is 5w 30 ok in sr20????

[jonny b]

is 5w 30 oil ok in a sr20.wit fair few mods (uprated turbo etc.)

 

[subzero]

not too sure on that one , i use 10w60 fully synth

 

[sevy]

Well the viscosity ratings vary in different climates, hot weather you use slightly thicker oil and winter you use slightly thinner oil.

Story is the same between a turbo and non-turbo engine

if its non-turbo 5W-30 is fine (considering you live in an average climate not too cold or not too hot),

if its turbo then thicker oil is required, 5W30 is too thin and it will start wearing out the internals quite alot. Thicker oil does increase fuel consumption but its a price to pay to keep the engine in good condition

 

[slammedmind]

either use 15/50 fully synthetic or 10w/60. If the car sees any hard use at all then 5w 30 is going to break down under high tempratures.

 

[jonny b]

cheers guys

 

[DeanS15]

what about 5w40 fully synthetic?

 

[slammedmind]

personally it depends what youre using the car for. If youre doing the odd trackday and using the car to its full potential then 10w/60 or 15w/50 is what id go with. If youre driving it like an average car with an odd bit of a thrash then 10w40 or 5w40 is ok

 

[JEZ 8553]

what about 5w40 fully synthetic?

5W40 will be fine mate as its a fully synth like you said. It will provide better cold engine startup protection than 10W40 imo. I think 10W40 is a semi synthetic and these mean they can vary drastically on how much of the oil is actually synthetic.

Dont need anything like *W50+ unless your doing trackdays. These oils are designed to only start losing their molecular properties at a very high sustained temp.

Id personally stick to using a cheaper 5W40 and just changing regulary for normal/fast road setup.

 

[Yakozan]

5W40 is pretty good for the SR20 in stock form. But as yours is a bit upgraded I'm not sure if it will cope with the added heat. A good 5W40 can take temps up to about 120-125 degrees C I've been told. But a car which runs that hot is normally on track or on a freeway doing well above the speed limit.

So if you use the car hard, I would go with some thicker oil, thicker oil will however make your engine run warmer as oil-flow is reduced and decrease your mpg, they generally have a higher optimal operating temp too which in a worst case scenario might be higher than your oil-temp when daily driving. Best option is to fit an thermostatically controlled oil-cooler and run thinner oil like 5W40. Fitting an oil-temp gauge also helps with knowing what viscosity you should be running.

The lowest i would go is 5W40 though, but with good cooling you shouldn't need to go above that.

 

[jonny b]

thanks again...

 

[sevy]

i remember once I put in a really thick oil in the old Ford that I own, the car couldnt even take off rofl!!

The oil description said used in drag cars, it wasnt kidding!!!