you might want to rethink your oil you use

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Originally Posted by Forest Gump

best of luck, I can't even get someone to respond on redline 5w50. No facts in this thread, only conjecture.

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Facts? Well... sadly, you probably won't ever get any real data on this. Unless one of us joins an oil pump company or engine manufacture in the lubrication group. Or the community puts together some money and donated engines to have a lab run some tests.


Your question on whether or not 5W-50 is ok. Well... Test it.


Send a sample of your fresh oil to have it analyzed.

Measure your bearing clearances and then go hit some serious dyno time (or 0.5 Mile or 1 mile racing at full tilt.)

Monitor oil temps, keep them consistent if possible.

Then tear down and re measure after 50 passes. See what the measurements show.

Send used oil to get analyzed.


The reason that oil threads all over the internet are never conclusive is because the only info out there is peoples saying... "I've run XXX oil some... its fine." No one has any real evidence nor a well made experiment.

The M5 community has shitstorm threads over it. 5w-30 vs 10w-60 and the link to the bearing failures in those cars. (They wipe bearings... BAD.)

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Originally Posted by familyMAN

Yeah, kind of my point:D. Flow and temp are only part of the equation in a high hp, higher than stock redline, possibly different clearance than stock, build. Maybe low viscosity, high zinc oil is great for oil pump gears....maybe it's not....where's jfast when you need him to wiki search for me:)

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Unless you are worried about corrosion. The only thing I can think of with oil pumps are the stresses on the gears. In that case... I would imagine the cold viscosity has a higher influence on them than anything else.

As far as raising the rev limit? Well... You just completely changed the operating characteristics from the original design of the pump. I would say its all bets are off at 9k revs and higher. Unless someone does some serious testing.

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Originally Posted by VR4Drive92

Facts? Well... sadly, you probably won't ever get any real data on this. Unless one of us joins an oil pump company or engine manufacture in the lubrication group. Or the community puts together some money and donated engines to have a lab run some tests.


Your question on whether or not 5W-50 is ok. Well... Test it.


Send a sample of your fresh oil to have it analyzed.

Measure your bearing clearances and then go hit some serious dyno time (or 0.5 Mile or 1 mile racing at full tilt.)

Monitor oil temps, keep them consistent if possible.

Then tear down and re measure after 50 passes. See what the measurements show.

Send used oil to get analyzed.


The reason that oil threads all over the internet are never conclusive is because the only info out there is peoples saying... "I've run XXX oil some... its fine." No one has any real evidence nor a well made experiment.

The M5 community has shitstorm threads over it. 5w-30 vs 10w-60 and the link to the bearing failures in those cars. (They wipe bearings... BAD.)

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I was at least hoping someone had a UOA done already on it. It isn't like its hard or expensive. Instead we get, "oh I feel great now about running the oil I already did because a timken bearing test proves its good", So, far the vr1 20w50 showed a good UOA, but it was too soon in the engines life to really know. Sending off another one once I accumulate some more miles.

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Originally Posted by Forest Gump

I was at least hoping someone had a UOA done already on it. It isn't like its hard or expensive. Instead we get, "oh I feel great now about running the oil I already did because a timken bearing test proves its good", So, far the vr1 20w50 showed a good UOA, but it was too soon in the engines life to really know. Sending off another one once I accumulate some more miles.

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Well, If I switch to it, I will definitely send it off and let you guys know the results of the UOA.

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Originally Posted by VR4Drive92

Unless you are worried about corrosion. The only thing I can think of with oil pumps are the stresses on the gears. In that case... I would imagine the cold viscosity has a higher influence on them than anything else.

As far as raising the rev limit? Well... You just completely changed the operating characteristics from the original design of the pump. I would say its all bets are off at 9k revs and higher. Unless someone does some serious testing.

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So we are all running completely stock setups on a 3S enthusiasts forum? How many have changed bearing clearances, different weight internal components than stock, higher rev limits....many.

And directly to my point......A general statement can't be made that low weight oils are better because it will keep more flow to bearings to keep them cool with no statement on the exact components and clearances to the engine build. Oil weight should be chosen for the clearances and intended use of the engine, along with other factors particular to that car.

You also have to factor most oils are going to shear some and I'd rather have a 50 weight shear to a 40 than a 30 sheer even further.

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Originally Posted by mcshooter

MOTOR OIL ?WEAR PROTECTION? RANKING LIST | 540RAT - Tech Facts, NOT Myths

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Decided to read this for myself instead of relying on the cliffs posted earlier. Wow, that was tough to stomach. An advertisement for engine additives. I think I'll stick with my VR1 10w30 and 20w50 depending on the weather.

Edit: Love his "references" without actually listing the reference! Maybe his testing is accurate, but it reads like a snake oil advertisement.

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Originally Posted by familyMAN

So we are all running completely stock setups on a 3S enthusiasts forum? How many have changed bearing clearances, different weight internal components than stock, higher rev limits....many.

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I'm not assuming people are running stock stuff. Once you change something from the original design intent... Its all on you to take care of any ill effects that arise from that change. Oil pump cavitation... Rod bearing cavitation erosion... et cetera...


However... I would say, that if you are using a 20w-50 or 10w-60 oil. Get those oil temps up.

I wouldn't run a high grade oil in a car that is to just derp around town in and make big power 5 pulls a year.


When doing your research, you may find that sticking with a 5w-20 or 10w-30 with 500-1000 mile oil changes could be better than a standard 3000 mile oil change with a 20w-50 of whatever brand.

Lots of variables to match out and play with.

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Originally Posted by familyMAN

And directly to my point......A general statement can't be made that low weight oils are better because it will keep more flow to bearings to keep them cool with no statement on the exact components and clearances to the engine build. Oil weight should be chosen for the clearances and intended use of the engine, along with other factors particular to that car.

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I agree.

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Originally Posted by familyMAN

Love his "references" without actually listing the reference! Maybe his testing is accurate, but it reads like a snake oil advertisement.

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That was my thinking. There was way too much of him talking about why we should trust him and not enough of him explaining why what he did was correct.

good read! think i might try out 0w30 in my SBC 383ci mechanical roller setup, as 5w30 is still hitting 80psi on cold start up with a high volume pump.

ill stick with 5w30 in the stealth, but I'm glad castrol is high in his rankings!

edit* the oil biz is big money, so i dont find that his support wishing to remain anonymous, that hard to believe. also he used multiple additives on top of base line tests, so he isn't exactly pushing advertisement for a certain additive company.

given the length and info in the write up, i think he may be on to something that is very beneficial to those willing to think outside the zinc box, but that said, i was pretty thrown off by penz oil being #1...... i thought that stuff was crap