Garwood56
Member Since: 24 Jun 2021
Location: West Sussex
Posts: 418
  
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| Thicker engine oil in a D3 ? |
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Just a quick one. Changing the engine oil and filter at the weekend. Have done 158,000 now. Engine runs sweet however would it be beneficial to change to a slightly thicker viscosity at this mileage or stick with my usual Castrol 5-30. Note I change the oil every 5000 miles. Thanks all.
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 29th Jun 2022 4:41 pm |
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Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10365
 
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Some people will say yes. And some will say no 
Truth is, no one really knows.
If the engine sounds ok on 30 and the oil light appears ok you may as well stick with it
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| 29th Jun 2022 5:07 pm |
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Flatlander
Member Since: 20 Jul 2015
Location: Here
Posts: 575
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The Specification is '5W/30 – WSS–M2C913–B – Only'
No engine that I know of has a different oil spec based upon age.
The wrong oil has been known to kill engines, sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, the TDV6 3.0l for example.
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| 29th Jun 2022 9:22 pm |
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N5Fav
Member Since: 28 Jan 2021
Location: LEICESTER
Posts: 134
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Never go for a thicker oil.
The first thing is that it will take longer to circulate on start up, the oil pressure light might possibly go out sooner, but only because its harder to pump thicker oil around the engine, and the pressure will build up in the pump and galleries before it got around the crank and cam journals etc.
Finding the correct oil viscosity is a balance between getting reasonable pressure to give a good protective film, and maintaining a good flow out from the areas that have that protective film. Both are important.
Then there are other additives in oil to carry out many other important functions.
Just keep up with the correct grade and correct specification from a good quality oil. 1994 Defender 300tdi 110 commercial
2007 Disco 2.7 XS Buckingham Blue
1959 Standard 10 Coffe & Cream
1974 Vauxhall Magnum 1800 estate Olivine Starfire Green
1994 Renault 19 Cabrio
1995 Kawasaki GPz 1100
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| 30th Jun 2022 1:05 pm |
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jetmech
Member Since: 22 Feb 2016
Location: Suffolk
Posts: 269
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Manufacturers do not take wear into account when calculating oil spec. They are not interested after 10 years or 100,000 miles. I therefore reason than a slightly thicker oil may be beneficial on older high mileage engines. Simon.
2008MY Dicovery 3 TDV6 SE Manual
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| 30th Jun 2022 1:25 pm |
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NJSS
Member Since: 06 May 2009
Location: Catherington, Hampshire.
Posts: 10501
 
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I believe in sticking to the recommended oil & changing it, and the filter, every 6 months or 6k miles which ever comes first.
NJSS
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| 30th Jun 2022 1:29 pm |
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Dondiddy
Member Since: 26 Dec 2019
Location: Hamilton
Posts: 307
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Slightly off topic(or not!) I used to drive an old Morris Marina van that although it did not blow any blue smoke managed to use oil to the point that it was below the minimum mark and the oil light came on going round a corner every couple of weeks. Got fed up topping it up so often that I ended up putting EP90 into it which reduced the oil use dramatically and it only needed topped up every few months after that! 
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| 30th Jun 2022 2:05 pm |
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jenseneverest
Member Since: 12 Jun 2017
Location: somewhere
Posts: 767
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jetmech wrote:Manufacturers do not take wear into account when calculating oil spec. They are not interested after 10 years or 100,000 miles. I therefore reason than a slightly thicker oil may be beneficial on older high mileage engines.
Agreed, changed to 10w/40 oil some 40k plus miles ago, i also flush with 3l of the same oil on each change every 6 months with a filter once a year, i now only do about 6k mileage a year in the disco.
Not only is the engine mechanically worn at that mileage but injectors are no longer as efficient either.
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| 30th Jun 2022 2:38 pm |
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Disco_Mikey
Member Since: 29 May 2007
Location: Dundee, Scotland
Posts: 20732
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Dondiddy wrote:Slightly off topic(or not!) I used to drive an old Morris Marina van that although it did not blow any blue smoke managed to use oil to the point that it was below the minimum mark and the oil light came on going round a corner every couple of weeks. Got fed up topping it up so often that I ended up putting EP90 into it which reduced the oil use dramatically and it only needed topped up every few months after that!
I had an Astra like that
Went through a litre of oil every 300 miles
No blue smoke, sailed through emissions test, didn't leak anywhere... My D3 Build Thread
TDV8 Retrofit Build Thread
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| 30th Jun 2022 2:54 pm |
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JMack
Member Since: 02 Aug 2014
Location: Edinburgh
Posts: 1517
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| Re: Thicker engine oil in a D3 ? |
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Garwood56 wrote:Just a quick one. Changing the engine oil and filter at the weekend. Have done 158,000 now. Engine runs sweet however would it be beneficial to change to a slightly thicker viscosity at this mileage or stick with my usual Castrol 5-30. Note I change the oil every 5000 miles. Thanks all.
That's not a high mileage, so I wouldn't change the grade of oil for that reason.
I have twice as many miles on my engine and still use 5w30 oil.
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| 30th Jun 2022 6:12 pm |
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Flatlander
Member Since: 20 Jul 2015
Location: Here
Posts: 575
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I'm intrigued - which bit of a 'worn' engine would benefit from a higher viscosity oil - and how are you calculating that 10W40 (there are many variants of that viscosity) is the correct one to use?.
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| 30th Jun 2022 6:40 pm |
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Garwood56
Member Since: 24 Jun 2021
Location: West Sussex
Posts: 418
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Thanks to all the comments and from this I’ll stick to the recommended Castrol 5-30 👍
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| 30th Jun 2022 6:42 pm |
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lynalldiscovery
Member Since: 22 Dec 2009
Location: Maidstone
Posts: 7274
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Modern engines dont really wear out like the old scrap from 20/30 years ago.
Think back to the 90s and every other old car was puffing out blue smoke, rare to see a car chucking out any sort of smoke at all.
Modern oils are amazing, as an example, quite a few (40 odd) of our trucks have oil spinners, we clean them every 50k, waste of time and money as the carbon deposits are not even as thick as the paper liner in the spinner.
Same set up same make trucks but 25 years ago, and the deposits would be a good 1/2 inch thick every oil change.
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| 1st Jul 2022 7:34 am |
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Pete K
Member Since: 15 Jan 2016
Location: GL
Posts: 10365
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Garwood56 wrote:Thanks to all the comments and from this I’ll stick to the recommended Castrol 5-30 👍
Hey. You can’t just stop an oil thread like that  however you try
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| 1st Jul 2022 8:07 am |
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munst
Member Since: 16 Sep 2020
Location: GLOS
Posts: 155
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lynalldiscovery wrote:Modern engines dont really wear out like the old scrap from 20/30 years ago.
Think back to the 90s and every other old car was puffing out blue smoke, rare to see a car chucking out any sort of smoke at all.
Modern oils are amazing, as an example, quite a few (40 odd) of our trucks have oil spinners, we clean them every 50k, waste of time and money as the carbon deposits are not even as thick as the paper liner in the spinner.
Same set up same make trucks but 25 years ago, and the deposits would be a good 1/2 inch thick every oil change.
I was always impressed with the centrifugal filter on the Td5, pre covid we used to do several long EU trips every year, several 1000 miles a time. I got in the habit of changing the oil before we left. Even after 2000miles of 80mph cruising the oil was usually still clear.
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| 1st Jul 2022 10:00 am |
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