The only time I waste money on oil is when I buy 10 litres for an upcoming oil change and then circumstances force me to change the car - as the new one never uses the same oil specification !!!

I've got three cans in my garage at the moment that aren't recommended for my car.

Just a point re Brexit..

A lot of oil is sold over the internet and delivered straight via plane from the EU and then to door- two days. If we have a hard Brexit, this will stop due to customs .. and take far longer...And cost a lot more..

Handy reminder, as i type the oil is draining nicely out of the Landcruiser, after about 3 hours i'll shine a torch up the drain hole and inspect the oil strainer (directly above the drain), new filter is already on, will refill with the well priced Exol semi synth bought in 20 litre packs.

An interesting things about these oils, now according to the handbook 5w30 is the standard recommendation for these engines, but also in the book it lists all the alternatives depending on the temp ranges expected, these range from 5w30 via 10w30/40 right up to 20w50 being acceptable, the vehicle has no DPF.

I and some other owners have been experimenting with going back to 10w40 Diesel specific oil in our Diesels, (5w40 Diesel oil is rather more difficult to find except for PD spec), what those of us trialling this have noticed is how much quieter the engines are at all times with the oil pressure light going out faster than with the standard petrol/diesel oils.

I've gone back to Diesel specific oil for the specific cleaning properties, and as it's some £46 for 20 litres.

Purely anecdotally, the engine was at its noisiest when using top grade Helix Ultra, changed at the same twice yearly intervals.

The previous generation of 15W40 dual use (say up to SJ/CG) gave pretty good bang for the buck, and if I needed oil I'd probably just try and source a "fleet pack" of that, but I have a variety of stuff to use up.

Here, where it gets quite hot, light commercials (Mitsubishi Canter, etc) seem to use straight 40, and the drivers often use the same stuff in their private cars, though this is almost certainly not approved by the manufacturer.

My Ford Sierra DOHC 2L,for example, hydraulic tappets and all, came with a jug of straight Mobil Delvac 40. Seemed fine.

Assuming Taiwanese truck drivers know what they are doing is probably unwise, and I don't, necessarily, though their vehicles cost a whole lot more than mine did.

I bought the SAE40 to use in a motorcycle gearbox, and the 50:50 mix with Delvac MX 15W40 was an emergency response to a massive oil leak.

However, it seems to have worked out rather well. A British oil formulator, posting on an American website, said it would be pretty close to a 20W40 (which are rare but do apparently exist) which, apart from fuel economy, were the most robust oils he'd ever tested.

IIRC he used a phrase equivalent to "The mutts nuts" though since he was posting on an American website he used the British equivalent, which would probably activate the Mary Whitehouse Module here.

Testing, testing ""The dogs b******s""

Thought so.

Found it

https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4865769/re-can-too-thick-of-oil-be-damaging#Post4865769

The thread its in contains some very good technical iinfo on the "Thick versus Thin" question, almost definitive.

If you can be bothered to try and sort the wood from the trees, Shannow and Sonofjoe both tend to know whereof they speak,

I'd forgotten the plusses for 20W50, but I used some very old Mobil 20W50 I found in an abandoned shed for my current fil, so that's covered.l

Edited by edlithgow on 02/08/2019 at 05:37