which oil ????

i did a search of the word "oil" on the forum..........results .........zero

so what do people put in their engines ???

Castrol GTX 15W-40

CASTROL GTX 10W-40 A3/B4

CLASSIC ENGINE OILS

or whatever is lurking in the back of the garage from years ago

don't want to spend all that time restoring them then put the wrong oil in

neville

I use Tesco value Blue Stripe. when our engines where built they did not have the high spec engine oils like today. i have just bought 2 10 gallon drums and theres a gallon in the bottom of one i will use that in an engine when i need it.

Cheaper the better.

Lewis

What ever there is about that will do the job. and change it regularly.

Hi Hob,

I use the supermarket stuff, and ive never had any problems with it.

As Hughesy says, there wasnt the choice of oils back then as there is now.

Paul

Neville like the rest of the guys say anything cheap, or you could use something like Morris sae30 if you want to throw your money about, it's up to you, saying that it's not that expensive on fleabay. Just don't use an oil that's just for a diesel engine as it could have detergents in and it will wash all the carbon out so lossing compresion.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Morris-Lubricants-Golden-Film-SAE-30-Engine-Oil-5-Litre-/370515974520?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item5644791978

Stu.

lurking in the darkest depths of the garage i found a box with 4 1\2 gallons of GTX......... the box hasn't been opened in the last 2 house moves (about 10 years) forgot i had it, must have got it for the motorbikes which i also haven't used for over 10 years

does oil go off in the can.................it looks ok.........

Think if it was me I would use that in a squirt can and get some new for the sump.

i also use cheap oils as they dont need all the fancy tech additives they put in engines today
as stationary engine flat out is only tick over on mod engines we dont have super hot turbos to cool or the pressures that turbos put on the moving bushes bearing shells ect our engine run at max 90-100oC and mod engines run at approx 98-134oC max thermostat ive come across
cheap 10/30s or 20/30s even 10/40s oil grades are thick enough as a rule

DO NOT EVER USE HIGH GRADE AGRICULTURAL OILS IN OLD ENGINES OR RECONDITIONED ONES AS THE OIL IS DESIGNED TO EAT CARBON AND CLEAN EVERY PART I TOUCHES AND WILL POLISH THE BORE AND PISTON RING ON A STATIONARY ENGINE TO THE POINT IT WILL SMOKE LIKE A TWO STROKE PETTER OF LOAD , AS AGRICULTURAL OILS ARE DESIGNED FOR WORKING 20 HOUR DAYS UNDER HEAVY LOAD
And that is it really
OIL UNTIL IT IS USED DOES NOT GO OFF
ONLY WHEN USED IN A CARit is RECOMMENDED TO CHANGE THE SUMP OIL EVERY 12 MONTHS
wevw all had an engine to restore and the oil in the sump is white that is the cast alloy and iron sweeting mosture from hot and cold weather and
running engine temp to atmospere temp
THATS WHY OIL DOESNT COME IN CAST OR ALLOY TINS
so oil stored in doors will a be in a tin or plastic container low with a mosture property and a low temp change envirment

hope this helps
thanks KEV

Neville in a word yes you could use it but you'd be better off buying cheap supermarket oil for your stationaary engine. You could use the GTX after your rebuild and change it agian after say 20 hours running or say a weekend show.

Stu.

i sent an email to castrol and asked about it, the reply was

Thank you for your e-mail.

Please be informed that the shelf life of this product is 2years from the filling date.
The printed number of the packaging is the filling date.


All packages should be stored under cover. Where outside storage is unavoidable drums/packs should be laid horizontally to avoid the possible ingress of water and the obliteration of markings. Products should not be stored above 60°C, exposed to hot sun or freezing conditions.

Please let me know if you have any further questions regarding this answer.

Kind Regards,

Castrol Customer Service Team

so i guess mine is no good ..............except for stopping things going rusty

SAE 30 would be the stuff, but I got Wilko oil works a treat, anything mineral oil should be ok, dont use synthetic.

Cheers Steve

i use oil from work ...... petrol engine mower oil aka SAE 30

Only thing to add, and not sure if it's still available is don't use old type diesel engine oil as it was a detergent oil that washes the carbon out.
Most cheap petrol engine oil is suitable for our engines so no need to spead big money on oil.

Stu.

I tend to use Morris Lubricants straight SAE30
regards

Mart.

i did a bit of searching on oils and what i found out is .....you shouldn't use modern oils in static engines as modern oils are designed to hold contaminants in suspension so the filter can remove them, you can get oil for static engines which is designed to lubricate but allow contaminants to drop into sump, don't know how critical it is but it makes sence......hope this helps

Biggsy there is another post on oils and I've wrote the same as you (sort of LOL) about the use of modern oils but there's arguments on both sides, our engines are not working hard and are looked after and oil is normally changed every year and no one as far as I know has ever had problems using modern oils. To be safe use something like Morris's SAE30 as martin says and it's possably the best oil for your stationary engine, in the end a lot just go for price as the specialist oils can be very expensive.

Stu.

I don't see a problem using any sort of oil in an old stationary engine personally, but seeing as my engines are my special babies I reckon I might actually splash out on the real deal and get some decent stuff from Morris Lubricants, lets face it, for the small amount they use its hardly going to break the bank is it, and its not as if they need it changing very often.

Of course, this all depends on how they run, if they don't sound right I will be experimenting with other oils but I really don't see that modern detergent oils will harm your engine, in fact it would probably do them some good.

i say if its cheap and the right grade chuck it it ..... simples

The amount of use these engines get they hardly get worn ...

matt

going to be rebuilding soon so want to grease and oil things as i put it back together,
went to halfrauds and got a tub of castrol general purpose grease and a tin of classic oil, before i open it do you think this will be ok?
the tin says its designed for older classic engines......
http://www.halfords.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_storeId_10001_catalogId_10151_productId_166289_langId_-1_categoryId_165581

thanks

paul

that oil should be fine

It should be fine Paul but next time try to get an SAE30 oil rather then multi-grade. Something like this,

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Morris-SAE30-Oil-5litre-for-all-VW-Aircooled-Engines-J10650-j10650-/271036921128?pt=UK_Campervan_Caravan_Accessories&hash=item3f1b0f3528

Stu.

i was worried the 20w50 would be to thick, after reading this site
http://www.upmpg.com/tech_articles/motoroil_viscosity/
it seems the classic oil will be SAE 20 when cold and SAE 50 when at 200 degrees so hopefully all good, the lister book says SAE 30 or SAE 40 if in tropical regions...given the new luggage restrictions on most airlines i won't be taking my lister on holiday so the SAE 30 is the norm as stu advised

thanks stu

At the end of the day you could use any oil (as long as it's engine oil lol) as we don't run the engines that much or under any great loads, most of our engines are between 50 - 100 years old and they havn't been pampered if they needed oil it was the first can they came to not a case of reading the instruction book to see what was recomended. You can see in most case how they were run, when you strip them and see all the cr*p in the sump or water ways.

Stu.

Hi, I put OREGAN SAE30 in all my toys, petrol and diesel. Available from my local lawnmower dealer.
I believe BRIGGS recomend this grade. I have used 15W 40 with no adverse affects.(Petter AVA1 driving a saw for a living.)
I'd suspect that any 'supermarket' oil of 10w30 or 15w40 and NOT semi or fully synthetic will do fine.
Just my thoughts.....
steve

You've got it in one Steve, to sum up if you want to buy the nearest oil to original you can get these days go with a SAE30 oil after that any cheap supermarket oil should do the job ok for the use our engines get used as a hobby. An engine used to do work stick with SAE30. Steer clear of the expensive semi or full synthetic oils.

I'm sure someone will disagree with me but that's what I'm sticking to.

Stu.