What Engine Oil Do I put in a BMC1800

[TNLI]

On 20/08/2021 at 20:53, David Mack said:

If you are going to run on straight 30, this is the stuff to use:

Best online price I have found is from https://www.justkampers.com/ml001-morris-sae30-oil-5litre-for-all-vw-aircooled-engines.html

 

 

£16 for 4 litres is not much cheaper per litre than Halfords 5 litre can. 

 

Umm, 20 quid for 5 liters of engine oil is rather too cheap. I'm a fan of major brand oil companies, as they supply what they say they do, not just some pre contaminated dinosaur oil that has too little detergent or Zinc based anti wear additives. Both are very important in older diesels.

I'm currently using Mobil Delvac 10w40 (Acea A3/B4), as it's fairly cheap at 26 quid for 4 liters and early versions of Delvac is on the original BMC list of recommended oils. 

 

Although I do like using mono grade SAE 30 or 40 oils during the summer, as they are cheaper and last slightly longer than multi grades, I always stick to the following companies in the UK;

Liqui Moly, Mobil, Shell and Castrol.

 

One comment on oil filters, is that I only use the best possible filters. That often means the most expensive made in Germany specials from Mahle, Mann or Bosche. 

 

Although I'm using Mobil oils at present, I did ask a friend in Germany for his opinion and was rather surprised at the answer:

Dear Mr. Hut,

thank you for your inquiry and your interest in LIQUI MOLY products.

For the BMC 1500 diesel, I recommend our LIQUI MOLY Touring High Tech 20W-50,
because this high performance mineral oil exceed all the needed requirements and it provides a stable oil film even under extreme conditions.

Here the link to our product information:

Their link failed, so here is mine: Touring High Tech 20W-50 (liqui-moly.com)

Should you have any further questions, please contact us.

Freundliche Grüße / Best regards
   
i. A. Roman Göser
Anwendungstechniker
application engineer
   
F & E / Anwendungstechnik
   
Phone:        +49 731 1420-644
Fax:        +49 731 1420-82
roman.goeser@liqui-moly.de
     
LIQUI MOLY GmbH
Jerg-Wieland-Straße 4 | 89081 Ulm | GERMANY

 

I'm not keen on using a 20w50 in winter unless the engine bay is above freezing,. so a good equivalent from Mobil would be Mobil 1 10w60 (It's at the low end of the 60 range) EL, as that oil was specifically designed for older diesels. Don't get the EP version as that's a race oil.

 

This is the best thick diesel oil I know and I always recommend it as a last resort for worn donkeys:

Mobil 1™ 10W-60

I would note that in the UK the term full synthetic is abused, as this oil is in fact a hydro cracked dinosaur oil, so it has just been processed and filtered. The German synthoils and Shell Ultra, which is made from natural gas are natural solvents and can increase leak rates for a while, as old oil seals need a layer of cruddty varnish to function. Shell Ultra is so good, they is a copy around called Ultra Professional that is real junk for sale.

  Using cheap supermarket standard oils is one bad idea, as I've looked at the actual oil analysis results for a whole bunch over the years and most of them are way short of the spec written on the bottle in terms of Calcium based detergents and Zinc based anti wear additives in particular. Although oils sold in the US are checked by the API, Acea who certify new oils do not make any checks at present in the EU, so it's easy to sell junk engine oil in the UK. You really won't know until an old diesel sludges out or starts to show signs of worn bearings if an oil lacks additives.

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by TNLI

[Tony Brooks]

@David Mack TNLI is off on another of his oil things. Although that site does n give you the API spec of the oil the Morris site does and it is API CC so excatly what was originally specified for the 1.5 so should be fine. No need to  spend more as long as the API spec has not been forged and I very much doubt Morris would do that.

[David Mack]

My thoughts exactly!

[MtB]

My father-in-law was a scientist at BP specialising in lubrications. He always used to tell me Tesco branded oils were particularly good value as they specified as good an additive pack as any of the top priced oils on the market, but sold it at wafer-thin Tesco profit margins. 

[TNLI]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

My father-in-law was a scientist at BP specialising in lubrications. He always used to tell me Tesco branded oils were particularly good value as they specified as good an additive pack as any of the top priced oils on the market, but sold it at wafer-thin Tesco profit margins. 

Supermarkets change who is supplying their oils on a regular basis, as they are looking for the cheapest possible supply company. In the UK that will often mean a company based near one of the refineries in Bulgaria. The additives will probably change from one year to the next as a result. 

 

One final point about oil changes, is that its best to do the job yourself or supply the oil and all filters, as a recent survey by Porsche In Germany showed up that one quarter of their cars in the EU were driving around with an oil that did not match the one in the bill. They did that survey to figure out why they were getting premature turbo bearing failures. The most common scam involved using a cheap dinosaur oil like Castrol GTX, whilst billing for a good full HC synthetic like Castrol Edge. Volvo had similar problems and even reduced the oil change interval from 20 to 15K km for their diesels due to garages using an old oil specification for Castrol Magnetec 10w40, a good oil, but not as long lasting as Edge 5w40. The labels on the barrels were being printed so even if a customer looked at a lube job in progress they would not notice. 

Edited October 14, 2021 by TNLI

[TNLI]

On 14/10/2021 at 19:59, Tony Brooks said:

@David Mack TNLI is off on another of his oil things. Although that site does n give you the API spec of the oil the Morris site does and it is API CC so excatly what was originally specified for the 1.5 so should be fine. No need to  spend more as long as the API spec has not been forged and I very much doubt Morris would do that.

 

For those of you looking for a cheap major brand oil, this one is OK for the BMC 1500 and PRM 100 box, and almost the same as the one their R&D folks recommended:

LIQUI MOLY NOVA SUPER 20W50 DATA:  P000287-Nova Super 20W-50-26-en (liqui-moly.de)

 

Currently 23 quid for 5 litres from Fleabay, or about a quid more from Amazinzone.

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by TNLI

[john.k]

Its funny quoting the Porsch thingy......the mechanics near my yard had top line Castrol 44 gal oil drums,and used to fill them with supermarket oil....providing it was cheaper than drum recycled......one time a customer sprung them with skips full of empty el cheapo oil bottles out the back.............When I was an apprentice ,the boss showed me how to fill and empty the glass 1 pint oil measures so quickly that about 10% of the oil stayed in the glass bottle.