oilman

Due to the cooling systems in cars being pretty good, the oil temp isn't usually that affected by higher ambient temps too much. Perhaps if it was a track car in Dubai or somewhere really hot, then I would suggest going to the next grade thicker, but with your air temps a 10w-50, 15w-50 or 10w-60 would be fine. Cheers Tim

People get excited about lesser things, Big Brother and Eastenders for example. Thanks for letting me know it arrived safely, they are a new courier for us, so we're keeping an eye on them. Cheers Tim

Thanks for the order and I'm glad I've helped out. If anyone is considering buying oil and is unsure of anything, feel free to ask or check our technical articles. Cheers Tim

That's a little odd, our databases all say 10w-60 and when we've recommended that to people in the past, it's been fine. If you're getting the oil pressure using a 10w-40 or 15w-50, go with those.

Ooops, I missed that you are in the US. I guess getting the Redline 10w-60 is easy enough for you? That would be my choice for your car, the only reason I didn't mention the Redline 10w-60 is because we don't stock it. Redline is as good a choice as anything on the market.

Absolutely right, the basestock isn't the whole story, there is the additive package as well. We've had a lot of oils tested and the ones we stock have not revealed anything off putting like high sulphur levels, low detergency etc. We get offered so many oils to sell that we can pick out the ones that give the good results, along with not being overly expensive. In many of the tests we've had done, part of the analysis will say things like 'very similar to Fuchs Pro S/Motul 300V etc'. That's a useful thing as chemically at least it will be very similar to the top products. We had a new one tested about 6 months ago and the results said it was good and on a par with the Pro S, but it was about £70 for 5L, so we couldn't justify selling it, we'd have no reason to recommend it over the well proven top end oils that are around £50. I would use one of the ester based 10w-60s as a top end choice for your car. Millers, Gulf and Castrol Edge (the one for M-Series, not the Edge Sport) are the best ones and with the offer on Gulf, that would be my pick of them. http://www.opieoils.co.uk/c-662-10w-60.aspx The Mobil and Castrol Edge Sport are both good synthetics, but they aren't ester based like the others. Cheers Tim

That is definately one of the best oils, others that are on a par are the Redline, Millers CFS, Motul 300V and Gulf Competition. Those are the top end ester oils and there really isn't anything better around. Others such as the Castrol Edge, Mobil 1, Amsoil are a step below them in basestock quality terms, but they are still very good oils. Here's a short article off our site about the basestock types http://www.opieoils.co.uk/pdfs/tech-articles/Basestock-categories-and-Descriptions.pdf Mike, if it's any interest to you, there is an offer that started on the Pro S today. http://www.opieoils.co.uk/t-Current-Offer.aspx Cheers Tim

Yes, it definately feels like it with certain people/companies/forums, but it's up to them if they want to take advantage of what we know, rather than what some guy said down the pub. I'd definately use either a running in oil or a basic mineral oil for the first 500/1000 miles, depending on how thorough you want to be. If you are going to use a good synthetic oil after that, you want to make sure it's run in as much as it can be. Millers CRO is a good option for running in. http://www.opieoils.co.uk/p-60229-millers-oils-cro-10w-40-competition-running-in-oil.aspx Using a synthetic in an engine that needs running in is a bad idea for a few reasons 1. They are too good and there won't be enough wear. 2. The bores can glaze 3. Too expensive to change often through the running in period. Cheers Tim

Things have definately moved on since the engine was made and we try to spec oils based on how things have advanced. There are too many people on the internet that claim to know a lot about oil, most of the information is out of date/just plain wrong and it's pretty difficult to pick out the correct stuff. Our information has to be good, otherwise if we recommend an oil that causes problems, we can be liable for costs. Esprit3, you sure that we spec based on mark up? Well, you're wrong. The largest mark up percentage is on pretty basic semi-synthetics rather than top end oils, especially as we reduce prices to get similar top end oils priced the same. By the time you add the forum discount we give, there definately isn't 60% mark up.We could sell more of the cheaper oils that don't last as long, so get replaced more often and we'd probably make more profit wise. We can vouch for the quality of the oils we sell based on oil tests we've had done, as well as reports back from customers and our sponsored drivers. Some of the sponsored drivers get their engines rebuilt every season and when we hear that the engine builder thought they'd only done a couple of races rather than the whole season, that's a pretty good indication of how good an oil is. Cheers Tim

They are different. In the US, some of the oils are ester based, none of the UK versions are. I can't comment on Japan as I don't know what they have over there.

It's doubtful that you would notice any difference, but it's not so much what you notice, it's more about how the car is protected by the oil.

We've been offered Royal Purple oils to sell and the UK supplier is on the same industrial estate as us so it would be easy, but we've had a few of their oils analysed and they aren't anywhere near as impressive as their advertising suggests. Their oils showed high sulphur content, which in the heat of an engine can produce acidic compounds, leading to increased wear. As their oils aren't great and cost a lot more than pretty much everything else, we can't see a reason to sell them. Mobil 1 in the UK are 100% synthetic oils. Their 0w-40, 15w-50 and 5w-30 oils have 100% PAO synthetic basestocks, they are not modified mineral oils. Other Mobil oils, ones that aren't labelled as Mobil 1, are made from modified mineral basestocks. Cheers Tim

Mobil has changed some of their oils fairly recently. The Mobil 1 0w-40 now meets some updated specs and is now called Mobil 1 New Life. Mobil 1 15w-50 has been discontinued and replaced with a 10w-60, not a good decision I believe as the 15w-50 was quite popular. A couple of others have been updated and renamed Synt S-->Super 3000, Super S --->Super 2000. Just because Lotus haven't tested an oil, it doesn't mean it's not suitable and it doesn't mean that it's not a better choice than what Lotus recommend. Manufacturers are paid by oil companies to promote their products (Castrol-> Ford & BMW, Mobil-> Merc & Aston, Shell->Ferrari, Caterham->Comma, etc etc etc) and it often comes down to the highest bidder supplying the oils. Redline were mentioned above and they are a company that don't get involved with the car manufacturers, but I would use their oils over pretty much every thing on the market. Cheers Tim

As Redline are a US brand, it should be easy enough to get hold of the MT-90 and it is a better quality oil

MT90 is a great oil, solves shifting issues in many cars and is a very good choice in gearboxes that are working fine.