Mineral oil

[Alan de Enfield]

My local oil supplier offers a full range of 'traditional oils' everything from mono grade 20 thru to mono grade 50 (manufactured to the original 1921 recipe) to the most modern oil blends.

 

https://www.withamgroup.co.uk/qualube/

Vintage & Classic Range

Our Classic range of products has been designed for veteran and vintage vehicles that need a different approach to lubrication than those of the modern age. Our lubricant manufacturing business was established in 1921 and so we have grown with the unique specialist knowledge and understanding of how to provide the right lubricant for the right vehicle. Our Classic range of products has been designed for veteran and vintage vehicles that need a different approach to lubrication than those of the modern age.

[Mac of Cygnet]

10 hours ago, nbfiresprite said:

I been using Wilko Classic Car 20W50 for over ten years in my old beta 1505. Was there non in stock at Banbury?

 

 

Ditto.  Dunno about the Classic Car bit, though.  Just labelled mineral motor oil 'for older petrol and normally aspirated diesel engines.  £15 for 5 litres.

[matty40s]

Can't get better than this lot.

[TheBiscuits]

1 minute ago, matty40s said:

Can't get better than this lot.

Our local agricultural supplier stocks quite a lot of the Morris range, so when I wanted some Golden Film marine oil, I just asked them to add a 25L drum to their next order - saves either driving a long way or paying a swindlery premium to get some.

[Mad Harold]

Whatever oil is used,the important thing is to change it {and the filter} regularly well before it turns into black filthy grinding paste.

[OldGoat]

This topic - I guess - is much like the choice of sanitary equipment, though less emotive.

Those folks (probably now retired or left) at Beta tried to explain that what the Kubota (and I guess other industrial makes of engines) was a mineral grade of oil. That was because a semi-synth oil was more slippy (technical term there)  and you might die of the dreaded glazed bore syndrome if you used a semi- oil.

Seems reasonable, until

you look at the Kubota technical manual where it stated that 10/40 (over here only available as a semi - synth mix.

 

So, whaddya do? I've got a load of 10/40 synth from my days at Fina, but I'm afraid to use it in my boat engine.....

 

 

[TheBiscuits]

54 minutes ago, OldGoat said:

This topic - I guess - is much like the choice of sanitary equipment, though less emotive.

Those folks (probably now retired or left) at Beta tried to explain that what the Kubota (and I guess other industrial makes of engines) was a mineral grade of oil. That was because a semi-synth oil was more slippy (technical term there)  and you might die of the dreaded glazed bore syndrome if you used a semi- oil.

Seems reasonable, until

you look at the Kubota technical manual where it stated that 10/40 (over here only available as a semi - synth mix.

 

So, whaddya do? I've got a load of 10/40 synth from my days at Fina, but I'm afraid to use it in my boat engine.....

 

 

If you don't want it I'll have it to throw in my beta.  See my post #14:

 

Edited September 20, 2018 by TheBiscuits
missing words!

[Momac]

9 hours ago, Alan de Enfield said:

My local oil supplier offers a full range of 'traditional oils' 

 

https://www.withamgroup.co.uk/qualube/

I tried contacting them a couple of years ago and never received a response.

However I  see their website is much improved . 

[Alan de Enfield]

51 minutes ago, MartynG said:

I tried contacting them a couple of years ago and never received a response.

However I  see their website is much improved . 

They are not far from me so I can call in.

They actually made up a drum of CC grade (obsolete) oil for me.

Found them very helpful and with competitive pricing.

[nbfiresprite]

14 hours ago, Mac of Cygnet said:

 

Ditto.  Dunno about the Classic Car bit, though.  Just labelled mineral motor oil 'for older petrol and normally aspirated diesel engines.  £15 for 5 litres.

Wilko Classic Car 20W50 Oil Specifications API, SE, CC.

[Machpoint005]

14 hours ago, Mad Harold said:

Whatever oil is used,the important thing is to change it {and the filter} regularly well before it turns into black filthy grinding paste.

Fully synthetic oil in a modern turbocharged common-rail diesel engine (like my car) looks like that most of the time.

 

[BWM]

I was under the impression that that mineral oil is more vital in older engines with less efficient filtering, is that correct?

[Tony Brooks]

As a diesel, especially more modern ones with just three rings per piston, are likely to suffer more blow by that a petrol engine and also suffer more soot particles the oil would be expected to get blacker. The job of the detergent in the oil is to keep the soot and dirt particles in suspension until the filter removes them. So oil that stays clean in a  diesel for long periods could indicate its a low detergent oil and the soot is  likely to be coating the inside of the engine. The filter can not remove particles below a certain size but they are small enough to do no harm so diesel engine oil tends to go black faster than petrol engine oil.

 

5 minutes ago, BWM said:

I was under the impression that that mineral oil is more vital in older engines with less efficient filtering, is that correct?

Engines with no or poor filtering are likely to have large oil capacities and more frequent oil changes. In my view it is not being a mineral oil that matters, its being a low detergent oil so there is a chance the larger particles drop out of the oil rather than be held in suspension. Anyway so far no one has produced any evidence that so called semi-synthetic oil is anything but a marketing ploy. As I said I think all multigrade oils are and always have been "semi-synthetic" and higher API specs even more so.

 

[bizzard]

Old engine oil is a very good lubricant, its the sulpher that does it, almost molybdeum disulfide (Molyslip), thats if you can filter out unwanted naughty chemicals, water and bits of metal swarf.

[peterboat]

3 minutes ago, Tony Brooks said:

As a diesel, especially more modern ones with just three rings per piston, are likely to suffer more blow by that a petrol engine and also suffer more soot particles the oil would be expected to get blacker. The job of the detergent in the oil is to keep the soot and dirt particles in suspension until the filter removes them. So oil that stays clean in a  diesel for long periods could indicate its a low detergent oil and the soot is  likely to be coating the inside of the engine. The filter can not remove particles below a certain size but they are small enough to do no harm so diesel engine oil tends to go black faster than petrol engine oil.

 

Engines with no or poor filtering are likely to have large oil capacities and more frequent oil changes. In my view it is not being a mineral oil that matters, its being a low detergent oil so there is a chance the larger particles drop out of the oil rather than be held in suspension. Anyway so far no one has produced any evidence that so called semi-synthetic oil is anything but a marketing ploy. As I said I think all multigrade oils are and always have been "semi-synthetic" and higher API specs even more so.

 

I think you are right Tony, In high performace diesels oil keeps them together and the wrong oil can end in disaster in a very short time, but my Barrus shire is hardly a high performer and has had 5/40 fully synthetic in it since I bought the boat, the reason is simple I get it for free, it never uses any between changes, oil pressure is good and no smoke at all. When I checked the tappets everything was clean unlike days of old when you would have had a black mess in there