Experiences with different engine oils

[Nick Jones]

10 hours ago, Dave the tram said:

Especially the dirty diesel Passat at over 300k.

It's an older A6 with the straight 5 diesel also used in transporter vans and Volvo 850 / V70.  Legendarily long-lived engines - supposedly capable of 500k without major attention if kept serviced.  I've changed injector nozzles and it could do with a turbo now, but otherwise just service items.  Not sure the rest of car can manage another 150k though.  The 1.9TDI and 1.9TDI PD engines are nearly as tough (PDs MUST have the right oil though), the 2.0 not so much, though it does depend exactly which one you have.  Some of the 2.0 TDIs have issues with their balancer shafts and oil pump drive (oil pump drive is an 8mm hex, which only drives on the points of the hex...... what could possibly go wrong?).  If the oil pump light comes on on these - it means it!

Ref your pulley, ISTR that the pulley has a pip on it that drops into the little slot in the spacer-nut thingy.  This should get the pulley sitting true but may not help tightening things up.  You may have to put a reasonably chunky screwdriver though the fan & hole in the front of the casing to engage in a slot in the rotor.  Just make sure you keep the screwdriver away from the copper windings in both the body and those in the core of the rotor.

The 2L Triumph sixes die slow - an outright mechanical failure without advance warning is unlikely.

Nick

[Chris A]

18 hours ago, clive said:

https://www.minisport.com/20psi-oil-pressure-switch-mini.html

is just one, but google is your friend. Plenty available, probably a range of pressures too. I am tempted to fit one (it is on the shelf) but use a T and have the 20psi one connected to a super bright LED that will be far more obvious if pressure drops than a gauge.

there are even adjustable switches available should you wish to experient

https://www.med-engineering.co.uk/oil-pressure-switch

or demon tweaks has both

https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/longacre-universal-low-oil-pressure-switch-346246/

Ok, so I've been looking at what is available her in France. Still reluctant to order from UK due to unclear position with courriers charging the earth for 'customs clearance'. I've got a lead on a possible one the thread is NPTF rather than NPT, looking them up I think it would be ok can anyone confirm this thanks.

[Clive]

39 minutes ago, Chris A said:

Ok, so I've been looking at what is available her in France. Still reluctant to order from UK due to unclear position with courriers charging the earth for 'customs clearance'. I've got a lead on a possible one the thread is NPTF rather than NPT, looking them up I think it would be ok can anyone confirm this thanks.

Google suggests they will screw together, but a sealant may be wise. A few turns of PTFE tape should suffice.

[Chris A]

7 minutes ago, clive said:

Google suggests they will screw together, but a sealant may be wise. A few turns of PTFE tape should suffice.

Hummm... I think I'll put the idea on the back burner for the moment. i don't need to change the switch, just filling in time as the weather is 'merde'

[daverclasper]

19 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

The 2L Triumph sixes die slow - an outright mechanical failure without advance warning is unlikely.

Just wondering how slow Nick?.  Had a noise for the past 2000 miles that I'm hoping isn't crank bearings (fairly quiet and not got any worse over these miles).  Car not driven hard though. More noisy with a cold engine.

Have explored the other possibilities of the noise I've been advised on, though not found anything to suggest it may be these.

A bit of a how long is a piece of string scenario I guess, though any suggestions great.  

Cheers, Dave   

Edited May 17, 2021 by daverclasper

[Pete Lewis]

how about turn the radio up loud  

Pete

 

[Nick Jones]

2 hours ago, daverclasper said:

Have explored the other possibilities of the noise I've been advised on, though not found anything to suggest it may be these.

Bit of piston slap is fairly common (no gudgeon pin offset) on well-used engines and will be worse when cold. Not a sign of impending doom.

Its the rattle of dry big-ends on first start that I particularly dislike, but even that isn’t the end provided it shuts up as soon as the oil light goes out.

[Dave the tram]

Pretty sure the noise at the front is the water pump (started new thread under ‘cooling’. ) I took Nicks suggestion a step further and made an emergency short fan belt just to the pump - noisy with, quiet without the belt, so hoping to get the water pump refurbed. As for the alternator pulley that fell apart, I now find that the smaller hexagonal part at the front of nut that seats into the pulley was cracked and falling apart and won’t go back together, so going for new alternator. 

As for Pete’s ‘turn the radio up’ - I’ve gone one better. Although I like to keep my car fairly traditional, I have taken the radio out and replaced it with a panel of USBs and a 12v socket. I have a phone clamp on the dash and lovely blue tooth Apple AirPod pro earphones. These fit in the ear and have a noise cancelling function that  makes the car sound like a modern luxury car while I’m still able to hear horns and sirens. (I also keep adding more and more sound deadening). Long motorway journeys are now very relaxing. I set the phone up with music and podcasts, google maps interjects through them as required and I can give a quick answer to any phone calls with one touch to the ear. I do still have a 1980s road atlas on the back seat though!

Dave

[SpitFire6]

On 15/05/2021 at 21:38, Pete Lewis said:

the base triumph spec is 40 to 60psi  at 2000rpm  doesnt say hot or cold but safe to assume this is at running temperature

front end noise  check its not fan belt  they can get very creaky   

basic oils can tire with long hot runs    a higher quality with good ZZds work well and dont drop off when worked hard

dont think the 60 will be of any improvement most Millers classic is used by many 

ive used valvoline VR1 in the Vitesse but club piston eze in the 2000 all very stable 

 

 

I do not believe that the levels of Ca or Zn have any influence on oil pressure. If that is what I thought you meant? I believe a lower group base oil at 20W50 will lose quality faster than a synthetic oil.

[johny]

I think oil dilution by contamination with unburnt fuel plays a part in loss of viscosity and as far as I know the effect is the same whatever oil is used. Probably the only solutions are having the engine in as good a condition as possible and changing the oil earlier. It would be an interesting experiment to see if changing a cheap half price oil twice as often as an expensive one would result in a better final oil pressure....

[rlubikey]

On 17/05/2021 at 11:57, Chris A said:

I've got a lead on a possible one the thread is NPTF rather than NPT, looking them up I think it would be ok can anyone confirm this thanks.

Chris, I think you'll find NPTF simply means NPT-Female. NPT is of course National Pipe Thread, an American standard which is a taper thread. There is only one NPT thread - no variations, unlike UNified-Coarse & -Fine threads.

Cheers, Richard

[Chris A]

Thanks Richard

[avivalasvegas]

I've had great success bringing what I thought were worn engines back from the brink using Auto-Rx, a solvent free, slow acting metal cleaner added to engine oil. 3K miles then a oil/ filter change and then 3K miles later, increased compression. As long as metal isn't worn, ARX will work. 

Then, I switch to Liqui Moly MOS2 20W50 oil. Worked like a charm on every classic!