need help on choosing an oil

[ixslr8]

Recently bought a used geo metro to try and save on some gas. I hooked up a mechanical oil pressure gauge, just to see what was going on with the motor. the cold pressure is great 50-60 psi. however the warm idle psi is around 15

. I know the oil is extremely dirty and needs to be changed. Just wandering what would be a weight to go with that might help bring that warm psi up some...would 20w50 help any?? I live in texas and very rarely see temps below freezing and the low's now are in the high 60's. thanks for the help in advance.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

If Auto-Rx is too expensive, go cheapest SM oils & change often (1.5K) until it gets cleaner in there. Wal*Mart Super Tech in 10w30 - plus their $2 oil filters are good choices. Look for the best sales in your area.

If you can find the quart jug of Rislone, that would help speed-up the cleaning inexpensively. Don't buy the half-quart Rislone concentrate as a substitute. I don't feel that one is as effective at the cleanup speed rate you may want. Use it for the entire OCIs.

 

[ixslr8]

I also have another question....would it be of any benefit to use the "high mileage" oils? What's special about these oils?

 

[02StangGT4Foam]

year?
engine?
mileage?
manufacturer's recommended oil?

 

[ixslr8]

1989
3 cylinder 1.0 liter
shows 52000, seller was unsure of exact mileage
for above 40f recs are 10w30, 10w40, 10w50 or 20w40, 20w50

 

[02StangGT4Foam]

If I was you, I'd follow the recommendation of many people on this forum which is, after purchasing a new car with under 100k miles, do one full Auto-RX treatment ( www.auto-rx.com and use coupon code ARXRC) to start off with as fresh & clean a motor as possible. Free Shipping, Too!! Next, go to Pepboys and buy 2 Purolator PureONE or Premium Plus Oil Filters (PL10241 or L10241, respectively. If possible, use PL20195 or L20195 because they have the same specs as the stock size but are 1.4" longer. Check your clearance before you make the purchase). The PureONE has EXCELLENT filtration but might be a little restrictive. You can also use a Wix Filter by going to NAPA and getting 2 GOLD 1348(stock size) or 1516(oversized). Next, buy Sunday's paper but make sure it has a Kragen ad in it. If it does, look for a coupon that has a case of Shell or Chevron oil for $0.59/qt after rebate. Considering that your engine holds 3.7qts (maybe 3.8 or 3.9 w/ an oversized filter), this oil will last you 3 changes ($2.40/OC + filter, not bad). If they don't have that special, wait another week (it will take a few days for the ARX to arrive) and it should be there for sure. I'd use 10W30 as the thinner oil will "splash" more and thereby allow the ARX to clean in more places (all theory, of course). After the clean and rinse phase, use whatever oil you'd like but continue using an ARX maintenance dose with each oil change. This should keep you in good shape and will clean that engine out which will restore the seals and probably get that pressure up. Good luck and hope this helps.

PS
Don't forget to follow the ARX instructions to the tee!!

 

[tamu_man]

Run 75w140 in it

j/k

I believe 10w40 would be a nice candidate. Run some redline through it and I'm sure it will be darker than Charlie Murphy when it comes out after 5000 miles. Then you could repeat, or just find a nice SM rated oil.

I'd do an AutoRX or just run some redline instead.

 

[Ramblin Fever]

I'm currently running 10w30 Havoline in my G'ma's Geo metro with over 100k somewhere's. My G'pa had a LOT of Fram filters around for every car and truck they owned, and, in his passing, figured I'd might as well use them up - on his vehicles. He's used this combo since they bought the car brand-new, engine's fairly clean, except I'm gonna pull the radiator out and clean it.

 

[Quest]

Do an AutoRx and then go with 10W30 so long as your con rod bearings aren't worn on those engines.

Suzukis love 10W30, 5W50 would work nicely also but IMHO it's a bit dumb to put full synthetic in this engine (it's very easy on the oil).

Good luck and have fun passing big rigs on the highway...

 

[coal68]

I think 20-50 is too much for this tiny 3cyl. I say this because I had a 93 with the 3cyl, I had over 180000 on the car, need less to say I spun a bearing using the 20-50. This could just be my bad luck.

 

[windnsea00]

Chevron Delo 15w40 and Auto Rx!

 

[-Clayton-]

Delo would work nice. Or some RTS 5w40 if you had a few extra bucks. Both are better if you want a 40 weight.

 

[ToyotaNSaturn]

ixslr8, another BITOG'er has a couple Festiva's that he resurrected. One had well over 200K and ran terribly rough...IIRC, Auto-RX solved his problem and provided him ultra cheap and ultra efficient transportation.

Use Auto-Rx and follow the directions, it's made for exactly the problem you're having!

 

[Vilan]

I wouldn't put *pure* 20W50 in there, but if there's 5W30 in it now, you could top up with a quart of 20W50 to thicken it up a bit. Ends up about the same as a high-mileage 10W30.

 

[427Z06]

quote:

---

Originally posted by ixslr8:
I hooked up a mechanical oil pressure gauge, just to see what was going on with the motor. the cold pressure is great 50-60 psi. however the warm idle psi is around 15 ...

---

For a large percentage of engines 5-10 psi at idle when warm is normal and within specs. Unless this lil' three banger is unusual, I don't think you should be trying to increase the idle oil pressure with thicker oil. Inexpensive SM/GF-4 10w30 is all you need while following the OCIs listed in the owner's manual. See if you can get a SuperTech oil filters at Walmart that fits. At that engine's mileage an AutoRX application would be a good idea too.

 

[427Z06]

quote:

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Originally posted by coal68:
I had over 180000 on the car, need less to say I spun a bearing using the 20-50. This could just be my bad luck.

---

I'd actually put money on the 20w50 causing the spun bearing.

 

[BrianWC]

You could go with the High Mileage Supertech as well. If you want a quicky flush you could buy a gallon of toluene(or toluol as it's sometimes sold as) from a hardware store and flush with about 4-6 ounces. But if you want to be safer go w/ arx or even schaeffer's neutra 131 if you can find it.

 

[-Clayton-]

15 psi warm sounds fine too me. What is it at highway speeds, About 55 mph?

 

[ixslr8]

at highways speeds around 40-45 psi is what i'm seeing.

 

[Lazy JW]

If there ever was an engine built that would benefit from synthetic oil it is the little One-liter Geo. My Bro-in-law is a Geo nut, he has rebuilt quite few in the last several years. Picks them up cheap with bad engines. Invariably the valves are fried, coked up, varnished, etc. Never have seen sludge in one though. These tiny engines typically get run hard, much closer to full power 100% duty cycle than most bigger engines, they are therefore VERY hard on oil from what I can tell after observing various samples torn down for overhaul.

Rotella RTS 5w-40 would be a very good choice.

Joe