20/50 Oil

[HUMBLEPIE]

Hi have just bought a Moggy with a 948cc engine, I would like suggections on the best brand of oil to use and where to get it from cost wise. Thanks in advance Steve.

[8009STEVE]

I use the cheapest as it is not in the engine for long.

[mike.perry]

It all depends how much smoke you get out of the exhaust!!!
You don't want to spoil the car so a straight mineral 20/50 or 10/40 would suffice. I use Halfords Classic, as Steve says its not in the car for long.

[grumpygrandad]

Hi have just bought a Moggy with a 948cc engine, I would like suggections on the best brand of oil to use and where to get it from cost wise. Thanks in advance Steve.

wilko, motorsave sell oil 20/50 not expencive.seems good.,,grandad

[HUMBLEPIE]

Thanks for your comments, the reason I asked was I wain Tescos yesterday and they do a value 20/50 at £2 odd a litre but it had no rating. I saw Halfords do a gallon at £16.99. I went into my local A1 store they do an Economy at £8.99 or a Premium £11.99 so I settled for £11.99. Grandad how much is Wilko's one. Steve

[aupickup]

well years ago i could only afford the cheapest oils for my moggie van (1968)

[grumpygrandad]

Thanks for your comments, the reason I asked was I wain Tescos yesterday and they do a value 20/50 at £2 odd a litre but it had no rating. I saw Halfords do a gallon at £16.99. I went into my local A1 store they do an Economy at £8.99 or a Premium £11.99 so I settled for £11.99. Grandad how much is Wilko's one. Steve

hello i think the last one i got from wilco was about £7,oo,whether the more expencive oils are any better i dont know but i think halfords oil will be more due to cost of producing a nice can, i am sure some one will say duckhams or some other expencive make, is there realy that much difference i dont know buy what you feel you are happy with, and of cource it also suits gearbox in minors,,grandad

[bmcecosse]

ASDA or Morrisons 20W50 is ideal - it's about £5 for 4.5 litres. These are not hi-tech engines and the oil they sell may well be from a re-cycled source - but hey, so is your drinking water!

[wanderinstar]

Yes I use cheap oil in mine too. I was shocked the other day to see some oil at £62 a gallon.

[mike.perry]

Had to buy some semi sythetic oil for the Focus the other week. £24 for 5 ltrs but at least I got a free set of Halfords Screwdrivers with it.

[HUMBLEPIE]

ASDA or Morrisons 20W50 is ideal - it's about £5 for 4.5 litres. These are not hi-tech engines and the oil they sell may well be from a re-cycled source - but hey, so is your drinking water!

Back in the 70's I used to buy 20/50 oil by a company called Century and that was re-cycled it used to cost 25p a pint. I used to buy it for most of my motors because they either burn't it or leaked it...

[linearaudio]

If the cheap oil is recycled at least it smells a lot better nowadays. That cheapo oil in the 70's really was rank stuff- smelt like it had just been drained off after a hard life- recycling has come along a bit now! The Morrisons in our area have been selling "Carlube" in various flavours at around £7.49/5litres and I've seen the same make in other places at twice the price- so that makes me feel good about buying it straight away. Also it comes in a nice shaped container- not like your Tesco value shape. I know it doesn't make the oil any better, just a nicer feel when you hold it somehow! ( sorry-don't quite know where I'm going there!) Its also worth noting the 5 litre/4.5 litre/ 4litre sizing anomoly- the more expensive, the smaller the amount, its seems; that can amount to 10-20 percent price difference.

[d_harris]

I got my last 4.5l from Wickes for £7.99, not gonna complain about that!

[rayofleamington]

The price of oil matters little - it's the ratings that count.
Price is often inversely related to quality, as it's possible for some firms to sell more oil by raising the price. Many people will think that a higher price means better oil so will buy it!

If your car does less than 3000 miles a year and you change the oil once a year then a high rating won't help a great deal. Therefore 20/50 SE or SF should give you good protection, whilst not costing an arm and a leg. For a few more quid you can get up to SH or SJ.

If you opt for a more common oil like 15/40 then you can find SH / SJ and maybe SK for well under £10. 15/40 is a tad thinnner so if you have poor oil pressure then thrashing the car on a hot day would be better done on 20/50 - but general tootling around won't be heating the oil enough to make any significant difference.

[wanderinstar]

What does SS mean. Im sure I saw that on my can of oil.

[rayofleamington]

What does SS mean.

no idea.
For API ratings, have a look here:
http://www.aa1car.com/library/API_ratings.pdf

I used to have a link for a realy useful site on oil ratings/additives explaining what was typically added to acheive the newer levels - there are tonnes of sites out there to trawl through but few are much use for technical detail.

[autolycus]

What does SS mean. Im sure I saw that on my can of oil.

Is it a very old can? Made in Germany, specified for Kubelwagens? If so, it's Schutzstaffel. More likely, though, that it's either Semi-Synthetic, or intended to make you think it's semi-synthetic.

There's some good stuff at
http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html
and although some of it smacks of slightly incomprehending quoting of references, overall I think it's well worth a read.

My own take on it is that while frequent changes are the most important single factor, it is worth using oil that conforms to one of the API specs, as that does mean the manufacturer has had to do at least some testing. This is for A-series engines, used as intended. For anything else, do what the engine maker tells you.

Kevin