To RP or not to RP

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: ChattZX
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Definitely go with the RP 20W50. That`s what I`ve been running and it runs smooth as silk in my car. Imo where RP shines is if you do alot of wot driving. I sent in a sample from my last oil change of RP 20W50 to Blackstone about 2 weeks ago. I hope they hurry up with my results. I`m dying to know! This is my first ever uoa. I have a feeling I wasted good oil though,because it had only about 3 months/3200 miles on it,BUT it was all short trips to and from work. I still have a glass jar of it and it`s still clear and purple when I hold it up to a light.


Maybe its just me but I think 20W-50 is a bit heavy for our Z's. You must track it often or live in a very very hot climate to use that sort of weight.


After this fill I`ll probably use Pennzoil yb 10W40. I`ll see what my uoa looks like to see if I really need a synthetic oil. I definitely drive my Z the way it`s meant to be driven. God knows I don`t abuse it,but I don`t drive it like a grocery getter either :^)

 

[Rp1990]

I been using 3 time of 10w40 rp oil in my Nissan maxima n I don't have problem in fact I like it n I'll keep using rp from now on. When my baby get old I'll be opening valve cover can't wait to see it. I'm soon be using 0w40 when winter come in.



I think u should give try 5w30 xpr oil or 5w30 rp oil.

Anyway how much u paying for 10w40 xpr oil if u don't mind asking u that?

 

[Jeffs2006EvoIX]

Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: Jeffs2006EvoIX
I am not sure how to actually get an accurate oil pressure reading. I don't really want to be taking hoses off and experimenting. If I don't put something back just right I could lose a a very expsensive turbo. I would leave the PSI tests to the pros. But thats just me.


Are you saying you've got a turbocharged car that only has an idiot light and no form of pressure gauge?!?!? Amazing how the manufacturers are cheaping out these days. And kinda unbelievable.

And even if it weren't a turbo, if you are autocrossing a car it should have an oil pressure gauge permanently installed. Every car really should have one truthfully, but if you drag race, autocross, tow, or do anything else even halfway demanding it should be mandatory.



Nope, no oil pressure guage, just an Oil Temp guage. My friend and tuner who is the Redline Time attack champ for the wsest coast, who races his Evo 8 RS uses no additonal guages in his Race Car. Only the OEM guages, for Boost, oil temp and volts, of which he doesn't even really look at. He states that most guages are not very accurate anyway, and when your racing at triple digit speeds around a blind turn at Willow springs, who has time to look at a stupid guage. haha.

Not many Japanese vehicles come from the factory with an oil pressure guage that I know of. Maybe the Z in that little cluster they have on the dash, but none that I know of.

 

[Jeffs2006EvoIX]

Originally Posted By: Rohan
I been using 3 time of 10w40 rp oil in my Nissan maxima n I don't have problem in fact I like it n I'll keep using rp from now on. When my baby get old I'll be opening valve cover can't wait to see it. I'm soon be using 0w40 when winter come in.



I think u should give try 5w30 xpr oil or 5w30 rp oil.

Anyway how much u paying for 10w40 xpr oil if u don't mind asking u that?


RP XPR 10/40 runs about $15 per qt.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: Jeffs2006EvoIX
Originally Posted By: 440Magnum
Originally Posted By: Jeffs2006EvoIX
I am not sure how to actually get an accurate oil pressure reading. I don't really want to be taking hoses off and experimenting. If I don't put something back just right I could lose a a very expsensive turbo. I would leave the PSI tests to the pros. But thats just me.


Are you saying you've got a turbocharged car that only has an idiot light and no form of pressure gauge?!?!? Amazing how the manufacturers are cheaping out these days. And kinda unbelievable.

And even if it weren't a turbo, if you are autocrossing a car it should have an oil pressure gauge permanently installed. Every car really should have one truthfully, but if you drag race, autocross, tow, or do anything else even halfway demanding it should be mandatory.



Nope, no oil pressure guage, just an Oil Temp guage. My friend and tuner who is the Redline Time attack champ for the wsest coast, who races his Evo 8 RS uses no additonal guages in his Race Car. Only the OEM guages, for Boost, oil temp and volts, of which he doesn't even really look at. He states that most guages are not very accurate anyway, and when your racing at triple digit speeds around a blind turn at Willow springs, who has time to look at a stupid guage. haha.

Not many Japanese vehicles come from the factory with an oil pressure guage that I know of. Maybe the Z in that little cluster they have on the dash, but none that I know of.


I think you're missing the point of how an oil pressure gauge can be beneficially used. You don't stare at it while you're racing... or even driving most of the time. The idiot light/chime is there to get your attention if something goes suddenly and drastically wrong. You glance at it coming back in to the pits, or sitting at a traffic light, or maybe on the highway. You see where it normally runs when you fire it up cold, and where it normally runs both at idle and at speed when the oil is fully hot. And you just note any differences from "normal," it doesn't even have to be a precision gauge, just so long as its consistent. My Jeeps both have the basic factory electric gauges, which are probably not accurate to within +/-10 PSI, but DO read the same day in and day out and can indicate a change of just a couple of PSI from their normal reading. My vintage 440s both have much more accurate aftermarket mechanical (capillary tube) oil pressure gauges. The wife's PT has no gauge... but she wouldn't look at it anyway (fortunately she doesn't read this...

An oil pressure gauge can be a HUGE benefit for a hard-worked engine, because you can watch how your oil pressure behaves day in and day out. If it suddenly starts running 10 PSI lower than it has been under the same conditions, you know you have a serious oil system problem developing even if the pressure is still 20 PSI above where it would turn on the idiot light. The solution to the problem may be REALLY simple, such as an internally collapsed filter (been there, done that). If you detect a problem like that early enough, getting the warning and changing a collapsed $5 filter saves you from spending $5000 on a new engine. I can stand here and tell you that an oil pressure gauge has done that for me PERSONALLY, so I'm a big believer. Even a sudden increase in oil pressure can be a warning, such as a sign that a crankshaft main bearing has rotated in the block closing off one of the bearing oil feed holes. The factory idiot light is just that- it tells you that you've been an idiot for not monitoring the condition of your engine with better instrumentation.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: Jeffs2006EvoIX
just an Oil Temp guage.


Man I`d LOVE to have an oil temp guage on my car! That`s awesome! My `86 300ZX turbo had oem oil pressure and oil temp guages. I find a temp guage is much more useful than a pressure guage,especially seeing as oil pressure sending units are never accurate.

 

[Jeffs2006EvoIX]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: Jeffs2006EvoIX
just an Oil Temp guage.


Man I`d LOVE to have an oil temp guage on my car! That`s awesome! My `86 300ZX turbo had oem oil pressure and oil temp guages. I find a temp guage is much more useful than a pressure guage,especially seeing as oil pressure sending units are never accurate.


Exactly my point, Oil Pressure sending units are a good "approximate" not exact, but I do see where having BOTH would be better. But for my car a decent one would run about $300. I will consider it. The Oil temp guage, I do use Daily to keep tabs on the Turbo Journal "approximate" temps. Before shutting the car off.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: Jeffs2006EvoIX
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: Jeffs2006EvoIX
just an Oil Temp guage.


Man I`d LOVE to have an oil temp guage on my car! That`s awesome! My `86 300ZX turbo had oem oil pressure and oil temp guages. I find a temp guage is much more useful than a pressure guage,especially seeing as oil pressure sending units are never accurate.


Exactly my point, Oil Pressure sending units are a good "approximate" not exact, but I do see where having BOTH would be better. But for my car a decent one would run about $300. I will consider it. The Oil temp guage, I do use Daily to keep tabs on the Turbo Journal "approximate" temps. Before shutting the car off.




Oil pressure gauges are just as exact as you pay for... just like cheap oil temperature gauges aren't exact either. Furthermore pressure gauges convey much more meaningful and useful information to the driver. If you over-temp the oil to 300 degrees F, the worst that happens is you should change it at 3000 miles instead of 6000. If you lose oil pressure, your engine is a seized piece of slag within a couple of minutes. 99.99% of the cars on the road have no use whatsoever for an oil temperature gauge, but EVERY car on the road could benefit from an oil pressure gauge.

 

[shpankey]

RP XPR 10w40 is an awesome oil and is made to handle alcohol, methanol injection, nitrous etc (as is their 5w20 XPR I believe). But since you took off the WMI (can I ask why btw?) I woul switch to the 5w30 XPR, which isn't designed for meth etc but still is the extremely high quality Group V synthetic basestock (the best basically) with an awesome add pack. This falls more in line with what your car calls for but without the whole "designed for methanol" thing. M1 5w30 is not a favorite of mine at all, in fact, it's about on the bottom of my list of synthetics (though I do like the AFE and HM formula's a lot).

There is a lot of noise on scooby forums about M1 5w30 and spun bearings and overall poor performance, and the whole high Fe issue that arises with it on many engines. But if you can't afford the XPR line of RP, maybe the regular line of RP when it goes on sale at O'Reilly's with the K&N filter could fit the bill. Otherwise, my votes would be for you the Castrol Edge 10w30, as it has a fantastic add pack (better than the Edge 5w30 for some reason too) and it is by far the quietest oil I've ever ran, and I've run pretty much every major brand. I bring this up only because you mention engine noise.

You will read many accounts on this forum about Castrol Edge being "smooth" and especially "quiet". It really is for me, and it's not in my head, I took out some Edge 10w30 from my wifes SUV and put in M1, without her knowing, and that same day she asked me what I did to her truck and why it seemed louder now. RP's regular line of oil is also well known for being smooth and quiet. So basically, if you can afford it, try RP 5w30 XPR, if that's too much, try the regular RP 5w30, if that's too much, Edge is on sale currently with a M1 EP filter, so grab some 10w30 Edge with the filter for $30 at O'Reilly's and go with that. All my opinion btw. Good luck bud, nice car btw!

 

[AzFireGuy79]

To the OP- Not knocking RP, but there are much better group V oils out there than XPR. $15 per quart???? Im not going to steer you to one brand. Just look around at true Group V oils and you will see RP isn't in the same league. Your decision though.

 

[d00df00d]

Originally Posted By: shpankey
There is a lot of noise on scooby forums about M1 5w30 and spun bearings and overall poor performance, and the whole high Fe issue that arises with it on many engines.

I would agree that Mobil 1 5w30 probably isn't the best choice for this engine. I just want to say I'm pretty sure the Subaru stories are bunk, and the high Fe thing is a bit spurious.

The Subaru thing seems to have come from people who did a lot of high speed cornering without the appropriate oil system mods to prevent oil starvation. They also happened to be running Mobil 1 at the time. Needless to say, the engines blew. After having the engines rebuilt, the owners switched oils... and also installed oil pan baffles and/or stopped running at the track. Surprise surprise, no more oil starvation, and no more blown engines... and for some reason, they attribute this to switching away from Mobil 1 5w30 (or synthetics in general) rather than the mods or the changes in driving style.

The high iron thing might have something to it, as there is some completely separate evidence that valvetrain protection hasn't been a strong point for this particular grade of Mobil 1. However, the high iron reputation is mostly based on iron PPM numbers from Blackstone reports, which tell you pretty much nothing about what's actually going on in your engine. Besides, the formula seems to have been tweaked recently, so all those UOAs are outdated anyway.

Just FTR.