what oil HURT your engine?....the real question!

D

DR BOOST

Technical advisor
Joined
Aug 2, 2001
Every week we get someone in here asking what oil to run and people respond with a million different answers. So the real question is.....has anyone run a certain weight or brand of oil that they feel caused damage to their turbo v6's?

I have been told not to run synthetic oil and i have no personal experience to back this up.

I have run 10w-30 in at least a dozen engines with no oil related failures.

I have run 20w-50 oil and noticed slower spool up. confirmed by switching back to 10w-30.

that is all i have to offer.

i have a feeling this may end up being a quiet thread.
 
10-30 Amsoil in the stage engine, Dutt pump, no issues.
10-40 dino oil in the streeter, 231, earl Brown modded stock pump...No problems, but not a lot of miles since new.
 
I use this thick stuff and go 10-30 over the winter. Im sure Im killing the oil pump, damaging seals, loosing 83hp. 5 years and still running mid tens... street driven a lot! In fact...time to go to Home Depot.
 

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I've been using Mobil 1 10w30 since my 1st oil change 29 years ago. 75,000 miles 400 1/4mi and 1/8 mi passes. 550hp. All stock unopened motor from the intake down. Maybe I'm just lucky? But I'm a believer in Mobil 1 [emoji846]


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Looks like the posters misread the thread title. He wants people to chime in that actually had failures because of the oil.
 
I haven't had any oil related failures no matter what I've used in any engine. The only "never do this" I know of is do not use brad penn when running E85. Supposedly documented and confirmed by brad penn oil themselves?
 
I dont think anyone can say that about an oil Brand or weight. Detonation, low oil level, not changing the oil, poor clearances, or defective filters. To blame a brand or weight, not really possible if you ask me. Blame your "Tuna!"

OP What did Buick tell you to put in it? Did you follow that...goes downhill from there. Its all the same filled from a 55 gallon drum in the back room anyway....
 
I think you would be hard pressed to definitively prove an brand or weight of engine oil hurt your engine. I would guess the worst would be using extremes on the weight ie; too heavy or too light. Most TB people I know are running in the 30 or 40 weight range, both dino and synth without any failures that can be blamed on the oil. I can say I went from 30 to 40 and gained a few pounds of oil pressure at hot idle.
 
For me it was a combination of 20W-50 oil, high pressure oil pump spring, and a HV pump. It was destroying the cam sensor gear. Cold oil pressure pegged the gauge.

Fixed by going to 15W-40 oil, standard oil pressure spring, and an external oil line for a gear squirt-er.

One well known gentleman on here recently lost his car when using 20W-50 with a stock type oil filter. Oil filter gasket popped and oiled down the track on the launch. Although I'm not sure if the engine was hurt due to lack of oil pressure.

RemoveBeforeFlight
 
BEATAV8 said:
I haven't had any oil related failures no matter what I've used in any engine. The only "never do this" I know of is do not use brad penn when running E85. Supposedly documented and confirmed by brad penn oil themselves?
Click to expand...
I have been running e85 and brad penn for 4 years in multiple cars.
 
Pronto said:
I think you would be hard pressed to definitively prove an brand or weight of engine oil hurt your engine...........
Click to expand...

Your statement is hard to refute, but I have had 2 experiences with synthetic oil that has a direct personal effect on me, and basically ruined 2 engines I know about.

The first one was in 1980 when a sales guy came into my shop selling Amsoil. He was adamant it would help my tired Ford tow truck double its life by using it.

Less than 1000 miles and it was smoking so much it was banned from the street. Of course he would not stand behind his iron-clad warranty, and I ran his ass out of the shop.

That left me thinking, why spend 2 or 3 times as much for synthetic oil as I had over 200K miles on other engines with regular oil?

Currently, I have here a high-end turbo car with all the "good stuff", and a very expensive engine built by a well know shop, but installed by someone else. It was started and run-in on Royal Purple.

The frustrated owner had the car towed 1000 miles here to resolve this issue.

With just over 200 miles on this new engine, it would cover the car with smoke at a stop light. There is not one sign of a hone mark in any cylinder, as the walls look like a mirror finish?

At this point, is it because of the synthetic oil, or the process the original engine builder used of not doing a proper job preparing/machining this new engine block?

We suggest not to use synthetic oil with our engines, but the owners will do what want as far as oil.

My concern is to change the oil when it is contaminated, which can be a little as 1000 miles with performance builds and driving, and it makes no interval difference with regular or synthetic oil, as they both are ready for change about the same time.
 
Well, no oil is going to help and old wornout engine, you got duped on that one. Sounds like that customer got bum advice. Absolutely the contamination is the biggest factor!
 
RmvBfrFlght said:
For me it was a combination of 20W-50 oil, high pressure oil pump spring, and a HV pump. It was destroying the cam sensor gear. Cold oil pressure pegged the gauge.

Fixed by going to 15W-40 oil, standard oil pressure spring, and an external oil line for a gear squirt-er.

One well known gentleman on here recently lost his car when using 20W-50 with a stock type oil filter. Oil filter gasket popped and oiled down the track on the launch. Although I'm not sure if the engine was hurt due to lack of oil pressure.

RemoveBeforeFlight
Click to expand...
What exactly was your gauge pegged at? My gauge goes up to 120 I believe. Im using 20w-50. 75-80psi cold. 25-30psi warm. Using 10w I was all the way down at 15 warm. So far no issues. Obviously I switch for 10w-30 for winter though.
 
I peg my 80psi gauge as well at cold start. 10w40 in my pan.

Nick, if he used the Royal Purple break-in oil, I wonder why it was such an issue. The RP break in is the ONLY product that they make that is not a synthetic oil. I would imagine its like any other oil for that purpose..
 
I see almost no suggestions for 5W30, which is OEM recommended weight, isn't it? I just put Mobil 1 synthetic 5W30 when I did my oil change this summer...pretty much everything is stock except for an AXiS box & chip and LS1 MAF sensor and 3.5" intake with K & N cone filter. This car is only summer-driven. Should I be using 10W30 like many of the suggestions above, or am I fine with 5W30?
 
The WORST brand of oil out there, that has killed many many engines, is 10W-30 Know-Oil. That crap is so bad for any engine. Met lots of folks who have run it, and swear to never try it again!!!!!
 
I think any weight of Know-Oil will pretty much ruin your engine. Don't know why people even try it.
 
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