Petrol Engine and Oil Additives

chrislee765

Ive got a 1.1 L reg Fiesta (Its red, so it goes a bit faster)

Im just about to replace my rocker cover gasket and filler cap, as well as doing an oil change.

Can anyone recomend a good oil. My car has done about 135k.

Also, ive seen many additives on the market, various thing to help clean the engine by putting them in with the oil or petrol, therefore improving performance.
Has anyone used any of these and can again recomend any?

Thanks in advanced!

aeuerby

Just been and had a quick word with hubby who is at this moment changing the gasket on our neon.

He always uses mobil 1 oil - it's expensive but in his opinion worth it. He's used it in every car he's had.

As for the additives for fuel and oil in his opinion they don't work and are not necessary. He did go into the in's and out's as to why - as he does every time they come up on QVC and ideal home shopping channels - but he tends to get a bit technical and my eyes glaze over

Hope that helps, if you want to know why they don't work let me know and I shall get him to tell me in english and not engineering terms!

Angela.

chrislee765

wow, thanks for the quick response!
Thanks your husband as well!

I wont be buying any additives.. ill spend that extra money on the decent oil

Thanks Again!

skiddy2k

ideally, where cars have done high mileage, you should always use a thicker oil in them.

for example, when you buy the oil, you'll see many gallons, where you'll see various numbers on the oil such as 0w/40, 5w/40, 10w/40 or 15w/40.

basically, all this means is that the first number (0, 5, 10 or 15) is the thickness of the oil at operating temperatures. the higher this number, the thicker this oil.
now, that i recall, when i went into halfords last, i saw a Castrol 15w/40 high mileage oil. castrol recommend the use of that particular oil when the car has done more than 80'000 miles. i can see that your car has done much more miles than this.

if you were to go for a mobile 1 oil, go for the 15w/50, simple because its a thicker oil and it will leave a definate thicker coat of oil on all of the engine components suck as your pistons and therefore reduce friction between the engine components in the engine.

hope this helps in making the decision,
135k is an excellent milage for a ford, i have to say!

Paul_the_Painter

I agree with Skiddy, don't use a super posh oil, Mobil 1 is great if used from nearly new or new, but after 135k in a 1.1 Fiesta you're living on borrowed time, my best advice is change the oil very reguarly, at LEAST every 6000 miles or six months whichever comes first, lots of places do oil and filter changes for £10-£15, do that every 4000 miles of 4 months and you'll be laughing.

Time is actually worse for your engine oil than miles, a rep special banging down the M40 at 80mph all day puts less wear on the car than 3 miles to the the station and back every day and a trip to the supermarket on Saturday.

VH

I used GTX Magnatec in my old Ford Escort years ago. Managed to get 200,000 out of it (they're only supposed to do around 100K), so can't be bad!

vansboy

DON'T use Mobil 1 - or ANY of the higher spec, synthetic oils - you'll waste money & do the engine no good, either.

As already mentioned, the car's already used to an 'ordinary' oil. So more frequent changes are better for it - think about KwikFit/Nationall Tyres, they'll do it, using a branded oil & filter, for about what you could do it yourself.

& if you want motor hints n tips... http://www.honestjohn.co.uk The Backroom - Discussion is the place to go!

VB

Nile

skiddy2k wrote:

ideally, where cars have done high mileage, you should always use a thicker oil in them.

for example, when you buy the oil, you'll see many gallons, where you'll see various numbers on the oil such as 0w/40, 5w/40, 10w/40 or 15w/40.

basically, all this means is that the first number (0, 5, 10 or 15) is the thickness of the oil at operating temperatures. the higher this number, the thicker this oil.
now, that i recall, when i went into halfords last, i saw a Castrol 15w/40 high mileage oil. castrol recommend the use of that particular oil when the car has done more than 80'000 miles. i can see that your car has done much more miles than this.

if you were to go for a mobile 1 oil, go for the 15w/50, simple because its a thicker oil and it will leave a definate thicker coat of oil on all of the engine components suck as your pistons and therefore reduce friction between the engine components in the engine.

hope this helps in making the decision,
135k is an excellent milage for a ford, i have to say!

To expand on the this post, it is the SAE Viscosity Grade. So a 10W30 multigrade oil will be laboratory tested at two temperatures.

The viscosity will be tested at -20C to meet the 10W grade (cP units) and at 100C to meet the 30 grade (cS units). I can't remember the limit for the cP units but for the cS units, a grade 30 oil will have a viscosity result between 9.3 and 12.5. I've spent many happy hours testing oils and oil additives.

If you purchase a multigrade oil for your vehicle, the W grade will tell you what temperatures the oil has been tested at and at what temperature it will continue to protect your engine.

0W has been tested at -30C
5W has been tested at -25C
10W has been tested at -20C
15W has been tested at -15C
20W has been tested at -10C
25W has been tested at -5C

Personally, I buy the best multigrade oil I can afford. The oil contains additives to protect your engine, why waste your money on buying further/separate additives?

Eliseracer

Modern cars are supplied with engines that are built to far tighter tolerances than earlier cars. There are a number of benefits to using a true ester based synthetic oil as opposed to a semi synthetic or mineral oil.

Not all synthetic oils are truly synthetic (because they are petroleum based) so beware.

Ester based synthetic oils have:

Regular sized molecules which carry a negative charge. When you turn off the engine the oil sticks to the moving parts instead of draining to the bottom. This means that when you start the engine it is fully lubricated. This significantly reduces the wear.

a 0% sheer rate, giving full protection for longer.

keep your engine cleaner and more fuel efficient.

are not much more expensive than some brands of mineral oil if you know where to buy them.

I use Motul oil and would also use Amsoil. I wouldn't use any other brands in any of my cars even if it was completely free. I'm running a 1973 1600cc Ford Crossflow on Motul synthetic, and some years it's covering over 10,000 miles.

Motul 8100 can be purchased for as little as £25 for 5 litres and it is the premium product for most road cars that don't require a manufacturer specific oil. Motul make specific oils for Ford, Mercedes and VW group cars.

CHR15

You signed up in order to resurrect a FIVE YEAR old post???