Morris Minor Owners Club

Does anyone have any recommendations for suitable engine oil for the A-Series?

20w/50 used to be the standard but it is now difficult to get and the next best alternative is 15w/50.

Castrol does offer a (rather expensive) classic 20w/50 but this seems to be aimed at older classics, rather than the venerable A-Series which was used in the Metro, etc, right into the late 80s.

My engine is a 1275cc ex-Marina unit.

Try your local motorfactor as opposed to a big halfords. 20w 50 is still readily available and reccomended by most of the users on this board. I personally use Duckhams 20w 50 for older petrol and diesels, ive also seen a classic 20w 50 by them although it seems to be the same just £2 more expensive! Even the blurb on the packet is the same! At my local motorfactors it is £8.99 for a gallon and ACEA rated a2/b2. Sometimes you will see cheap 20w50 for about £3-£6 a gallon with no rating, some of the users on the board use this but it tends to be recycled oil of questionable quality.

Sometimes you will see cheap 20w50 for about £3-£6 a gallon with no rating, some of the users on the board use this but it tends to be recycled oil of questionable quality.

It depends on the amount of oil your car drinks The way Rosie is at the moment £3 a gallon is good minor_hickup,

Damn! I used questionable as many people in previous threads have both condemned and condoned it. I'm trying to stay neutral!

I don't doubt that it's questionable quality It's just Rosie thinks she's an octopus at the moment and leaves a huge cloud of smoke to cover her escape

Well i suppose theres no point filling up with top quality oil if its going to be burnt before it does any good.

Yes - steer well clear of any oil unless it has good ratings otherwise you can do your engine some harm!
Price does not neccessarily relate to quality - therefore you need to look for the spec numbers. A £15 oil isn't neccessarily any better than a £7 oil.

ESM do a reasonable Unipart 20/50 oil (SF rated, SE and below is not that good) - not the highest spec you can get, but still ok. My Green car had dreadful (terminal!!!) oil pressure, but was drastically improved by just using good quality 20/50 oil

I managed to get high spec 20/50 oil from various places - you have to shop around. So far the best I got was 20/50 API-SJ oil for £6.99 from screwfix.

I found the green unipart oil from esm was good, it leaked less than usual but for a pound cheaper i could get a2/b2 rated duckhams

Ray got me some SE rated 20W/50 from Bull Motif for the last website rally and it was great. I'm using it in Gracie at the moment, but since then my local petrol station has started going 'Phoenix' 20W/50 SF rated oil for £6.50 a gallon. Seems to be good stuff.

15W/40 will be OK if you can't get anything else, but for a standard Minor engine I prefer 20W/50.

I tend to use Silkolene 20/50, just under 8 quid a gallon now from the local agri place. Can't remember the rating, but it's not too bad.

However, if Screfix are doing an SJ for 7 odd quid I may well look into trying that when I get chance.

The usual none of this is on a Minor disclaimer, but frankly if an oil can keep the spinny bits in good order on Triumphs finest OHVs, then it can't be bad stuff!

So far the best I got was 20/50 API-SJ oil for £6.99 from screwfix.

ooops! my mistake, sorry - that particular one was 15/40
£6.99 ea (or £6.24 ea if you buy 4)

The 15/40 is fine in a reasonable engine as long as it is high spec oil (as it won't get mashed so easily), however with an engine showing major oil pressure problems, I'd keep to a 20/50

is it more likely to leak with 15w 40?

Well, the thinner the oil, the more likely it is to leak out so yes, I guess so. Probably not THAT much difference in a reasonable engine, but in a leaky and worn one, 15W/40 might leak out more.

Of course (mentioning no names) if you put in 0W/30 in a sidevalve engine, don't be surprised if it ends up on your drive!