Oil
 

What engine oil are you guys running? What would you recomend for a 25k mile stage 2 sti?

Plain old dino is okay really if you change it every 2500-3000 miles, but pretty much everyone here runs a quality synthetic with change intervals of 3k-6k for turbo cars. NA cars can go much longer if they're not used for things like autocross.

Personally I like Redline, but Royal Purple and other full synthetics are good too. If you search other sites you'll see negative comments about Mobil1 and Castrol and other "regular" synthetics, that they're garbage, but it's not true. They're just not as good as the top shelf stuff is all.

Oh, and spring for quality oil filters. IIRC the best ones currently are Wix and Purolater, but I can't remember the part numbers.

I dropped Mobile 1 in favor of Redline in the WRX. I use Castrol GTX in the SVX. Delo 400 in the diesel truck.

I use mobil 1. Scott, why did you make the switch?

Mobil 1's recently earned a reputation of breaking down dramatically at high temps. Granted, these are at temps a street car shouldn't be running at, but I was seeing 270F oil temps on the track and perhaps not so coincidentally I was spinning rod bearings. Perhaps it's not Mobil 1's fault as no oil may protect the bearing at those temps, but Redline is only a little more expensive and is a whole lot cheaper than rebuilding a motor, so I use it for the insurance value.

BTW: I still use Mobil 1 in our turbo Saab.

STI: Red Line, though I may try Royal Purple at some point.

Audi: the last of my supply of old Mobil 1 is in it now topped off with some GTX.

F150: Dino.

Filters:

http://www.iwsti.com/forums/2-5-lite...ions-pics.html

This is the filter I will be trying when I run out of OEM black filters...

Purolator PureONE PL14610 (Oversized)

You could not pay me to use the new blue filters or most any of the others.

I like Shell Rotella T 5w40 for winter and Redline 15w50 or 10w40 for summer.

I run German Castrol in the Winter and I may switch to Redline 5W-30 in the Summer. I'd go thicker for a track day in hundred degree weather though.

I use Royal Purple 5W-30, my car does seem to eat a bit of it tho

Mine did too. That's one of the reasons I stopped using it.

BTW, I use the larger Purlolator Pure 1 filters too. You may want to wrap/coat your headers if you use the big ones. Subaru went to the small ones to get the outside shell of the filter further away from the radiant head of the headers.

What's wrong with the oem blue filters? Those are what I have always used.

Supposedly they're made by Honeywell in Canada and they suck when you open them up. Similar quality to Fram IIRC.

Scott, where is your oil temp sensor located? I stuck mine where the factory sensor was, simply because subaru didn't have the tapped oil galley plug in stock. I think I will move it to the other location eventually and put a pressure sensor in the factory spot. On average my oil temps around 180-210.

My pressure and Temp sensor are in a oil filter sandwich adapter. It is actually Scott's old one.

Mine's in the top of the block in a drilled/tapped plug. I've also run it in my remote oil filter block in the past, which should read pretty cool compared to the actual temps, and I was still seeing ridiculous temps on the track.

Your oil temps should always be above about 180 once the car warms up. Cooler than that and you're too cold for the proper oil viscosity. 240 is a pretty good number for "as hot as you should see without worrying about it" as long as you're not always running that hot. Over 240 and the oil starts thinning out.

At 285, you might as well just pull into the pits and guess which rod is knocking this time.

I was thinking about moving mine to the block. Where did you put them? I have no idea what oil passage on top makes the most sense. Picture?

I can't seem to find a picture. IIRC, the plug is on top of the block... it's a little bigger than the diameter of a quarter. It's got a large allen/hex socket on it. I drilled out the socket and tapped it for the temp probe. Then installed the probe in the plug before installing the plug in the block. I may or may not be able to get it out again in the future. :lol:

I based the location on NASIOC recommendations. Same with my oil pressure in the back of the heads... except the plug I was supposed to use wouldn't unscrew easily and I didn't want to round it, so I used the other plug which may be behind a pressure regulator so I'm not seeing the exact hi-end pressure.

I'll go in search of that thread on Nasioc.

I use Redline 5W-30 and the Nissan filters that Cory recommended to me. I change my oil every 3k, by about 2k though I usually need to add about a 1/2 to 2/3 of a quart. Mobil1 burned off nearly twice as much....

That's about how much oil I burn in my '03 too.

dean if you do that, I am interested in the sandwich adaptor

I did some more research, and will probably leave it where it is unless I get an oil cooler.

Many say it's a good idea to keep oil at around the boiling point for water, 210F or so. This makes sure that all condensation flashes out of the oil and out your breather lines.

I have 1 or 2 of those galley plug adapters. Was thinking about making a kit that includes the plug and a 1' stainless braided extension so the bigger pressure senders can be remotely mounted instead of buried down by the block or even not fitting.

What are you guys paying for Royal Purple and where?

Summit price is $7.95 for 5W30, and $14.95 for XPR Racing 5W30.

At around 8k miles I switched to mobil 1 and found that my car was using a small amount of oil at track days.

At around 15k miles I switched to redline synthetic. I am now at about 31k and I haven't had to add a drop between oil changes since.

I agree with this. 180F is just the temp you want to make sure to get up to during normal operation or you risk engine wear because the oil is too cold.

For example, my race car has a massive oil cooler on it and no oil-stat. So on cold days, the oil doesn't really want to get up over 160F. Luckily, I don't really drive the car on cold days.

Any interest in a group buy on Royal Purple? Probably <$7 per quart. Also can get gallon jugs and 5-gallon jugs.

I'd be interested. I buy it at napa, and i remember it being more than $8/qt, more like $11. Napa's way closer than summit tho, and I also use napa gold filters

I wouLd be interested as well.

I'd be interested in two 5-quart jugs.

I'll need some in a few months. Less than RedLine would cause me to try it. last I checked RP was more than RL at Summit.

double post, sorry

would i have this problem? I am going to get an oil cooler(not a massive one) and I live up in tahoe, it gets cold in the winter.

I think that would be a challenge in the winter unless you had a way to cover it like the truckers do their grills.

IIRC royal purple doesn't meet the API / warranty requirements . My Navigator (J.stewart) dug up a bunch of information after he bought his WRX. he ended up going with AMSOIL he became a dealer so he can get good prices on it.

I was buying it for my STI but i go through so much oil it seemed wasteful. (It did Reduce my consumption noticeable) But now i just dump in straight 30 Weight and hope it still cold starts when its 30F out

I was running Redline in my rally car (won a bunch of 5-30 oil in Rally crosses) and i actually seemed to get 1 mpg over the "napa oil"

Oh god not another amsoil thread.

Two things:

Everyone is an amsoil "dealer".

I'd put tap water in my engine before amsoil just on principle alone.

Amsoil is just a multilevel marketing scam. You're just as well off tossing old Carrol Shelby's zmax branded vegitable oil blend in the car.

I'm an Amsoil "dealer" too! I use one of their air filters to appease the militant anti-oiled-filter crowd. AEM does not have an equivalent, but Amsoil does. Pretty nice really, but expensive.
http://www.kstech.biz/servlet/the-10...Upgrade/Detail

Thermostatic oil filter sandwich plate would take care of this. Mocal is supposed to have a good one (180F).

I would like to do an oil cooler kit with a thermostatic option. PM me if interested in being a test car for the thermostat part or more.

I'd be interested, though without forced induction I don't know if I'd put enough thermal stress on the engine.