What Oil for Daily Driven KAT?

[4felix20]

Hey guys, I have a daily driver running about 10psi. I usually stay out of boost, but on occasion i do put the turbo to use. I'm wondering what the best oil for my situation would be. I live in a colder area...maybe around 30-40 degrees on average so far for this winter. Currently I'm using mobil 1 10W-30, but I'm willing to bet there's a better choice for my setup. Any opinions?

[DRIFTEADOR]

since you live in cold weather i'd say switch to 5w-30. not that it will make any difference other than at start up

[WDRacing]

A 30 wt is good for the winter, but run a heavier wt in the summer, it will help prevent "coking" of the turbo bearings.

[:: orion ::]

Whatever weight you run, just make sure it's still "Mobil 1"...

- Brian

[GirlRacerS14]

15w - 50 is what I use in the summer, never had any problems. Mobile 1 is some good ****.

GR

[4felix20]

thanks everyone. running a heavier weight in the summer makes sense...i think i was a little backwards in what weights to use for warmer and cooler weathers.

[574-240sx]

I run 20w-50 but only drive it spring/summer/early fall.

[MarkEmark]

15w - 50 is what I use in the summer, never had any problems. Mobile 1 is some good ****.

GR

I tried running mobil 1, but it did exactly what I thought it would do...leak through my front main seal

And no, this wasn't an old, cracked seal...after replacing the seal TWICE with brand new seals and still seeing that the mobil 1 was leaking through this seal, I drained the Mobil 1 and went back to the trusty Penzoil 5w 30. Engine has 95k miles on it btw, and is in otherwise perfect mechanical condition (KNOCK ON WOOD!).

[Bronze MFP]

have you tried valvoline synthetic? it seems to seep out of my engine less than mobil one, and fred on the boards here says it has a damn good detergent package in it to keep your motor clean

[SHIEF]

AMS oil > all......true story

[GirlRacerS14]

I never had trouble with the Mobile 1. I heard that I might have that problem but got lucky and never did. I've had my turbo for over 6 years now and my only problem is a lead foot and failure to control myself with the lil boost controller. It's like crack.

GR

[MarkEmark]

have you tried valvoline synthetic? it seems to seep out of my engine less than mobil one, and fred on the boards here says it has a damn good detergent package in it to keep your motor clean

Nope, haven't tried any other synthetic because I figured they'd all seep. It might be worth a try. My dad uses some Valvoline non-synthetic racing formula 20w 50 oil in his fully built Alfa Romeo engine and swears by it, but it only comes in weird weights like 20w 50...

It's a shame it leaks because synthetic oil is so much better for turbos...

[WDRacing]

I've never heard of synthetic leaking, I used Mobil 1 15 or 20-50 in my Skyline for 5 years...no problems ever.

[hannibal]

While I wanted to run synthetic, I was too worried about creating oil leaks. I went with Chevron Supreme (non-syn) for my KA.

[sil80drifter]

i tried synthetic once... didn't taste too good, so i went back to red bull.

sil80

[chmercer]

akk if you are going to run dino oil please get somthing better than penzoil. penzoil is such crappy oil. its like the fram air filters of motor oil

[MarkEmark]

akk if you are going to run dino oil please get somthing better than penzoil. penzoil is such crappy oil. its like the fram air filters of motor oil

My dad's been running this stuff in every one of his cars for years and years and swears by it. It's not cheap crap by any means. Would you care to back up your unsubstantiated claim with evidence?? Because I've never heard anything bad about the stuff...and if it's as bad as you say it is, I don't want to use it.

[C-Kwik]

For a turbo, I'd definitely stick with a synthetic. For the most part, most will deliver similar performance in both lubrication and breakdown resistance.

As far as weight, don't be so hung up simply on the seasons, but the temperatures you see during those seasons. A typical summer day in AZ might be much hotter than in other areas. Also bear in mind that turbo motors run slightly higher oil temps than a N/A motor so a slight increase in the weight might be a good idea.

A search will probably find you some great info that differentiates between different brands of oils. Particularly those where Fred got involved.