prodrive8

What the opinion on using original factory spec period oil or modern day equivalents?

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

No offense,
You'd be best to research that area of info yourself and decide on what you will use.
There are more OIL DEBATE threads than the grains of sand in the Sahara and frankly none of them actually come to a conclusion.

FührerTüner

iTrader: (5)

I was gonna direct him to the post count threads but i cant find them.

prodrive8

That's my point the searches on here are hard work and as with many forums the longer they operate the more difficult it is to find good solid opinion.

I know what oil I use but I'd like to know what others use?

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

I have turbochargers. Turbochargers create an extreme enviroment with lots of heat. Synthetic oil has much better shear properties and tolerates high heat way better than traditional oil. That reduces coking in the turbochargers and their oil supply and return lines. My car still has the original turbos with 128k miles that don't smoke and function as designed. YRMV. My .02

prodrive8

Is that on an original engine as well?

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

^Original engine rebuilt @ ~ 90k for a coolant seal failure. E shaft and rotor bearings, and oil control rings had typical unremarkable wear. They were w/in spec but were replaced anyway.

Turbo2 87

iTrader: (2)

I've been using Valvoline Vr1 20w50 high zinc. Been working good for me.

Evil Aviator

The original factory API spec oils are obsolete. That makes your choice a lot easier.

All RX-7s were produced with water-cooled bearings which reduce coking. There are many RX-7s with over 200k miles on the turbos that don't smoke and function as designed even though the owner used regular mineral oil. Synthetic oil will not make a significant difference unless the car is operated under extreme conditions or if the original turbo(s) were replaced with a cheapie dry bearing turbo. If you do feel a need for synthetic oil, be sure to do your homework as many of them are not truly synthetic.

ForginGeorge

Castrol GTX 20w50. Non-Synth. The white bottles you can pick up at any auto parts store for reasonably cheap.

misterstyx69

iTrader: (142)

..N/A Fc..any kind of oil that is cheap and on sale.

RYZ

______________________________
So was the full synthetic oil or semi synthetic? and what grade

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Reduce, yes. But coking can still can be an issue. And I believe synthetic reduces it further. But that's not the only reason to use it...IMO.
And probably many many more that that have failed well before then. But you're right, my experience is anecdotal.

I believe turbo chargers are an extreme condition in a relative sense. If my car was N/A I wouldn't bother with synthetic.
Feeling the need. This is after all, the fun car. And switched to, IIRC, a group IV not all that long ago.

cmurphy

iTrader: (2)

I'm also in the same situation where i'm trying to find as much relevant information as I can. I use google and filter on this site (e.g. vacuum guide site:rx7club.com) , and it generally finds good information.

cmurphy

iTrader: (2)

Which group iv brand and viscosity did you switch to?

sandy_RE

Penrite HPR 30 is what some of us here in Australia use on our n/a's.

jdeck

Has anyone ever used Shell Rotella T6 with rotary turbo applications? That's always been my go to for non rotary engines.

TwerkItOnMars

I think Castrol GTX 20-50 (white bottle) is the best conventional to use. I wouldn't use synthetic stuff unless I had just finished breaking in a freshly rebuilt motor.

It all comes down to personal preference and previous experience for oil, I think.

WI.93fd3s

I suggest only conventional!!! I use gtx, also change oil and plugs 2-3k!!!!!!

Evil Aviator

Most racers break-in a new engine with non-synthetic, and then switch to a synthetic after break-in.

Rotella T6 is not actually synthetic oil. Common real synthetic oil brands used by Americans on this forum include Amsoil, Idemitsu, Red Line, and Royal Purple brands.

I also use GTX, and it's good for 3-5k miles on the street. If your plugs don't last at least 10k miles then there is something very wrong with your engine or you are using the wrong plugs.

FührerTüner

iTrader: (5)

FYI you can get a case of (6) quarts of RP 20w50 on amazon for 53 bucks prime.

Sgtblue

iTrader: (16)

Must mean you're serious with all the exclamations. But agree with Aviator...that's WAY too often on plugs with a properly running engine.

lOOkatme

iTrader: (19)

I have run a couple of different weights of oil and mineral and synthetic in the rx7. Yes I fell into the hype at first.

This is what I found out over time.

I went with the recommended weight of 10W-30 and 20W-50 in the summer. the 20w-50 seemed too thick (the car had to warm up some to idle smoother and oil pressures were very high) so I was switching between 15W-50 synthetic (summer) and 10W-30 (winterish).

After a lot more research and combining my own logic I ended up running a synthetic 5W-30 oil and this is what I will be running for the rest of my life in my rx7.

Viscosity of the oil depends on the temperature of the oil, and lower temps need thinner oils, once the car reaches operating temp for the oil you want the pressure to be 60-70PSI to redline, you choose the thinnest viscosity oil that can get you there. thinner is better in terms of cooling the engine and bearing protection (higher flow). I am running low pressure drop 25 row oil coolers ducted and the temps stay very cool for my engine as its a street car. Most wear comes from cold start and that is why I chose the 5W-30 oil (thinner at colder temps). I chose synthetic oil as rotaries run a little hotter and we have turbo's and such. Synthetics are made to this exact spec and mineral oils "dope" additives to make the oil behave a certain way with temp, over time those additives reduce and the oil becomes more of a straight weight, quicker if they see higher loads.

BW also recommends synthetics, as they keep their properties. I am running 2 cycle through the oil metering pump so I am not injecting anything into the engine.

I had dug into oil filters as well. I chose denso oil filters for the flow over filtration. there is a big debate about this but I say flow is more important than filtration. Honda oil filters flow well. so They also agree with the flow category. Bosch Premium filters are probably the best bang for the buck for filtration and flow as they are in the middle of the road for flow and filter very well and what I run on my regular daily driven cars which are Honda's.

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

I buy whatever 20W-50 oil is on sale and have for the 17 years I've owned the car.

Also I use Fram filters to annoy people on the Internet.

WondrousBread

If we're talking about filters too, what exactly is wrong with Fram?

I am currently using a Fram and it seems okay. I have an extra one too, but it says that it has some kind of a "high mileage engine" additive in it, and I haven't any interest putting that into my oil without knowing exactly what it does.

Castrol GTX by the way, only because it is cheap and available anywhere. Synthetic might be better, I wouldn't know because there aren't any high-quality ones sold near me so I haven't tried it.