Which engine oil?

"ok been reading alot about engine oils recently and i dont really get it!! whats the starting denominator and the end denominator actually regarding? as oil is what keeps all our cars running i figured this would be a very useful and interesting discussion to try clear things up for myself and others. i think for mine i need 10-50w as i do alot of short journeys with the occaisonal long journey and the occaisional thrashing now and again! what oils do you use? what are your comments?"

"The number before w is the winter protection. For supras usually 5w is the lowest you can go for winter otherwise the oil starts to creep past the rings. The last part is the protection when hot. There is a good guide on wiki about whats the best number to go for depending on operating temperatures. AFAIK 30 works best up to 220f before its useless. My oil temp never goes above 215 at least - thats the good thing about having gauges. BTW my summer oil = Modil 1 10w-30. Winter is usally Mobil 1 5w-30"

see i ignore all numbers and just get the gtx magnatex stuff then again i guess my poor polo isnt quite as refined as both of yours are!! haha

"i use mineral oil in the 205 10w-40 changed every 3 months . for the others i own + service magentec fully synthetic changed every year. but oil is better than no oil. is there not an opie oils guy who will come and flood the forum with offers and tell you the whole micro-biotics on the subject? there is on every other forum i frequent vewry smart guys tho"

if you go to Opie oils website they have a form to fill. Car make model engine mods etc and will email recommended oil for your car/driving style...

"Update to my previous post. Just recieved email from Opie. followed link and they recommend lots of other specific parts etc for your car well worth a look people "

"opie oils recomended Silkolene PRO S 10W-50 however it seems a poor make ive never heard of silkolene before? the car came with a tub of the castrol gtx magnatex and i know thats good as it works from word go but ive also spied some mobil 1 pro performance 10-50w oil but thats like 60-70quid!!! im very undecided and the sx owners club appears to be giving a very mixed oppinions on what oil to use."

"i've heard of sikolene . quite good afaik. 60-70quid is disgusting! if you ever see oil in halfrauds let me know and we can arrange for me to get you it on trade as you get a very large discount. (goes with anything really) or if you want you can try blag yourselves a card as all you need is a wage slip (its all i had to take) but i kinda had to convince him it was from a garage payrate engineering SS1 wasnt enough apparantly"

hmm i may very well get the sikolene oil then i was dubious as its not a name i can say ive come accross before but then again im no mechanic so its not like i deal with oil every day.

"it all depends on the engine thats why manufacturers recomend them...all to do with viscosity and e. have to be carefull wether u sure fully synth semi synth or mineral... best to use what ur sposed to stick in it lol the numbers 10W30 are worked out by a certain test. i forgot what its called though lol...its basically from when the oil is cold to the oil being hot and how thinner it gets and how much quicker it runs... ...."