WHICH ENGINE OIL IS BEST TO USE?
|
Tickford used to recommend Castrol GTX mineral oil |
| in its original flavour of 20W-50. |
| The viscosity ratings relate to how runny an oil is when |
| cold (W = winter) and hot. |
|
The lower the number, the thinner the oil. |
|
|
| This might be modern Castrol GTX, but |
| the viscosity rating is wrong and |
| it's part-synthetic now |
| The "20W" means that the oil stays reasonably thick when the engine is cold |
| and although this isn't so conducive to easy starting, it does protect |
| your engine if you make lots of journeys where the |
| engine doesn't get hot. |
| The "50" means that the oil stays nice and thick to protect the engine and turbo |
| when you are driving the car hard. |
| Most multi-grade oils nowadays have much thinner viscosities because |
| the tolerances in modern engines are much tighter. |
| 20W-50 is still available, but mainly from the budget makes that you |
| wouldn't want to trust in your Tickford. |
 |
| Some budget 20W-50 oils |
| are available |
| Brian recommends the 15W-50 version of Mobil 1 which is no longer |
| produced, but quantities are still available from places like eBay |
| and a few motor factors. |
| You pay a bit of a premium, but it is good stuff! |
| Just be careful if you are buying some as there is also a motorcycle |
| variant of the oil which will have 4T on the label. |
 |
| Make sure it is the Motorsport Formula and |
| not the 4T motorcycle oil |
| When worldwide stocks do run out, Valvoline VR1 20W-50 is a |
| good quality oil at a reasonable price. |
 |
| VR-1 is the correct viscosity mineral oil, |
| so a good alternative |
| More recently, it appears that the original version of Castrol GTX |
| 20W-50 mineral oil is available, but you'd have to import |
| it from the USA! |
 |
| Not sure how easy this would be to import |
| Oil becomes thinner with age too and Brian always prefers to change it every |
| 3000 miles rather than the 6000 miles shown in the |
| factory service schedules. |