Vitesse oil

[roadster63]

Hi, l have, at long last got a Vitesse Mk2. The chap l bought it from told me he was running fully synthetic 10/60, I am a little sceptical about new fangled oils, and wonder if l would be better going back to 20/50 which would maintain a better consistency when warm..am l right? Oil pressure when warm at 2000rpm is about 50lb, with around 30 at idle. 

[Guest]

Hello.

 

10/60 FS is not the correct oil and the Vitesse engine was certainly not designed to run on that viscosity or oil type.

 

You need to revert to 20W/50 asap and ensure you use a good quality oil that is high in Zinc.

 

The oil pressures you give are fine.

 

Regards.

 

Richard. 

[AndyTV8]

I'd drop back to a decent mineral 20/50.... classic oils do a very well-priced option with 1400ppm ZDDP

...... Andy

[Clive]

I disagree.

The first number is viscosity when cold, lower is better as it flows better.

The second number is when hot. So the 60 means it will hold viscosity better. 

So the 10/60 oil will not change viscosity as much as a conventional 20/50.

 

And on top of that, performance cars (BMW M series and so on) spec a 10/60, so such an oil will be very high quality. The only issue may be a lower than desirable ZDDP level, but that can be sorted using something like ZDDPlus. However, the cost is going to be 3x as much to use this combination as a "normal" spec 20/50.

 

If you drive the car hard, it would be better. If not, a decent 20/50 will be fine.

 

(for reference, I have used Millers CSS 20/60, and that maintains hot oil pressure much better, 10psi, over valvoline VR1 20/50 with hard use)

[roadster63]

Thanks for the advice, I will revert back to what l know, I am not going to be using the car hard, so high spec really doesnt matter, more interested in keeping the pressure up when cold starting to prevent that dreaded rumble that l have had in the past in previous cars, so wouldnt the 20/50 indicate that the oil is thicker when cold which would be better than the 10/60?.

[Pete Lewis]

Cheap 20/50 doent have the full zddp content , stick to the higher end or you find the pressure remains good across the useage range , sub £15 per can I found soon drops presure where as £25+ maintains a constant psi at all times

the dreaded rumble can be improved with a spin on filter but dont get carried away with this as its lasted 45 years without any hardship, if you had modern car clearances its there , but you wouldnt hear it ,

 

pete

[Clive]

20/50 will be thicker when cold, but the issue is getting the oil around the engine quickly. Otherwise as the oil thins as it warms up, you would get rumbling again.

 

So a thinner oil will be easier to get round a cold engine. The rumbling is lack of oil, nothing to do with viscosity.

 

Pete is right, a spin on conversion may help a little. But don't get too worried about it. Do worry if the rumbling persists for more than a few seconds.

[dave.vitesse]

There is some doubt about running on synthetic oil if the engine has already been subjected to the original mineral oil. Evidently there could be problems with oil seal failure.

 

I would use a good quality mineral oil. 20/50.

 

Dave    

[roadster63]

Cheers for all the great advice. Will upload a photo when l can figure out how to do it :-)

[Guest]

If you look at the top of the page there is a black box saying "Reply to this topic" click on that and you get a much more detailed reply page which includes a doc / photo loading option at the bottom of the page. Very simple couple of steps and self explanatory when using it.

 

Regards.

 

Richard.