Which oil is recommended, 211,000mi.?

[Geonerd]

You might try something like M1 0w-40, GC 0W-30 (a thick 30w), various, somewhat rare, 0/5W-50 oils, or similar. Some of Redline's stuff also combines good cold flow and high HTHS.
http://www.redlineoil.com/content/files/tech/Motor Oil Product Data.pdf

The combination of 0W and Syn implies "thin at low temp," which might reduce the 20 seconds of heavy metal noise at startup.

Once the engine has warmed, the 40+w should help your bearings a little.

IF your main bearings really are significantly damaged, nothing short of axle grease is likely to stop their continued degradation. You might slow the rot, but I'd start saving my pennies for a teardown.

 

[Cheezit]

I was once told by a mechanic that the bearings were rather worn, and since then I have run 10W-40 instead of the 5W-30 the manual says to run. Would Rotella 5W-40 be more ideal than the 10W-40?
Would the 0W-40 be the ideal oil over the Rotella 5W-40?
So far the Rotella 5W-40 and the M1 0W-40 have been recommended.

Do they both do follow the same logic? (thin at low temp./ stick to moving parts when the engine is hot)
My car has 211K miles. Why do people switch from 5W-30 to 10W-40, instead of 5W-30 to 5W-40 when the engine is considered to be high mileage?

 

[Astro14]

Originally Posted By: Cheezit
Hi, I have a 1991 Nissan SR20DE engine with 211,000mi. API SG, 5W-30 is the recommended weight according to the service manual, but with high miles I was advised to run 10W-40. I have been running 10W-30 and 10W-40 Castrol GTX and changing it every 3000 to 3500 miles.
I believe it has a bad crank end bearing, and I know that the timing tensioner is loose.

Now, with the bad crank end bearing, I need to know if a lighter, faster moving oil would be better or a thicker oil would be better.
I have also used L***s Oil Stabilizer with the understanding that it would reduce the wear. I have heard differing opinions regarding using an oil stabilizer. Please advise.

Upon start-up, my oil light stays on for about 20 seconds and then it goes off and stays off as long as the engine is warm and running. The engine rattles more loudly during this 15-20 seconds time, and then it smooths out a bit.

I live in North Carolina, not in the mountains or at the beach, just in between. There are gradual hills and flat spaces as far as the geography. I usually make short trips, and I keep the rpm's below 3000 in city and up to 3800 on highway.

Thank You


20 seconds!?!? That engine has issues...or you've turned the oil into molasses...that light should go out in 1, maybe 2 seconds...heck, on every car I own, it's out before I can release the key on engine start...I get oil pressure when I am just cranking the Packard...

How do you know the crank end bearing is bad?

If there's excessive clearance in the bearing, then thicker is going to be better, but without knowing the bearing is bad, it's hard to say. I've run my Toyota truck (235K miles) on 10W30 (recommended) in the summer - oil pressure is fine, it has a 10W40 in it now (also recommended) because I got the oil on sale...and the oil pressure is just a bit higher, as you would expect. When the truck was in cold country - it got a 5W30 or 0W30 for real winter (think -25) starts and the pressure was fine when warm...

If your OM recommends a 10W40, as mine does, for summer driving, then I would use that and keep doing what you're doing....but I would skip the stabilizer on your next change and see if that light goes out quicker on start-up - 20 seconds of zero pressure is going to kill this poor thing, at which point, you won't have worry about what oil to put in it any more...

I would love to know exactly what the pressure is on start-up and when idling with a fully warmed engine...any chance of getting a gauge on it?

 

[Cheezit]

http://youtu.be/g77dRpUWfNk

You can listen to the noise here. I posted on TheCarGuy's forum, and folks there suggested that the noise was a bad crank end bearing. A mechanic once told me the bearings were worn. The engine rattles loudly sometimes, but not always. That's the confusing thing. It does not do this always, and it does not knock like it would if the bearings were bad, according to the mechanic I spoke to today. Very strange. I will be bringing it in for a diagnosis soon.

I have been told that because there is no knocking, the bearings are not bad, and that this suggests that the oil pump is making the noise, not the bearings. (the 2 drive belts are off.)
I have also been advised that the noise may be the crank pulley separating from the dampener on the crank shaft, but the noise sounds more like a failing pump.

Today, I took off the oil pan and banged a dent out of it that made the base of the oil pan press right up against the oil uptake. I was advised that the oil pump was probably not getting the oil it should have been getting. (there was a defined mark on the base of the oil pan that matched the uptake's shape --> I had jacked up the engine to change the engine mounts and bent the oil pan by doing so.)

When I put the oil pan back on, I'll be able to tell if removing the dent made a difference in the noise on the video.

As far which oil I will use now, it depends on what the mechanic at the shop says regarding the bearings. If they are good, I'll start with 5W-30 High Mileage, and go to 10W-40 MaxLife if I start using too much oil.
If the bearings are bad I'll try Rotella 5W-40 or something heavier. (Advance Auto recommended 20W-50 for summertime and 10W-40 for winter if the bearings are bad.)
If this does not sound like the thing to do, please let me know. (The OE recommendation is 5W-30, but I have 211,000 miles on the car. I've been told 10W-40 due to the high mileage, but with the bearing issue 5W-40 comes to mind.) The mechanic who first told me the bearings were worn recommended using 15W-50, so I did. I might do so again depending on what the diagnosis is for my car.

i appreciate any and all advice. Thanks.

 

[Cheezit]

I drained the oil, took off the lower oil pan, cleaned it and the baffle. More importantly, I banged out the dent that was starving the oil pick-up from getting enough oil. I put the lower pan and baffle back on and put on a new liquid gasket.
I did not take off the upper oil pan and the rod caps to check for damage. I don't own a torque wrench, so I decided to not to investigate. If it screws up or if that rattling noise I would hear upon start-up comes back, I know where I'll look first.

(When the rattling noise would happen at start-up, I would turn off the ignition, turn it over again. If the engine still rattled, I would turn it off and on until the rattling no longer happened when I started the car. Someone once suggested it was a timing chain guide that was loose and rattling, but I never had it diagnosed. What was weird was that it did not always happen, and that it would go away. It was a very bad sound, like a harsh, metallic rattle/purr. It's not happening now.)

The noise on the video has gone away, and equally as important, the oil light does not stay on for the 25 seconds after start-up like I was doing before.
I banged the dent out of the oil pan and put in 5W-40 Shell Rotella synthetic oil. I had 10W-30 with Lucas before. Not using Lucas anymore, just the 5W-40 Rotella. The engine sounds good with the new oil.
I appreciate all the advice and suggestions. This is a great resource.

 

[Cheezit]

The noise in the video has stopped.
I banged the dent out of the oil pan, cleaned the grime out of the base of it and cleaned the both baffle and the lower part of the upper oil pan with carb cleaner. I replaced the oil with Rotella 5W-40 because I had been told that the bearings are worn.
(When I had the lower oil pan off, the interior looked like it had been painted black. I don't know if it was supposed to look like that, but the mark in the oil pan where the oil pan had been pressed against the oil uptake showed the silvery steel beneath the black layer.)

Regarding the noise on the video, once I had the new oil in the engine, the noise disappeared. I ran the engine without the drive belts on (at idle and given throttle), and I did not hear the noise that can be heard on the video I posted. I have replaced the drive belts, and the noise is still not heard.
I believe the tension on the belts is right because there is no whine that increases with rpm's.
What's better is that the oil light no longer stays on for 20+ seconds at start-up. It goes off after one second.

I have been told the timing tensioner is probably loose. In the past there has been has been a rattle-knock at times, but I could somehow get it to go away by turning the ignition off and on. (The rattling that I would hear at start up was a harsh sound and could be described as a fast knock, but it was not a slow, deep-pitched knock; instead, it was more like a higher pitched "metallic rattle".) What is strange is that this rattling that I associate (correctly or incorrectly) with a loose chain guide or tensioner does not always happen.
It seems that the noise would always be heard if it were the tensioner and/or guide. If it happens again, I will be sure to make a video of it and post it on a new thread.

Would a worn bearing always cause a knock sound, or would it come and go?

Thanks for all the help. I really appreciate it.

 

[hattaresguy]

It sounds like an old shot motor, don't beat on it and change the oil with whatever is cheapest when you feel like it. Not going to hurt it or save it at this point.

I'd favor heaver oils, like 10w40 or even 20w50.