club.liberty.asn.au

For those that've been running E85 for a while, what oil do you use & at what change intervals?
My question is primarily for 'spirited' street use.

*Specifically E85 compatible oils only please.
*Viscosity Irrelevant! -it's been done to death elsewhere...
*Full/Semi synth Irrelevant! -it's been done to death elsewhere...

Without (personally) getting into the super exy top dollar stuff, I'm looking at either of these two for now:


Penrite Enviro+GF-5 (Full synth)
5w-30
Approx $48 - 5L.
http://www.penriteoil.com.au/products.p ... oducts=250

Nulon Full Synth
5w-30 *Long life*
Approx $59 - 6L.
http://www.nulon.com.au/pb-pdf.php?filename=PB-SYN5W30

Apparently oils meeting API SN/ILSAC GF-5 are fine for E85 use regardless of whether it is stated on the label or not ...I personally like to see 'E85 compatible' actually printed on the label before I'll trust it for up to 5000k's. The 2 products above do this.

From my inquiries, it's fine to change these out at my normal <5000k intervals as they are developed with E85 in mind, but please feel free to voice your opinion on this too.

Suggestions?

Opinions?

Penrite ten tenths racing 5w30 if engine is less than 100,000kms or 10w40 if over

Change every 3000kms though irrespective of whether API/SN or not

Nulon 10w40 is good if you don't do short trips, as its TBN and hths is alot higher than penrites but if you do less than 15km trips in your car EVER then don't use these

Sometimes I start to think this is a F1 forum





AeroShell Oil Multigrade W 15 W 50 great all round oil for opposed engines

Searching for people who are running E85 on a daily basis. I plan to get testing done once I go to E85, but hoping that there are some hints as to whether some oils survive E85 usage better than others.

What oil are you using?
What type of driving are you doing? Short / long trips / mixed etc.
How long is your oil lasting? Anyone had theirs tested at different intervals to work out their best oil change periods?

My journey to work is around the 20k mark, so from what I gather it is long enough to get up to temp and evaporate water/ethanol from the oil to avoid breakdown.
Shorter journeys are infrequent, and can probably be removed by walking or using the g/f's car.

(History: car has plus +200K on it so on others advice was looking at a 10w40, and so far looking at the Nulon Full Synth 10/40. Currently has 5/30 Full Synth HiTec in it from previous owner/service, got down to Min line (and topped back up) by 9000kms.)

An API rating of SN oil is compatible with E85
I am using Nulon Full Synthetic SN 5W-40 and have been running E85 for 6 months now.
One oil change has been performed during this period.
First observations is that the oil stays clearer for longer with E85 fuel.
The oil is changed somewhere between every 5,000-7,500 kM

BillyCorgi wrote:An API rating of SN oil is compatible with E85
I am using Nulon Full Synthetic SN 5W-40 and have been running E85 for 6 months now.
One oil change has been performed during this period.
First observations is that the oil stays clearer for longer with E85 fuel.
The oil is changed somewhere between every 5,000-7,500 kM

That "clearer" oil is actualy detrimental as it is indicative of the contamination of ethanol into your oil.

I would ensure changes are done every 5000kms as an absolute maximum (I change every 2500kms)

dan_ashcroft wrote:Searching for people who are running E85 on a daily basis. I plan to get testing done once I go to E85, but hoping that there are some hints as to whether some oils survive E85 usage better than others.

What oil are you using?
What type of driving are you doing? Short / long trips / mixed etc.
How long is your oil lasting? Anyone had theirs tested at different intervals to work out their best oil change periods?

My journey to work is around the 20k mark, so from what I gather it is long enough to get up to temp and evaporate water/ethanol from the oil to avoid breakdown.
Shorter journeys are infrequent, and can probably be removed by walking or using the g/f's car.

(History: car has plus +200K on it so on others advice was looking at a 10w40, and so far looking at the Nulon Full Synth 10/40. Currently has 5/30 Full Synth HiTec in it from previous owner/service, got down to Min line (and topped back up) by 9000kms.)

20km is ok, as long as you go for a longer trip once a week, should be fine.

I run Amsoil Diesel version 5w30 and change every 10,000kms/6 months (in depth testing done, oil was still perfect at 5,000km). Lot's of boosting and redlining in between, oil is in good nick.

Recently I've been driving a lot less (50kms a week) + cold weather, and I'm seeing more condensation than before. Might change to 98 until winter is over and change 15,000/9 months.

These are all thoroughly tested results, with my particular engine, Amsoil and driving, so perhaps it's not 100% applicable to everyone's case.

Thank you guys.

alexeiwoody: if I could get that length of service life from an oil then it might be worth paying the extra dollars. Need to keep filtration issues in mind as well I guess, although would have been part of your testing?

Some education needed: have been looking at e-monitor's site, they do testing kits you can send in. Anyone used them? They have a sample report on the bottom of this page: http://www.e-monitor.com.au/index.htm and along with testing water and fuel in the oil, it also tests viscosity. Is change/degradation in viscosity at 40'C (only temperature listed on the sample) a reliable indicator of change in viscosity at 100'C, ie operating temp?

Is there anything else I should be keeping in mind? Throwing myself in the deep-end trying to get up to speed before the next oil change in a few weeks.

Penrite's HPR seem to be E85 compatible.

dan_ashcroft wrote:Thank you guys.

alexeiwoody: if I could get that length of service life from an oil then it might be worth paying the extra dollars. Need to keep filtration issues in mind as well I guess, although would have been part of your testing?

Some education needed: have been looking at e-monitor's site, they do testing kits you can send in. Anyone used them? They have a sample report on the bottom of this page: http://www.e-monitor.com.au/index.htm and along with testing water and fuel in the oil, it also tests viscosity. Is change/degradation in viscosity at 40'C (only temperature listed on the sample) a reliable indicator of change in viscosity at 100'C, ie operating temp?

Is there anything else I should be keeping in mind? Throwing myself in the deep-end trying to get up to speed before the next oil change in a few weeks.

The oil was tested for viscosity, and for any particles not part of the oil - water, metals etc. Tests were the most thorough I've seen anywhere, results were in PPM and we could see exactly which metals and their amounts were in the oil. In other words - not only could we see the condition of the oil, how well it lubricated and flowed, but also the engine wear, the rate of wear and which parts of the engine were wearing.

I wasn't sure what to expect, but had it tested at 5,000 and 9,000kms (did a whole heap of car tuning in there 3-4 full tunes (so around 20 full power pulls per tune (I was looking for a decent tuner lol), drags night, Sydney trip and a whole bunch of crazy driving in between). Bill from Lubrication Management said the oil was "perfect" at 5,000kms and just less than halfway in terms of viscosity degradation, so we used it for another 4,000 no problems.

This is with more than double factory power too, so the engine gets a workout, gets redlined most of the time.

fedaykin wrote:Penrite's HPR seem to be E85 compatible.

Penrite have a technical bulletin dedicated to E85 compatible oils here:http://www.penriteoil.com.au/tech_pdfs/E85%20COMPATIBLE%20OILS%20FEB%202015.pdf

Some of them ("Everyday" labels) are mineral based, and I'd like to keep it full synthetic so I can rule those out. The HPR ones seem to be for much higher viscosity applications so also ruling them out. The Enviro+ GF5 and 10 Tenths range seem to be my best options in Penrite.

Enviro+ GF5 and 10 Tenths Racing 5 are both 5w30 so go against the common rule of going up in viscosity for engines with greater kms on them. Although there is no reason why I couldn't try them and see what oil consumption is like in my engine.

The 10 Tenths Racing 10 (ie 10w40) has my interest in that it is used with alcohol fuel types and apparently has a "shear free" formula. The only thing is that the Penrite cattle dog notes that it is suitable for E85 only in competition use...?

alexeiwoody wrote: The oil was tested for viscosity, and for any particles not part of the oil - water, metals etc. Tests were the most thorough I've seen anywhere, results were in PPM and we could see exactly which metals and their amounts were in the oil.

Sounds similar to the sample report for e-monitor here: http://www.e-monitor.com.au/SamplePDFReport.pdf

You use Lubrication Management, right? Do they test at operating temp, or only 40'C like above? If not, does anyone test at operating temp?

I've been running the penrite ten tenths racing 10w40 for 2 years. As I said I do change every 2500kms though

Alexei's results are fantastic in terms of contamination and wear, however I would err on the side of caution with the results as his could be a freakishly tight motor and therefore dilution and contamination being well below the average expectation from an e85 vehicle.

I woul definitely recommend no more than 5000kms between oil changes.

I change mine every 2500kms for two reasons:

1. My id2000's dump a lot of fuel at cold start

2. My car is not daily driven so doesn't get the opportunity to burn ethanol/ water content as quickly as id like

dan_ashcroft wrote:

fedaykin wrote:Penrite's HPR seem to be E85 compatible.

Some of them ("Everyday" labels) are mineral based, and I'd like to keep it full synthetic so I can rule those out. The HPR ones seem to be for much higher viscosity applications so also ruling them out. The Enviro+ GF5 and 10 Tenths range seem to be my best options in Penrite.

HPR 0, HPR5 too high viscosity? What?
Might as well go with Enviro+ GF-5.

dr20t wrote:I've been running the penrite ten tenths racing 10w40 for 2 years. As I said I do change every 2500kms though

Alexei's results are fantastic in terms of contamination and wear, however I would err on the side of caution with the results as his could be a freakishly tight motor and therefore dilution and contamination being well below the average expectation from an e85 vehicle.

I woul definitely recommend no more than 5000kms between oil changes.

I change mine every 2500kms for two reasons:

1. My id2000's dump a lot of fuel at cold start

2. My car is not daily driven so doesn't get the opportunity to burn ethanol/ water content as quickly as id like

Exactly, my results don't mean any oil on any engine will last as long. Bill and I were pleasantly surprised that the oil lasted that long. Then again Coyote's old lib tested very well on the diesel Amsoil too, when he ran eflex.

With so many factors that affect the performance of the oil (namely - how you use the car), either get it properly tested (to be sure) or change more frequently. There will definitely be condensation and the oil will reek of ethanol even just after a week.