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Oil Question

3K views 50 replies 8 participants last post by  Engine_Swap 
#1 ·
Can someone please tell me what grade oil is best for my 1994 Cavalier SRI (X20XEV Ecotec)?

I've had a price for an oil change from my local garage (actually a Ford Rapid Fit, but the manager there is a top bloke, does little things for me for free cos I'm a regular customer, AND HE DOES NOT RIP ME OFF!!!).

The price they are quoting me is £24.99 which I thought was quite good, as Magnatec oil is around the £20 mark anyway right?

What does concern me is the oil they will use. He says it's what they recommend for all modern 16 valve engines. It's their semi-synthetic oil. The grade is 5w 30. Is this too thin for my car? I was under the impression that I should really use 10w 40?

Should I give it a try and see how it goes, or is it too thin?

Cheers for any help.

Steve
 
#4 ·
SteveW said:
But the oil they are suggesting is 5w 30 . Can anyone tell me if this oil will be OK for my Ecotec, or is it TOO thin??
It is a bit on the thin side.
5w30 means that in the winter it behaves (tries to!) like an oil of SAE 5, and when heated up like oil of straight SAE 30.

If the manufacturer wants it to be like SAE 40 when hot, then yes, that is a bit thin. It will result a bit less oil pressure.
Nothing dramatic, but why risk it?
 
#5 ·
Yeah, that's what I was thinking, John. Just wanted to hear it from someone else too!!:rolleyes:

Not a bad price for an oil change though is it, £24.99? especially for 5w 30. I mean a can of Magnatec is around the £20 mark, then filter on top of that. Hardly worth doing it yourself, eh?

Maybe I'll ask him how much to put in 10w 40 then, I'll feel happier too I think.

Cheers

Steve
 
#6 ·
Can you be absolutely sure he's going to put in the oil your expecting him to put in. Unless your standing over his shoulder watching him, I wouldn't trust him. And £20+ is a lot of money to put on someone on trust. Once the oil is in the engine and unless your an oil expert, you have no way of knowing what he's used.

Its nice to learn from someone else's misfortunes - it's far cheaper than self inflicted mistakes.
 
#9 ·
anthonyian said:
Can you be absolutely sure he's going to put in the oil your expecting him to put in. Unless your standing over his shoulder watching him, I wouldn't trust him. And £20+ is a lot of money to put on someone on trust. Once the oil is in the engine and unless your an oil expert, you have no way of knowing what he's used.

Its nice to learn from someone else's misfortunes - it's far cheaper than self inflicted mistakes.
This guy is one of two mechanics I would trust with my cars. He would not lie to me ( I don't think). I've used him now for nearly five years and NEVER had to take anything back to him due to shoddy work. How many mechanics can you honestly say that about?

I believe he would put in the oil he says he will. Why wouldn't he? He has NEVER ripped me off before.

Its nice to learn from someone else's misfortunes - it's far cheaper than self inflicted mistakes.
Do you mean that this has happened to you? Or are you saying you hope I have a problem and then post up here to notify people?

I just thought at the price he's quoted me, what's the point of getting my hands dirty?

But what you're all saying is don't take you car to a garage, right? Some of us aren't that good mechanically and HAVE to rely on other people to fix our motors. Also, I have a family, a lot of my spare time is used to be with them, and I'm happier spending a few quid more to get someone else to do the work, cos if I did it I'd be outside all day shouting and swearing and struggling and not really knowing what I'm doing!!!:rolleyes: lmao

Steve
 
#10 ·
SteveW said:
Can someone please tell me what grade oil is best for my 1994 Cavalier SRI (X20XEV Ecotec)?

I've had a price for an oil change from my local garage (actually a Ford Rapid Fit, but the manager there is a top bloke, does little things for me for free cos I'm a regular customer, AND HE DOES NOT RIP ME OFF!!!).

The price they are quoting me is £24.99 which I thought was quite good, as Magnatec oil is around the £20 mark anyway right?

What does concern me is the oil they will use. He says it's what they recommend for all modern 16 valve engines. It's their semi-synthetic oil. The grade is 5w 30. Is this too thin for my car? I was under the impression that I should really use 10w 40?

Should I give it a try and see how it goes, or is it too thin?

Cheers for any help.

Steve

Ive spoke to loads of people about this - including Vauxhall cos had the same problem when I offered to do oil change on my mates car.....

What ever you do NEVER put a 0W 40 oil in these engines - causes problems like valve stick and is just too thin - you can also put alot of stress on the oil pump so Ive been told which can result in premature failure.....

10W 40 is a good oil - but if can find it 5W 40 is ideal and fully synthetic too... Vauxhall recommend 10W 40 but been using 5W 40 for a long time now and no problems - also notice the 5W oil quitens down noisey tappets....

Chuck some engine flush in it....drain....change oil filter (Original Equipment filter!) and fill with 5W 40 oil....will sound sweet.
 
#11 ·
SteveW said:
Yeah, that's what I was thinking, John. Just wanted to hear it from someone else too!!:rolleyes:

Not a bad price for an oil change though is it, £24.99? especially for 5w 30. I mean a can of Magnatec is around the £20 mark, then filter on top of that. Hardly worth doing it yourself, eh?

Maybe I'll ask him how much to put in 10w 40 then, I'll feel happier too I think.

Cheers

Steve
Magnatec Oil is actually a 10W 40 oil............:rolleyes:
 
#17 ·
JamesG said:
whats wrong with 15w40 in a valver??

i read on hear somewhere that it's better that 10w40 once the engines got a few miles under its belt...
Total Rubbish - it may quiten the noisy engine down but if its in good nick you'd be better off with a 5W or 10W oil....

Multi-Valve engines do not like thick oil - How do I know this? - I did a 6 month study of engine oils at univeristy whilst studying Automotive Engineering!

I run my friends 16V engine on a 5W 40 oil - with regular flushing and this has over 130k miles on it....normal oil pressure too.
 
#20 ·
Gary said:
I've run all mine on Mobil 1 0w40 for the last 6 years, with no tappety rattles at all... but I've not tried a frosty start in that time - might be a different matter then.
You'll find it will run fine - but because of the nature of the oil - i.e its so thin (practically water consistentcy at 90 c) it can put alot of pressure on the oil pump - this doesnt apply to most multi-valvers but generally the CX20E engines and most VW 16V engines...I would use a 5W 40 or 10W 40 Oil....5W 30 by the way is generally used for FORD engines!!!!

I throughly recommend a 5W 40 Oil as it is synthetic without being to thin....
 
#21 ·
SteveW said:


Hmmmmmm, Me thinks that Animal should know what he's on about!!

I take it that YOU don't use 15w 40 though, Animal?
I could do a write up for the archieves on the ways oils work - advantages and disadvantages and tests if anyone is interested?

I still have alot of research info from my project.
 
#22 ·
so what problems could i encounter running 15w40 in my 20xe engine...

i have always run 10w40 but after re-building my cylinder head a few of the tappets have become a bit noisy so i was going to flush the engine and use 15w40 gtx magnetec at the next change...

after the rebuild i used 10w40 7.99 for 4.5 litres cheap crap and all i did was drain the old oil and refilled - didn't change the filter...

probably a bad idea as i rebuilt it cos the head gasket went and when i drained the sump the first thing that came out was water, followed by sludge, followed by very cooked oil!!
 
#23 ·
JamesG said:
so what problems could i encounter running 15w40 in my 20xe engine...

i have always run 10w40 but after re-building my cylinder head a few of the tappets have become a bit noisy so i was going to flush the engine and use 15w40 gtx magnetec at the next change...

after the rebuild i used 10w40 7.99 for 4.5 litres cheap crap and all i did was drain the old oil and refilled - didn't change the filter...

probably a bad idea as i rebuilt it cos the head gasket went and when i drained the sump the first thing that came out was water, followed by sludge, followed by very cooked oil!!

You may not encounter ANY problems from running a 15/ 40 oil in a multi-valve engines - problems caused by too thick a oil are usually noisey tappets on start up that take a while to settle down amongst other reasons - because the oil is thicker therefore takes longer to reach the top of the engine....

I ALWAYS use a flusher - but NOT if you dont know the history of the engine!!!

In general 10W 40 is one of the better oils for using in mult-valve engines - although like said earlier my preference is to use a 5W 40 as it combines the advantages of OW 40 (mobile one) and advantages of 10W 40 (magnetec) and is reasonably priced....Partco do a 5W 40 Oil - high quality for about £14 + vat..

And....final note: with Oil you get what pay for....any oil that costs less than £8 for 5 litres really isnt worth putting in your engine......

If you were thinking of the 15W 40 Magnetec to use - you'll find it says on the bottle 'for basic engines' - find the 10W 40 Magnetec 'for advanced engines' and you'll be on the right path.
 
#24 ·
magnatec 10w40 for advanced engines is what i use at the mo...

i never had any probs with this oil, the engine has always been smooth and quiet untill i blew the head gasket.

after the rebuild i never flushed the block, just drained the old oil and refilled with cheap 10w40.
i turned it over for 20 secs to get the oil circulating as the car had sat for 3 weeks, then started it and on firing it was bloody tappy! it quietens down once the engine is warm though, also sometimes its not to bad on startup, others its quite noisy?

im hoping its just a combination of **** oil and the gunk that was still in there making the tappets stick a bit and a good flush will sort it out.
 
#25 ·
JamesG said:
magnatec 10w40 for advanced engines is what i use at the mo...

i never had any probs with this oil, the engine has always been smooth and quiet untill i blew the head gasket.

after the rebuild i never flushed the block, just drained the old oil and refilled with cheap 10w40.
i turned it over for 20 secs to get the oil circulating as the car had sat for 3 weeks, then started it and on firing it was bloody tappy! it quietens down once the engine is warm though, also sometimes its not to bad on startup, others its quite noisy?

im hoping its just a combination of **** oil and the gunk that was still in there making the tappets stick a bit and a good flush will sort it out.
Sounds like you didnt do anything wrong except - did you compress the tappets and put them in clean oil overnight before putting them back in the cylinder head? - I ask....cos couple of years ago I did a cylinder head on a 8V engine (vauxhall 1.6) and when put it back together the tappets were rattling like pigs! - Spoke to my local garage who said to compress them in a vice and leave in fresh clean oil overnight then add them to the cylinder head - the difference was amazing! - smooth as silk! - bit clattery for first few mins till they pump up but then as fine.

Magnatec 10W 40 is a good oil - keep using it if happy with it but my preference is a 5W 40.....which happens to be £5 cheaper where I get it from.
 
#26 ·
ahhh maybe thats what i did wrong, i did squeeze them with my fingers to get the oil out of them then i pumped fresh oil into the hole as best i could using a little oil pump can..

i shall see what an oil change does and if they're still bad then they'll have to come out!
 
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