What oil do you use?
Turbo Mini Forums

Hi. I have just come back on line, after a long absence, and found this thread. To be honest, I was horrifiedFrom the replies, it would seem that there are many varieties of oil in use, but no one seems to have considered the requirements of the turbo and, after all, this is supposed to be a 'turbo' forum.

In my humble opinion, which is ratified by others, anyone using standard mineral oil in a turbo is asking for trouble. When mineral oil burns, and beleive me at turbo temperatures it will burn, an ash like deposit is formed in the turbo. This leads to rapid failure of turbo bearings etc with catastrophic results. A semi synthetic oil is slightly better, but with the wide variation in the interpretation of the term "semi synthetic" by the oil manufacturers, even this should be used with caution. I have always used fully synthetic oil in my ERA Mini Turbo, and would never use anything else. Even ERA recommended a fully synthetic when the car was made (Castol Syntron-X) and all correspondence on the subject of turbos and oil goes along with this. At the moment I am using Mobil 1 15W40, which I obtained at a good price from a show last year, but prior to that I will probably horrify you by telling you that I used Halford (Comma) 5W40 fully synthetic, without any gearbox problems. Yes. this oil is very thin, but has a very good High Temperature/High Shear Rate (HTHS) which is what is needed for any engine operating at high temperature. particularly for the gearbox. Using a thin oil doesn't mean it will leak any more. A well built 'A' series should not leak, at least mine doesn't, even with 5W40 oil. I suggest you read all the web information relating to the new ACEA specs, with ACEA A3 being the the one to aim for. Two good sites for general (mainly american) info are:-http://forums.noria.com/eve/ubb.x/a/frm/f/616604995 and http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/ hich will give you guys something to think about.
Regards
Kayball http:/www.eraturbo.com

Torco 20/50 fully-synthetic

I have use Penrite 15/60
and 76 fully syn 20/50 oil.

Found other fully syn oils to thin and the boxes don't feel as nice with them.

Best 1/4 mile 13.2 seconds @116 mph
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on a carb?
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on Injection?

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you like a box to feel nice

i use carplan gold 15/50 seems to be a good oil got a spi rating sj. and is only £10 a gallon..

always looking for them bigger bunches of bannanas

Sorry to bring an old thread up, but after reading what kayball said i must say i dont agree.

He is going on about how damaging to the turbo semi syn of minerals can be and how we must use fully syn.

For me my gearbox is more important than my turbo - as it cost nearly 10times as much.

I would rather risk deposits in my water cooled turbo core than shafting my box by using a thin and posibly not suitable oil.

Dan

What did the original metro turbo run on?

Alex

AlexF

Exactly Alex.

Kayball is right about the mineral oil burning and leaving carbon deposits, but using semi-sinthetic is fine.

My Turbo subaru managed on semi for 160,000 miles (and is still gioing strong) and I don't call that rapid failure.

Millers TransM is my chioce of oil, as above.

Wil

Edited by wil_h on 21st Aug, 2005.

Fastest 998 mini in the world? 13.05 1/4 mile 106mph

yup... its still going well in both my turbo minis and my road going spi cooper!

good oil IMO.

Alex

AlexF

same as fab and gregor.motorbike oils are the only modern oils designed to share with gearbox. think about how your gears cut through the oil, shearing as they go, breaking the oil down very quickly

There are 2 millers trans M!! Theres the mineral based £15+vat/5 litres.
Theres the semi-synthetic trans M sport £24.80+vat/5 litres.
I personally use the millers motorsport CTV 20/50 which is the same price (maybe same oil!!) as the trans M sport.

-MINI CLUBMAN 1380 TURBO-