New to the board, want to say Hi, and have a few questions

[SkortchGT]

Hello everyone!
I am new to the board, having just registered today. I have been reading this board little by little over the past few days, and the info this board contains is PRICELESS.

Anyhow, I own two cars. A 1992 Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 (mildly modified), and a 1992 Chevrolet Cavalier.

My 3000GT currently has about 147,000 miles, and is burning oil. The valve seals are worn, and the seals in the turbos are worn as well. A recent compression test showed all 6 cylinders @ 150psi. The compression ratio is 8:1. The car has lived it's life off of Castrol and Valvoline dino oil. 10w30 in the winter, and 10w40 in the summer, with sometimes a mixture of 10w40 and 20w50. The owner's manuel recommends 10w30 in normal weather, and 5w30 in the winter. I believe this may be to thin, due to the extreme heat generated by the turbos. I just recently switched to Valvoline Maxlife 10w40. I am planning on rebuilding the entire car within a year or two, once the funds are available.

My question is, can anyone recommend a very good high mileage/high quality formula dino oil for this car? Those of you who are not familiar with this type of car, it is a twin turbo (small turbos) with a very cramped engine compartment (retains heat). From what I have read so far on this board, Valvoline is not that great of an oil. Any advice/questions/comments are more then welcome. Thanks!

 

[Bob Woods]

Valvoline Maxlife is good oil, it contains PAO's and a good base plus additives. I put it in my daughters Mitsibishi Montero with 3L V6 and the valves quit clanging and banging. Did you get the full rebate?

 

[Jelly]

Considering the basic engine
Miles on engine
Oil used before
Current consumption rates
etc, etc, etc...

With that in mind, I without a doubt recommend a HDEO 15w-40, such as Delo 400, Delvac 1300, or Pennzoil Long-Life.

These oils will protect the engine and stand up to the turbo abuse, as well as gradually "clean" the engine and reduce your consumption.

All are available at Wal-Mart for $6/gallon or so.

[ January 24, 2004, 04:27 PM: Message edited by: Jelly ]

 

[Pablo]

Got to jell with Jelly. 15W-40.

But run an AutoRx cycle or two. You may be surprised. That seems like low mileage to be burning oil from wear.

 

[SkortchGT]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I believe most of the oil burning is coming from the turbos, which are on their way out. I am trying to squeeze as much life out of the car as possible. I believe it still has allot of life left in it. I'm curious, what does "HDEO" stand for? I apologize, as my knowledge isn't as keen on all of you on oil yet. I am still learning and reading about lubrication/oil. I never knew there were so many things to factor in when using an oil! I can't stop reading. I am soaking up all the info I possibly can. Again, thanks!

 

[SkortchGT]

Looks like I'll go with the Chevron Delo 400 15w-40 after doing some research. Thanks again!

 

[SkortchGT]

Aren't there two different formulas of the Delo 400? I think Chevron makes one, and Texaco makes the other. Any difference in the two? Is either one better then the other?

 

[Jelly]

HDEO stands for heavy duty engine oil as opposed to passenger car engine oil (PCEO).

There are many, many different Delo forumulations, names, and viscosity grades, but the best one for your car, and the only one widely avaiable in the U.S. is Chevron Delo 400 15w-40.

Check out: http://www.chevrontexacodelo.com/

 

[Jelly]

Just out of curiosity, what made you choose Delo over the other two?

 

[SkortchGT]

I chose Delo because I was reading how it has won some awards, and also has a good pour point. however my knowledge on oils is not very wide as of yet. Is there a specific brand you would recommend Jelly? Let me know and thanks again for your replies.

Oh, how is the shear strength on these oils? My 3000GT VR4 sometimes see's it's redline (7000 RPM). Engine is a 3.0

 

[Jelly]

How does a 4.3 HT/HS sound?? Now, I don't know if you know what that means, but it stands for high temperature/high shear, and is, basically, a rating of how an oil will do in these conditions.

A "rating" of 4.3 is pretty darn good (anyone will tell you this), and quite exceptional especially considering it is a mineral oil.

Among the 15w-40's, you basically have three top choices:

Delo 400, Delvac 1300, and Pennzoil Long-Life.

Rotella is also very good, but its cold temperature performance just isn't equal to the other three, so I don't recommend it that much.

All of these three are very similar though, with the exception of the Long-Life having quite a good dose of molybdenum in the additive package, that, at least in my experience, drastically reduces oil consumption in many engines...lowers it a little in some and a lot in others.

Delvac, at this moment, has the best cold cranking performance of the three, although by a very slight margin over Delo, which has a good little lead over Long-Life (Not saying Long-Life can't handle cold weather though!).

Go ahead and give Delo a try...if you still have oil consumption that isn't acceptable, try Long-Life.

 

[SkortchGT]

Very good info. 4.3 HT/HS is a darn good rating for a mineral oil. Looks like i'll give the Delo a try. I'm guessing it will provide good protection/conditioning for the seals in the engine? I would have never even thought to use or try an oil formulated for diesel engines before I found this site. It makes sense now though. Thanks!

 

[Motorbike]

Please let us know how you OHC Engine sounds with that heavy wt diesel oil in it during the cold of the PA winter when you start it up .

I would suggest sticking with the Maxlife 10-30 during the winter , it is an improved formulation with better cold start performance than it had in the past " technically a PAO blend " and since you plan to do a major overhaul you still want to protect the cylinder heads where the cam runs ect to help avoid replacement of the hard parts later .

Just my 2 cents

 

[SkortchGT]

When first starting up in the morning with the Maxlife 10w30, I get very slight valve lash adjuster tick for about two seconds, then it goes away, with is extremely common in the Mitsubishi 6G72 engine.

The hole on the valve lash adjuster is about as big as a pin head. Later in 1997 I believe, Mitsubishi changed the lash adjuster design with a bigger hole. The difference in the two can be seen here:

http://www.3sxperformance.com/engine-upper.asp

Scroll down past the ported and polished heads to see a comparison between the two lash adjusters.

As soon as it warms up enough to change the oil, I will definetly let you guys know how it works out. It's -10 today with the windchill. I can only change the oil in my driveway. The garage is packed full with car parts!

 

[Jelly]

I'm gonna have to kinda agree with Motorbike, and I don't know why I didn't catch this before.

If it's below 15F or so, I would not run even the best 15w-40's...just too much.

In winter, I think the best bet is Rotella-T Synthetic 5w-40.

Why?

Well, Maxlife would work just fine, but Rotella will protect better (turbo, hard driving) as well as keep new deposits forming while "cleaning" up the old stuff (150,000 miles...ring pack is probably "gunked up" like crazy, and internals probably look nasty) much better than the Maxlife.

[ January 25, 2004, 02:01 PM: Message edited by: Jelly ]

 

[Eiron]

Just ran across this post & I have to agree with Jelly's last recommendation. My neighbor also has the 3000GT & I've poked around in the engine a little bit.

In your area (like mine) I'd run the Shell Rotella T Syn 5W-40 year-round. You'll get better turbo lubrication both winter & summer, & should be able to go twice as long (easily) on intervals.

I also agree with Pablo, that you should run at least a single application of Auto-Rx before changing over to a better oil. I think you'll get more benefit from the better oil than if you simply switch, & your engine will be happier in the long run if you kick-start the cleaning process.

[ January 25, 2004, 07:01 PM: Message edited by: Eiron ]

 

[SkortchGT]

Isn't it bad to switch to a synthetic when the engine has lived it's life off of regular dino/petroleum oil? Not sure, just what I have heard.

Is the Shell Rotella T Synthetic 5w-40 a full synthetic oil? Or is the baseoil a group III?

I never heard of Auto-Rx, however I just began to read their site. Looks like a very nice product.

The valve seals in the engine, and the seals in the turbos are most likely very worn. Will the Shell oil protect the seals better then the MaxLife? The Rotella sounds like a very good oil.

 

[Jelly]

quote:

---

Originally posted by SkortchGT:
Isn't it bad to switch to a synthetic when the engine has lived it's life off of regular dino/petroleum oil? Not sure, just what I have heard.

Is the Shell Rotella T Synthetic 5w-40 a full synthetic oil? Or is the baseoil a group III?

I never heard of Auto-Rx, however I just began to read their site. Looks like a very nice product.

The valve seals in the engine, and the seals in the turbos are most likely very worn. Will the Shell oil protect the seals better then the MaxLife? The Rotella sounds like a very good oil.

---

Auto-Rx is definitely a good product, and, by all means, use it if you want. With that said though, I've never used it. Why? Well, on every single engine (old engines that were run on dino oil their entire life) that I switched over to a 5w-40 or 15w-40 HDEO, the oil has cleaned up the engine very, very good. I've never felt the need to run ARX.

You've been listening to people who know nothing about oil! Seriously though, issues arise in the terms of leaking/burning because of the previous oil not doing a good job. Seals get encased in a layer of varnish/deposits, and thus quickly dry out and no longer perform their job...when you switch over to a synthetic, it eventually cleans the deposits away, but then, you have no seals to, well, seal. With modern swealing/conditioning agents in the oil, this is less of a problem though.

Rotella-T 5w-40 is a group III oil...technically, not really a true synthetic, but the base oil in this 5w-40 is a different breed of group III that is actually pretty darn good, especially considering its $12/gallon price!

And, yes, in my opinion, the Rotella will first clean the seals much better but also protect the seals, once clean, better as well.

For your winters, you'll have to run a 5w-40, but once spring comes around, I'd definitely run a 15w-40 HDEO, either Delo, Delvac, or Long-Life.

I can't see the turbo lubrication once the oil is hot being much any different between the Rotella 5w-40 and the modern 15w-40's, unless you extended the change interval way on out. The 15w-40's will easily protect that turbo of yours.

 

[Patman]

What about the Rotella 0w40, how does it compare to their 5w40? I've never seen their 5w40 up here, only the 15w40 mineral and a 0w40 Rotella SB synthetic. (sold at Canadian Tire for $30 for a 4L jug)

 

[SkortchGT]

Looks like i'll go with the Rotella T Synthetic 5w40 in the winter, then switch over to a 15w-40 HDEO oil in the spring/summer. Most likely Delo or Delvac. I hope all the seals aren't TO worn once the synthetic cleans them up.

Right now i'm using a stock Mitsubishi oil filter. I'll pay very close attention to changing it more often at first once I start using the Rotella T, since it will be cleaning up the engine so much.

I just can't believe there is so much to learn/know about motor oil. I can talk all day about boost, ignition timing, ignition coils, spark plug gap, engine knock, tunning etc etc....

All this oil stuff is new to me. Glad I found this site and am learning so much!!