you just kill it quick, you are letting plain bearings run with no lube. Also you have at least 4 dissimilar metals at work and it would be a good idea to let them come to an even temp slowly.

[fmstruck]

I think syns are great, but the one thing I personally don't agree with is the extended change interval. Sure the oil resists breakdown better, handles heat well etc. But the bi-products of combustion aka the stuff that gets by the rings is still acidic and generally nasty. Changing the oil is the only way to get rid of these. Once again, I think the oil is fine, just don't forget to change it.

[Ervin]

I've always used mobil 1 synthetic in every turbocharged car I ever owned.

[turbodaytona87]

Synthetic does not coke with heat so you can shut your car off right away

Bad idea. Letting your turbocharged anything idle after working it has more to do with the fact that the charger was just spinning 100-200,000 rpm. If you just kill it quick, you are letting plain bearings run with no lube. Also you have at least 4 dissimilar metals at work and it would be a good idea to let them come to an even temp slowly.

Yeah I pretty much always idle mine for a minute or two, I was just making a case for synthetics

[Coupelx]

no you were making it sound like you know wtf you were talking about. fail.

[turbodaytona87]

I said it won't coke

[86Shelby]

His wording was **** poor. The point he was trying to make is that Conventional oil will coke at a lower temperature than synthetic. So in the event that you must do a hot shutdown you do have added protection because you do not need to worry as much about your center cartridge getting clogged with burned oil chunks. IIRC conventional oil will coke around 275-300 and synthetic will coke around 375-400 as a general rule of thumb.

[turbodaytona87]

thanks ray!

[Mits3kGT]

the turbo's on my VR4 are both oil and water cooled..but i always make sure to let it cool down for a minute or two after boosting. So whats the advantage of being both oil and water cooled?? or how does it work?? sorry i'm a turbo noob...

[turbodaytona87]

cools better, doesn't heat up the oil as much, turbos last longer. Mine is oil/water cooled too.

[Mits3kGT]

So upon changing my oil and putting in fresh 10w40 Full Synthetic, i've noticed my oil pressure is slighly lower at idle then what it used to be. Is this normal?

[swaggy853]

if oil flows better it will have less pressure...

[Toolman]

So upon changing my oil and putting in fresh 10w40 Full Synthetic, i've noticed my oil pressure is slighly lower at idle then what it used to be. Is this normal?

Have you always used dino oil? What pressure were you running with it? What weight dino oil did you use? You might find it beneficial to increase the weight for the switch to syn.

[Mits3kGT]

idk what pressure i'm running, there's a gauge in the car (came factory) that just has tick marks, no numbers or anything. It has two longer tick marks that the needle is supposed to stay between

Anyways, the car has always seen synthetic oil. Not sure of the exact weight but i put 10w30 in it yesterday. I'm hoping that the oil is causing it to run less pressure...

[Tushick]

hands down: mobil 15,000 mile clean synthetic oil

[SmellySOHC]

A guy that built my old t3 recommended 5w-50 synthetic , never had any issues with oil building up (when i changed turbo's i tore it down) and oil pressure was consistent through hot and cold days.. but i could care less now.. just my experience..

[JesterMX6]

i run straight 40 weight in summer and 10w30 in the cold months

[Lepa]

super tech dino oil.

[Hillbilly]

John deere +50 15-40 is all we run in our turbo engines.

[turbodaytona87]

i run straight 40 weight in summer and 10w30 in the cold months

:joe:I hope you ain't serious

[JesterMX6]

why do you hope i'm not serious? educate me please.

[turbodaytona87]

IMO straight 40 won't lubricate enough on start up and until the engine starts to warm up a little. Of course that depends on the engine's condition already, what was your cold idle oil pressure?

[JesterMX6]

it wouldn't matter. just dont spool until ur car's warm. i never leave until my car's got at least one notch on the temp gauge (digital gauge). and its in summer, so its not like the oil is getting "cold." we're talking 50 degrees minimum for a while. no throttle. no boost.

[turbodaytona87]

Why not run a multi-viscosity oil? Letting the car just idle wastes gas too. I guess I am just trying to see what benefit, if any, an SAE 40 oil would have over say 10w-40.

[Kelvin]

0w-50 for me

[DSMMIKE]

ive always run 10w-30 in all my dsm's right now i run castrol full synthetic and still do regular oilchanges i dont run the oil longer because its synthetic. i actaully prolly change the oil ever 2000 miles or less the way ive been going through engines and turbos lol

[Kelvin]

even though it wasnt the oils problem.....

[DSMMIKE]

engine was getting old and i blew the ring lands out on the number 1 piston. the bearings were also starting to wear. little metal flecks from the bearings beingging to go out go plugged up in the turbo centersection blocking off oil to it causeing it to blow

[Kelvin]

who rebuilt the engine?

[JesterMX6]

Why not run a multi-viscosity oil? Letting the car just idle wastes gas too. I guess I am just trying to see what benefit, if any, an SAE 40 oil would have over say 10w-40.

ANY car should be idled for about 30 seconds at least before driving it.

turbo cars longer. u realize it only takes a matter of seconds for the oil to heat up right?

[Mits3kGT]

i run castrol full synthetic and still do regular oilchanges i dont run the oil longer because its synthetic. i actaully prolly change the oil ever 2000 miles or less the way ive been going through engines and turbos lol

Castrol Full Synthetic is about all i'll run if i'm not using Redline. 10w30 of course, but you can prob get away with 10w40 too. I about slapped this guy in the face for telling me i could run synthetic twice aslong as conventional oil...that may be true but i beat my car on a daily basis plus my turbo's are oil cooled too. so i try to change mine every 2,XXX miles

[86Shelby]

u realize it only takes a matter of seconds for the oil to heat up right?

I will call you out on that. Please show me some data to support that. I'm understanding that to mean on a day like today that after a short period of run time, ie. less than 2 minutes, my oil is up to operating temperature.

[JesterMX6]

i never said operating temprature. i said "to warm up" meaning, enough to move the car without risk of breaking something. i'm not sayign u can go out and floor it after 30 seconds. i'm sayign after a minute of letting the car idle, u can leave your driveway without worrying about somethign breaking due to the oil not being distributed properly.

obviously with colder weather this will change.

[turbodaytona87]

and I'm saying that won't happen with an oil like 5w-30 or 0w-30

Also I might've missed it, but why run a straight 40 oil?

[JesterMX6]

mazda uses HLA's and they get very noisy and tick like crazy when you use light oil in the warm months.

[turbodaytona87]

mazda uses HLA's and they get very noisy and tick like crazy when you use light oil in the warm months.

oh ok

[JesterMX6]

its well within spec according to mazda's FSM so i'm not worried about it at all. I trust mazda's FSM more than i'd trust Turrrrrrrrrbo and High Performance Magazine

[JesterMX6]

i know. i'm just clarifying.