Hi guys whats a good engine oil for a AU engine that has a new crank, conrods and bearings that had around 150,000-170,000kms on it etc.

Thanks.

Righto you guys are going shake your heads in disbelief.

This EL Street Stock I'm developing, the Owner worked at Car Rental's and he ran what ever was available at work in his Streety.

The engine's Head was freshened up a few meetings back by a Pro(?) but the Oil wasn't changed so I don't know what's in the Sump. I pulled the Dipstick and the Oil is Charcoal and gritty.

I race Hillclimbs in a Satria GTi and I run it and my work hack (L300) on Penrite 0-50 and the engines in both are quiet as a mouse. Satria cops a few revs but the L300 probably doesn't do much at all rpm or load wise. I run a Magnetic Filter in the Satria and it was money well spent. Both my cars have Slick 50 in the Engine as have all my cars (and Wife's) for the last 20 years or so.

So what do I set this EL up on and which Filter?

Original spec oil for it was 10W30.

If the oil is charcoal and gritty....I'd just put some 15W40 Everyday in it and see what it like after a few runs......cheap n easy way to suck it n see.

just bought kendall 10-40 gt-1 high performance oil . 7.6 litres for $48.00. sounds like the ducks guts to use in my ba turbo (i hope )

- in the interests of giving people as much info as possible and with regards to lifter noise etc. I don't know exactly what the go is as far as whether thicker is better or thinner is better - but several years ago I decided to flush my ED's oil system by the old Landrover method of running Diesel thru it.

The engine was quite warm but not just run hot.

I drained the oil, filled it with diesel, started it - idled it for about a minute, drained the sump, refilled with diesel again, fitted new oil filter and ran it for about 5 minutes - with a few times gently bringing revs up to 2000.

It ran smooth and quiet with NO lifter noise and normal oil pressure.

Oddly enough it NORMALLY used to click a couple times on startup at any temperature and give an occasional click at idle once warm - but with the diesel in it she was quiet - yet when I did the oil fill below - it went back to making a click or two on start and an occasional tap at idle - including right then - go figure.

I then drained it, filled with oil, ran it for 5 mins, drained again, fitted another new oil filter and refilled finally with oil and away I went. I've always used Pennzoil 15W40 (and yes I sacrificed a batch of oil and a filter to do this flush).

I'm NOT advocating people should flush their engines with diesel - my point is that having SEEN an I6 which clicks a bit with oil in it run completely quiet with something as low viscosity as diesel in it, I'd be careful about making arbitrary assumptions like thicker oil will shut lifters up etc....

Flow and pressure are the significant factors - and in certain situations thicker ISN'T necessarily going to be best for either - ie. oil pressure from the inlet passage to a bearing or lifter back to the pump (ie. ur guage reading) might be fine, but there might be a big drop from there to the other side of the bearing or lifter - with the result that you'll be headscratching about having good pressure but bearing knock or lifter rattle.

I'd say that if you're noticing diminished oil pressure when hot - with or without noises - then try "heavier" oil before looking at the pump itself - but if you're getting noises but have good pressure then actually try slightly "lighter" oil... And if there isn't anything amiss to begin with, don't assume that going to heavier oil just because of the age of the engine will be a good thing to do just for the hell of it - you might actually start to CAUSE oil supply issues thru bearings and lifters.

I guess that in theory, in a really gunked up old POS engine thinner oil might actually HELP - by making it easier to get decent volume/flow past partially blocked passages and openings.

what oil?

2001 au xr6

195,000

manual

No lifter noise ATM (wanna to keep it like that), not overly quite but sounds healthy.

Generally run 95, but am trying 98 a bit.

daily driver, has a few long runs (i.e. 400km trip once a month)

thank you that is very help full as I was looking at doing my first oil change in our BA 6cyl

I plan on doing mine every 6 months regardless of ks because I live in a remote town and do not do so many ks

The car has only got 160000 ks and i want to keep it for some time

I have one question my old magna 4cyl I used to buy woolies cheap oil it had done 300,000 ks and every 6 months I changed it but even though I had not done many ks it seemed to break down

is that because so many short trips ?/

and I never burned any oil my only concern was if we had to go to Adelaide or out of town I was not comfortable it would make it during a really hot summer so we sold it

if its a non turbo , castrol magnatec 10w-40 would be fine .used to run that in my au xr 6 with no problems at all . used to drain the oil at 5000 klm and fitted a new oil filter at the same time

That cheapo woollies oil was breaking down because it is horrible useless s hit - my Mum got me to do an oil change on her Nissan Pulsar many years ago - she had the oil and a filter - bought from Woolies - with the assistance of a shop person. The oil WAS the correct spec - I did check that - so I did the oil and filter change - then got a call 2 days later form her that the engine was making noise. I went over immediately and discovered NO OIL on the dipstick. Looked around and there was no evidence of leakage - ie. not even any on the ground under the car. She had driven it a total of about an hour since my having done the change.

I went and got some brand name oil and another filter from Repco - did another oil / filter change - and it was all fine for the next six months until next scheduled change.

Hi all My AU2 4.0 70k km. Was using nulon 10 40 full syn, but seemed to thin. So added a litre of 15 40 semi syn for added mineral consistency, and now its running better, quieter, the thicker oil has seemed to add compression, and the revs are more mediated. As I suspected the engines were designed in 2000, and wouldn't recommend specified 10 30 - 10 40, full syn with out a mineral base added. Been chasing the issue in my engine for ages. ie leaking HLA etc. but was oil, haven't gone full 15 40, I'd probably go semi 10 30, with a litre of semi 15 40. Still using nulon though. Currently running " oil soup " with my moly mos2 additive.

0W30 year round. 290,000, almost run in

Hello Fordmods, have not logged in for years.

Something I found a while ago, after checking with mechanics and much reading; synthetic engine oil, particularly for diesels; say Gulf Western 15-40 full synthetic diesel engine oil.

Running my lpg only AU2 engined 4L intech, manual (if that makes any difference), I found the engine response increased notably, engine noise was reduced, fuel efficiency increased and power increased also. That and it was cheaper, 20L for $70-80 odd (3 years ago now, can't remember)

Diesel engine oils are known for having a similar or better quality base oil, then higher quality friction modifiers and detergents than what is manufactured for petrol and lpg based engines.

Essentially, as far as I was guided, there was no reason not to make the switch.
a** dyno reported ~15% increase in acceleration and a nicer experience overall.
Would recommend.

Interested to hear from anyone more knowledgeable.

Wondering what oil I should try using in my series 3 au xr6, 380000km. Lifters have started rapping quite loudly, I did put a treatment in and it helped, had the tapping only on start up for a few seconds sometimes a few minutes. I do flog it sometimes but I try to drive it easy 75% of the time. Lifter noise came back and it won't go away now.

Been using valvoline full synth 15-40, the 6 month mark has almost come up and I think I will have to change it. My mechanic will use what I ask him to use. I haven't been confident to drive it as the tapping is quite loud, I can't diagnose whether it's become a rod knock or bearing..so leaving it in the driveway
This thing has obviously done hard yards in its previous life, it idles rough and does miss but mech says its most likely injectors. I'd like to be able to look after the engine as it's pretty strong and goes when I want it to.. So having the lifter tick makes me feel it needs something to help it along. I might even need to get the lifters replaced.