Engine Oil

[dustylax]

I will be switching over to eneos 0w50 pretty soon, we are starting to carry it here at the shop (no limit) and its already ordered, as soon as we get it pretty much everyone here is going to switch over. From what we are all reading and hearing its very impressive and we are all excited to switch over.

if anyone else wants to get some you can either email me dustin@nolimitmotorsport.com or just check the site it should be listed on there anyday now. if i dont get back to you soon, we will be at sema next week.

[swaq]

There is a lot of really good info on motor oils here: http://63.240.161.99/motoroil/

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by dustylax

I will be switching over to eneos 0w50 pretty soon,

It's been said many times, but here it is again...

Lotus is adament that ONLY 5w40 synthetic oil is to be used for street usage. 0w40, 10w 40, 0w50, etc. are not acceptable. Use other weight oils at your own risk...

[LBC111]

I LOVE Royal Purple, and 5W40 is available in the States.

http://www.proamauto.com/page13f1.htm

[kortik]

^^ where did you find that information from Lotus?

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by kortik

^^ where did you find that information from Lotus?

It's been posted here on the forum several times from people that have had conversations with the engineers at Lotus.

[ZAMMY1]

i've been using shell rotella 5W-40 which i buy at Walmart.
i understand that, since it's a diesel use oil, it has more ZDDP than the mobils.
comments?

[alexandertg4]

I use Elf 5w-40. I get it at the local VW/Audi dealer. 20 bucks for 5 L

[dustylax]

Originally Posted by TimMullen

It's been said many times, but here it is again...

Lotus is adament that ONLY 5w40 synthetic oil is to be used for street usage. 0w40, 10w 40, 0w50, etc. are not acceptable. Use other weight oils at your own risk...

They make a 5w40 as well. i however dont have a 2zz, i have a 1zz mr2. I will be using the 0w50. i have a race engine and factory standards dont really apply to my build.

[dustylax]

Originally Posted by TimMullen

It's been posted here on the forum several times from people that have had conversations with the engineers at Lotus.

What did lotus engineer that relates to the engine/oil ? Do they buy and assemble toyota engines and change specs ?

i just dont believe everything i hear or read. unless lotus is assembling the 2zz to their own standards i wouldnt believe anything about what recommended oil to use unless it came from the mouth's of a toyota engineer.

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by dustylax

What did lotus engineer that relates to the engine/oil ? Do they buy and assemble toyota engines and change specs ?

i just dont believe everything i hear or read. unless lotus is assembling the 2zz to their own standards i wouldnt believe anything about what recommended oil to use unless it came from the mouth's of a toyota engineer.

<sarcasm mode on>
Yep, I would totally ignore Lotus engineers.

They did a lousy job designing the Corvette ZR-1 engine for GM, not to mention their own V8 engine.

The fact that their engineering division is contracted by auto manufacturers (and race teams) all over the world to design and test engine internals and certify emission systems for various markets doesn't mean a thing.

Lotus only built a new, very large, state of the art test facility incorporating at about 30 engine test cells so that they would look good. Their work in alternate fuels, etc. is meaningless.
<sarcasm mode off>

Besides their very large amount of expertise in the field of engineering, they did add the oil coolers to the Toyota engines used in the Elise/Exige to help control the engine oil temperatures. I suspect that they really do know something about engines and oiling systems. At least enough for me to follow what they have "suggested" for the proper specification of oil to use - at least while the engine is under warranty.

Seriously, the Lotus engineers are some of the best in the world. They are not prone to make uninformed recommendations. There recommendations to only use 5w40 synthetic for street use in the Elise/Exige have some reasoning behind them (I suspect it's more than just that's what oil is commonly found in Europe). The recommendation may not be appropriate for other engines or the engine used in other vehicles. They have also recommended another oil specification for track use (I never remember that one as it doesn't apply to me).

[jhnmdahl]

Originally Posted by dustylax

What did lotus engineer that relates to the engine/oil ? Do they buy and assemble toyota engines and change specs ?

i just dont believe everything i hear or read. unless lotus is assembling the 2zz to their own standards i wouldnt believe anything about what recommended oil to use unless it came from the mouth's of a toyota engineer.

They don't really say there's some particular reason others won't work, just that the Havoline 5w-40 is the only one they've bothered to test under expected conditions for US cars and therefore endorse. I'd be very surprised if anyone from Lotus would say an 0w-40 would be problematic, but they don't explicitly recommend it either.

[carl]

There's no logical reason in the world why 0-40 would do any harm.In cold climates it is superior on cold starts. Porsche uses 0-40 M1 as factory fill on all there cars including turbos GT3's, and the $200k new GT2. These engines cost $45,000.00 + to replace and the turbos are running 1.4 bar of boost (over 20lbs) .it's hard to believe it's not going to handle a Toyota 4 cylinder motor that was made to sell in a $18,000.00 car. carl

[qball]

Very happy with my Royal Purple...

[necro]

5w40 is required in the owner's handbook.

Warranty and such makes this the clear choice.
Plus the motor requirements depend on the rest of the drivetrain as well ( I'd think )
The one who developed this car know most about it.

[dustylax]

im not saying ignore them completely, but back to my original question, did they engineer this motor or did toyota ? if toyota says you can use something else in their engine and lotus looks at the motor and says no put this, who would you listen to ?

on another note, im not talking about stock, street driven vehicles only. my guess is that more than half of lotus owners track the car, which right there will void both the warranty and the advice to only use 5w40 for street driven cars.

you and whatever % of people that want to use exactly what lotus tells you to use is fine, im not saying its wrong or bad in any way at all, im saying i dont think its 100% correct. And there are many many others out there that will not or have not use only 5w40.

[qball]

Originally Posted by dustylax

im not saying ignore them completely, but back to my original question, did they engineer this motor or did toyota ? if toyota says you can use something else in their engine and lotus looks at the motor and says no put this, who would you listen to ?

Neither engineered it. Yamaha designed and built it.

[dustylax]

Originally Posted by qball

Neither engineered it. Yamaha designed and built it.

for the most part but it was a partialy joint effort....atleast thats what ive been told and read, which could be completely wrong since it didnt come from the mouth's of people who actually did it.


my point of this is that lotus did not engineer the engine, so for anyone to say that lotus knows best because lotus engineers said something about it, i just dont believe that to be true.

[TimMullen]

Originally Posted by dustylax

my point of this is that lotus did not engineer the engine, so for anyone to say that lotus knows best because lotus engineers said something about it, i just dont believe that to be true.

But the Lotus engineers did determine what is optimum for the installation of the engine in the position and conditions that it's used in the Elise (don't forget the use of oil coolers and the increased total volume of oil in the system.

You seem to be dismissing the Lotus engineer's knowledge of engines since they didn't make this particular engine (although it's possible that they did have something to do with it, considering their extensive engineering consulting services with Toyota). The Lotus engineers do know about engines, and they are the one specifying the weight of oil to use in the engine as used in the Elise in the conditions expected to be encountered with the car. I would expect that to be different that what Toyota would specify for the family car used under different conditions.

Lotus has specified the use of 5W40 synthetic oil. They have stated that 0W40 is not the proper oil to use, while admitting that the oil did not need to be drained and refilled in an engine that received 0w40 Mobil oil by mistake - but they continued to indicate that it should not be used regularly.

[TheViper]

Originally Posted by TimMullen

They have stated that 0W40 is not the proper oil to use, while admitting that the oil did not need to be drained and refilled in an engine that received 0w40 Mobil oil by mistake - but they continued to indicate that it should not be used regularly.

Actually, Lotus USA did instruct my dealer to drain the 0w-40 that they had put in and replace it with 5w-40.