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What's the Best Synthetic Oil for Elise?

What's the Best Synthetic Oil for Elise?

96K views 201 replies 84 participants last post by  Fat Pelican 
#1 · (Edited)
<< POLL >> What's the Best Synthetic Oil for Elise? (for Street Use)

Since I found it to be IMPOSSIBLE to find the recommended Havoline Synthetic 5W40 motor oil, I've spent the rest of the day researching alternatives.

I tried to list all the options that have been mentioned on this forum. If you choose '"Other", list it below.

Here are the cheapest places I found for these-
Red Line 'Street' 5W-40
http://www.soloperformance.com/Defau...&productID=126

AMSOIL 'European Car Formula' 5W-40
http://www.amsoil.com/storefront/Sea...x?CategoryID=8

Mobil 1 ‘European Car Formula’ 0W-40
http://www.store.yahoo.com/parkplace...1trismoto.html
 
#191 ·
I've been using Mobil 1 0w-40 for the last 2 years, changed yearly (I average about 2-3000 miles a year) and always let my ECT's warmed up appropriately before I drive hard. My cams were recently looked at 30k miles and healthy. I mostly do it because I can get it discounted at Costco during their typical sale cycle. I also use it for my 4C.
 
#192 ·
What an insanely long thread. Turns out when your car specifies an oil that is hard to find, there's a lot of discussion.

In any event, I'm changing my oil for the first time soon (previously had the Inokinetic folks do it) and after doing loads of research and reading this thread: I'm going with the Mobil 1 5w40 turbo diesel truck oil. Why? Because it's the correct specified viscosity (this is the most important factor), fully synthetic, and on the back of the bottle it specifies compatibility for API-SN standard, which is a gasoline engine oil standard. Thus even though it says "diesel engines" on the title, it meets the specifications of a gasoline engine.

Valvoline 5w-40 is the easiest to find, but people hardly are talking about it here (it also meets API-SN). The Rotella T6 option people mentioned does not list API-SN, it only lists the diesel API categories, so I am not using it.

Based on my very limited understanding (I'm a mechanical engineer, but not a tribologist, so this is way out of my expertise) it appears any 5w-40 engine oil that lists API-SN or SM categories should be fine. As most have pointed out it's hard to fine gasoline specific 5W-40 weight oils. The fact that diesel engines have higher forces (running on detonation, after all) should - one might think - help the cam wiping issue and high RPM loads of the toyota 4-banger. I imagine the detonation of a diesel engine causes higher loads on the bearing journals than high RPM loads, but who can really say.

At the end of the day any fully synthetic 5w-40 oil should be fine for everything except maybe the catalytic converter and possibly the oxygen sensor. Using an API-SN or SM category oil should ensure those components are also happy.

I'm saying all this to convince myself as much as anyone else. Also worth noting that "european car" oils are not necessarily the right choice - this is a Japanese engine, after all.

I'm also going with the Toyota P/N Oil filter and Air Filter. Doing my first track day in ~2 weeks at Willow Springs (Streets)!
 
#193 ·
Yes you are right, any good synthetic oil in the right viscosity will do the job. There are so many different opinions here on this thread, which proves exactly that.

Just a heads up, if you haven’t done this yet, you should check your rear track arms before the track day, they are known to fail and that will NOT be a pretty picture.
 
#194 ·
Yes you are right, any good synthetic oil in the right viscosity will do the job. There are so many different opinions here on this thread, which proves exactly that.

Just a heads up, if you haven’t done this yet, you should check your rear track arms before the track day, they are known to fail and that will NOT be a pretty picture.
Thanks! Yes I know these are a problem, but not 100% sure what to look for! Do I just check for cracks and make sure the rod ends aren't binding, and everything is torqued properly?
 
#197 ·
Off topic - if you go with the Inokinetic solution (a solid choice IMHO), you do not, repeat do not, have to remove the calipers to install. Ignore that part of the directions and save yourself potential extra grief. Although now I know how to replace the sliding rod boots (that I tore when I pulled the calipers).
:)
 
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#198 ·
I don't know what oil Inokinetic used, but if I remember to check the work invoice when I get home I'll update the thread. It might say on the receipt.

As for the rear toe link, I did have Inokinetic do their full track-ready inspection on the car a while back, probably was a year and a half ago at this point. They told me at the time that the upgrade wasn't truly necessary for occasional track use, given regular inspections and regularly checking the torque. I might do the upgrade someday since I have no plans of competitively racing this car (some stock classes wouldn't allow this upgrade, AFAIK), but for what it's worth they basically just thought of it as a maintenance item.
 
#199 ·
Rather than regularly re-torquing the toe link bolts, it’s better to paint mark the bolts (bridging the nut-bolt junction) just after torquing them so going forward you just need to visually check the paint marks (I use Dykem). Makes inspection much faster and avoids unnecessary re-torquing which can weaken the bolts.


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