Which engine oil?

[Cos]

The time has come again to change my engine oil. Problem is, I can't find the lotus recommended grade of oil.

This is all I can find out here! Damn it!

What would you do?

[troutrou]

Well the first thing I would ask is : on which one of your Esprit do you want to change the oil ?  I mean, I don't know much about the old S1 so there is a possibility that the oil recommendation is a bit different from the much more recent GT3.

 

If it's for a recent 4 pot then from memory it is the Castrol Edge "Formula RS" 10W60.  It's available online so what I would do is simply take the time to order it on-line, the oil can wait a few days, no need to rush and take any chances in this case. When the recommended stuff is available and there is no emergency like here, the choice is simple :-)

Edited April 21, 2014 by Vince

[Cos]

Sorry. I forgot to mention. It's for a GT3.

The climate out here is warm. 10 Celsius minimum in the winter and 40 Celsius in the summer.

I can only get Mobile 1 0W40 or ESP 5W30

It's not much of a choice!

Well the first thing I would ask is : on which one of your Esprit do you want to change the oil ?  I mean, I don't know much about the old S1 so there is a possibility that the oil recommendation is a bit different from the much more recent GT3.

 

If it's for a recent 4 pot then from memory it is the Castrol Edge "Formula RS" 10W60.  It's available online so what I would do is simply take the time to order it on-line, the oil can wait a few days, no need to rush and take any chances in this case. When the recommended stuff is available and there is no emergency like here, the choice is simple :-)

[Sir Paolo]

Our friend Budsy started an oil poll in the Giugiaro section.

It might be worth checking this out as it's basically the same engine.

FWIW- having done my own investigation I use Fuchs Titan Pro R 15w50, it's recommend by the techie chaps at OPiE for this application too.

[Vanya]

I run Mobil 1 5W50 rallysport. Only summer use 5-30 'C for my part. Using it the last two years. No issues...

[Jacques]

I use Castrol Edge FST 10W60

Previous owner used Mobil 1 rallye 5W/50

 

My car is an 1990 se in standard trim.

I religiously change oil every 5000 km or minimum twice a year and only use original oilfilters.

My Laverda motorcycle every 2500 km (no oilfilter) and twice a year minimum.

Normally these oils are really expensive here in Denmark, but I've found a guy (landberg.dk) WHO sell them cheaper and containing 5 liter in stead of 4 liter per bottle. I'm sure you could do the same.

 

Kind regards,

Jacques.

[andydclements]

Sorry. I forgot to mention. It's for a GT3.

The climate out here is warm. 10 Celsius minimum in the winter and 40 Celsius in the summer.

I can only get Mobile 1 0W40 or ESP 5W30

It's not much of a choice!

Club Lotus actually have a little article on this, written by a certain person who knows his stuff, by the name of Brian Angus. Page 41 of the April 2014 edition.

 

I'm not going to copy it all out, the idea is to purchase membership, but the bottom line if minium SAE50 (so 10w/60 or 15w/50 meet that.

[Bibs]

http://www.clublotus.co.uk/cln/2014_No2.pdf

 

The mag is free to read online nowadays...