Recommended me some oil!

[Suren]

Hello people of BITOG! I'm new here and have done a little lurking on and off, basically enough to learn about blackstone laboratories and a few oils out there.

Anyways, down to business.

I drive a 90 Integra which currently has 120,000 miles on it. This car is my track toy so the only miles that are really put on it are hard high rpm track and autocross miles. I'm not sure what kind of oil was put in it before but it was serviced at Acura it's whole life. I'm also not sure what kind of oil I'd like to use and am in the process of trying stuff out. I'll be sending a sample out to blackstone to find out about OCI's and all that good stuff.

Anyways, since picking this baby up I have changed the oil with GC 10w40. This is per suggestions from friends, seems most honda guys run the thicker stuff but I'm skeptical and want to revert back to the OE recommended 5w30.

I wish I had done a bit more research about GC before purchasing my first batch. I had ended up buying the USA made stuff and it has been in the car for a track day and lots of high strain running. 1500 miles to be exact so far. There are some leaks that are starting to be more profound since the change and I have to attend to those. So far I've gone through 2 quarts of top-off. I may be burning some as well but I don't know for sure at this point.

And here's what the insides are like, I snapped a shot while checking valve clearances.

Cliffs:
1. 90 Integra
2. 5w30 every 3,000 miles
3. California
4. Hard driving mostly
5. Some moderate city driving
6. Few oil leaks

I'm in the process of doing 3 oil changes at 3,000 mile intervals to have a sample for blackstone to look at. Since I'm using the Made in USA stuff, should I dump it asap and find some real GC and start over? I'm only 1500 miles in on my first change. And do I go back to 5w30 OE recommended spec?

Also if you'd like to suggest a different oil for my particular driving please feel free. RP? M1? Redline? What's too much, what's not enough?

Thanks for your time!

Suren

 

[Johnny]

to BITOG

Never heard of GC 10W-40, just the 0W-30. I'm going to go out on the limb here and recommend Red Line 5W-30 for your application. I would run it longer that 3,000 miles though. Contact Dave at Red Line and tell him about your car and your application. Great folks to deal with.

 

[BobFout]

Totally stock engine?

 

[sicko]

Originally Posted By: Suren

This car is my track toy so the only miles that are really put on it are hard high rpm track and autocross miles.


When I read that my first thought was Red Line oil

 

[Ben99GT]

Redline 5W-30 would be my pick.

 

[Suren]

Originally Posted By: Johnny
Never heard of GC 10W-40, just the 0W-30.


Oops! I didn't even notice in the FAQ about GC that it was specified to 0w30 only, silly me.

So I'm just using Castrol Syntec 10w40 in that case. Now I'm confused, does the GC FAQ not apply to the other weights?

Originally Posted By: BobFout
Totally stock engine?


Yep. I/H/E will be done but that's about it, internals aren't touched. It's healthy for it's age and has a lot of omph! I've had a 91 Integra and a 96 Integra and not even the 96 had this much kick.

 

[BobFout]

Originally Posted By: Suren
Originally Posted By: BobFout
Totally stock engine?


Yep. I/H/E will be done but that's about it, internals aren't touched. It's healthy for it's age and has a lot of omph! I've had a 91 Integra and a 96 Integra and not even the 96 had this much kick.


For a stock engine putting out 130 to 140 HP, Redline and RP are overkill, M1 would be just fine. Once you start modding it, then you might see a need for a different oil.

 

[cafasco]

Rotella 5w/40

 

[ThirdeYe]

I run my B18 hard and I like the way Castrol Edge 5W-30 seems to be working in it. I'm on my 2nd fill of it and it sees its share of spirited driving and it gives me no trouble at all. Nice and smooth.

 

[OriginalRocket]

Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
I run my B18 hard and I like the way Castrol Edge 5W-30 seems to be working in it. I'm on my 2nd fill of it and it sees its share of spirited driving and it gives me no trouble at all. Nice and smooth.

Any oil your b18b1 did not like? I just got done with a 3000 OCI with M1 AFE 0w-30 Car did not like it at all. first 2000 miles where ok but as the oil got older (miles) more noise, a vibration at certain rpms and generally felt like it was a little low on power. Just changed the oil to Pennzoil Ultra and all problems have dissipated.

Same thing would happen when I used to do bulk dealer oil. Castrol GTX 5w-30. It's like you can feel when the oil has gone bad in the car.

I ran Royal purple 5w-30 for 7500 miles and never had any of the problems. I just don't want to pay their high price. I only got it due to a sale.

Oh yeah and the car is a '94 integra LS.

 

[calvinnnnnnnnn]

ahah this is an integra's owner club thread

Originalrocket-the worst feeling oil has to be castrol gtx/castrol syntec that i have felt in my car. Synpower is the smoothest of them all.

in your application i would run valvoline maxlife 5w-30 full synthetic. its a thick 30, so it will help with your leak/consumption. plus there are additives in there to swell up gaskets to stop/slow leaks. this oil will protect as good as any high end oil.

i run synpower 5w-30 in my 01 teg with 93k.

 

[CharBaby]

"Oops! I didn't even notice in the FAQ about GC that it was specified to 0w30 only, silly me".

"So I'm just using Castrol Syntec 10w40 in that case. Now I'm confused, does the GC FAQ not apply to the other weights?"

This is correct. Only Castrol Syntec 0W30 is German Castrol(GC) full synthetic made in...You guessed it, Germany! All other weights/grades of Castrol Syntec are made elsewhere.

 

[CharBaby]

Well, a little more to it than that! GC is supposedly NOT GroupIII SYN like the other Syntec's. It's a real synthetic, PAO or ESTER, I don't remember!

 

[sangyup81]

There are many better oils that you can use other than American made Castrol Syntec.

There are few oils that you can use that are better than German made Castrol Syntec.

 

[Suren]

Ok, awesome, I've got lots of different suggestions here so I've have some more research to do.

So far, I'm not liking this Castrol Syntec 10w40 that's for sure, vibrations at idle are up, even the idle rpm seems to have jumped up a bit when cold. The car may sometimes sit for serveral days w/o being started, initial startup was very rough with this oil once but that might have been because of the 10 weight.

A lot of Redline oil suggestions because of the way I use the car but I'm not sure if I want to step up to that kind of price range and quality if I don't need to. Reason being is because it is a stock motor, as BobFout put it, it might be overkill for this particular application even though it's driven hard. If I can stay in the range of a Walmart M1 5 quart jug and my OE Honda S2000 filter ~$30 oil change, I would be very happy if my engine is happy. If I have to run the better stuff however, I will.

Rotella I have heard nothing about so I will look into that, it seems to be in the range of the Redline stuff so I may hold off until I know for certain that I need it.

HAhah thanks integra owners club

I've been an integra guy since I was growing up and just getting into cars, weird how I'm still to this day only sticking to these things. I love 'em.
Thanks for the suggestions, I'm wanting to try the Edge 5w30 just because it's a Castrol so I can get a more consistent reading from Blackstone, if I change to a different oil for each oil change at this point I'm afraid I'm going to get a lot of mixed chemicals and additives in my UOA so it will be very confusing to read.

I'll see how my car likes the Edge 5w30 next oil change! If it fails, next change will be a M1 then a Valvoline Synpower or Maxlife and then I will start to move into the more expensive bracket if all else fails.


Thanks everyone,
Suren

If anybody else would like to drop another suggestion please feel free to do so!

 

[addyguy]

Just tossing ideas out there, but M1 High-Mileage 10W-30 might be good option. Very stout oil, and can be bought easily at Wal-Mart.

 

[Suren]

Originally Posted By: Suren

I'll see how my car likes the Edge 5w30 next oil change! If it fails, next change will be a M1 then a Valvoline Synpower or Maxlife and then I will start to move into the more expensive bracket if all else fails.


Actually, I think I will try working up the latter with the oils and go with (cheaper)M1 instead of the (expensive) Edge next and forget about the UOA until I've picked an oil, then run the cleaning stage, then send in the results.

Originally Posted By: addyguy
Just tossing ideas out there, but M1 High-Mileage 10W-30 might be good option. Very stout oil, and can be bought easily at Wal-Mart.


Ha! Beat me to it, I was just writing up my above response. I think that will be the way to go so I'm slowly working up and getting better and better oils. However, I think I want to stick with a 5w30 since I've had issues with start-ups with the 10w40 Syntec.

 

[hooligan24]

are you monitoring oil pressure and oil temperatures before and after a session on the track? How long are the sessions?

 

[ThirdeYe]

Thanks for letting us know about the 0W-30 Mobil 1 in your car. I have 8 quarts of it that I bought on Black Friday that I planned on using, but I've been hesitating because of some of the negative things I've been reading about excess noise/camshaft wear. They may be unfounded/not a big deal, but it still makes me worry. When I ran Syntec Blend last fall, it did seem a tiny bit noisier but it could've just been my imagination.

 

[Suren]

Originally Posted By: hooligan24
are you monitoring oil pressure and oil temperatures before and after a session on the track? How long are the sessions?


Right now I don't have any gauges but I'm looking into them. I'll definitely invest in a good Oil Temp gauge because I'd know what to look for as far as temperature is concerned. I haven't thought about an oil pressure guage though, do I need that? What would it do exactly? I'm not sure where the oil pressure is supposed to be so I wouldn't even know how to use it lol.

The sessions are 20 minutes each and there are 4 of them in one day. I'm running one day events at the moment but it's usually comprised of a weekend.

The California Summers are really brutal when temperatures start to reach 100 degrees, I can only imagine what the engines go through then.


After reading over Calvinnnnns post and looking into the Valvoline Max Life Full Syn, I really like what it's trying to sell me in their description so I think I might try that next... I want to see what these additives are about that are supposed to reduce oil burn off and help slow/stop my leaks.

Or

Should I go with Mobil 1 High Mileage? $27 at Walmart for a 5 qt jug vs $50 for a Case of 6 of the Valvoline... Decisions Decisions. Unless Walmart carries Valvoline Max Life Synthetic...? Hmm. I'll have to check.

Is the Mobil 1 a good alternative to Castrol Syntec or are they about the same?

Sorry if I have so many question lol.