How much Oil for the K8 or KLZE

[Pritchett]

Hmmm, ya they don't look that great do they? Maybe I'll stick with the mobil 1's from now on and changing my oil every 3000km again, I've been letting it slide to 5000

[Ryan]

Poking my head into this thread.

MrMazda, the crankshaft doesn't sit in the oil (or it shouldn't if you've filled it below the full line)

Remember that if your pan is dented, its not hard to remove something like .25 or .5 of a liter from your capacity. The filter can add that much too.

The benefits of a bigger filter and more filtration media, so that more oil passes through the filter media before it gets clogged enough to use the bypass (which I don't think is too much, actually, but I haven't tested it) you get negligible benefits from "less pressure loss"

Pritchett, I suggest you stop running 20W50 in your car, you're going to kill it. thicker oil is a bad decision, thinner oil than recommended is better than thicker. All you're doing is making the oils journey up to the bearings harder, making your pressure cut out happen sooner, dumping it, whereas more of a thinner oil would be making it up there. Pressure doesn't lubricate bearings, flow does.

[Daninski]

Poking my head into this thread.
Remember that if your pan is dented, its not hard to remove something like .25 or .5 of a liter from your capacity. The filter can add that much too.

That 'big dent theory' has been disproved time and time again and yet you 'alarmists' still insist on bring it up. Next thing you know you'll be saying some thing real bad is going to happen on say,,,Dec. 22, 2012. Hmmm.

[Pritchett]

I haven't ran any 20w50 through the KL yet, I used to run it in my K8 and only in the summer. I didn't realize 20w50 would increase my pressure that much. I also thought a thicker oil would lubricate better, especially since it says high performance. Would my oil pressure light come on if the pressure was too high? Like the voltage light does.

So what weight of oil do you think is best Ryan? Engine (KL-ZE) has anywhere from 80k-120k km on it.

[mitmaks]

Think about it, how is thicker material supposed to get into tighter tolerances. 10W-30 is perfect for most cars all season long.
On my truck I run 15W-40, recommended by the manufacturer

[MrMazda92]

My last post made it sound like I re-use my oil filters... I do NOT do this!

Btw, 5w30 and 10w30 will treat your engine quite well. I use both, depending on the season.

[mikeinaus]

recommended oil for the k8 and klde is 10w30 for normal temperatures. 5w30 was only recommended for colder climates with a maximum around 0C if i remember right. id just stick to 10w30 and be happy. the way i view oil is its better to use a cheaper oil and change it more frequently 3000-5000km then a more expensive oil and run it 10,000km+. that being said i do use synthetic and i usually change it when it turns black or 6000km max.

[MrMazda92]

My "rule" for oil is 5K miles, new filter and Mobile 1 full synthetic every time. I still check my oil regularly, I've still yet to see anything even remotely dark come out. Now gear oil... My last drain took over an hour to stop pouring. It was like frozen honey dripping out of a toothpick sized hole in a jar... Talk about ridiculous.

I did run a conventional 10w40 Castrol oil I picked up for ~$2 a quart for 3,000 miles once upon a time. I had no adverse effects, although I did feel the 3K was a smart move on my part.

[Ryan]

Having owned a pretty seriously dented pan.... But you're right, most dents will be negligible It was just something to keep in mind (if you or the PO ran her up on a boulder )

Prime oil for these motors is a 30 weight. In a conventional oil, use the lowest span possible (10W30), and run it in summer. For winter, sub 0ºC, run a 0W30 category 4 or 5 synthetic.

Get an oil temp and an oil pressure guage, you'll learn a lot about how your motor works. For instance, my oil takes another 5-10 minutes to get to operating temp than my coolant. Thats especially high for me because I deleted the oil cooler.

If your pressure ever hits the 65 mark at operating temp, about where the cutout comes in, then you need to run a 20 weight. Its also possible to create a hybrid of 25 weight from 50/50 of the same line of oil, just mixing them 50/50.

The span is a result of polymers added the the oil, which are not lubricants. These polymers also contribute to engine sludge, as they break down into... well, sludge. If I ran a 0W40 conventional oil, which I'd never do, I'd want to change that s--- out every 2000km.

Again, quality is key. There are s--- oils, middle of the road oils, better oils, and good oils. Everyone has an opinion, so beware, but you usually get what you pay for.

[crazycanadian]

Hey Dan have you ever done an oil change, run the car up to operating temps parked it and let it sit for 10 min then checked your oil level??

The suggest level that all data and stuff say for oil changes should put the oil level at full if you do the oil change and check the oil this way...

I think thats why you are seeing that you use more oil... Personaly I run about 4 - 4.5L per oil change on my KL...

[Daninski]

Ya I like to let it sit for a couple of minutes but, if your oil takes more than just a minute or so to drain back you probably have a sludge issue. Oil should drain back to the pan quickly. The place I went for my oil change shuts off the motor and then dips the stick and shows you the level before they close the hood. I like that. I have noticed an improvement in both my ZE MX-3 and DE Mx6 since changing to synthetic oil both in fuel mileage and engine noise.

[RX8SE3P]

Interesting topic. A warmed up engine will show higher oil levels since the oil will expand a bit? Correct me if I am wrong.

I like to warm the car up and then change oil. By the time it's all drained out thoroughly and I put the new oil in, the engine would have gotten much cooler. For me I used pretty much extacly 4L of oil and that got to the full mark. I used to think that the ZE took more oil but that was because mine was burning oil and leaking it too lol.

My ZE is rebuilt now, virtually everything hotwashed too so it's very nice and silver inside. Perhaps it's more accurate in this example as people with high mileage engines will likely have more sludge and the oil may stick more to certain areas and not measure correctly on the dipstip? Just a theory.

[wytbishop]

Motor oil is very thermally stable. The coefficient of expansion for engine oil is 0.00070/ºC. So if it rose 100ºC it's volume would increase 0.07%.

http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/cubic ... _1262.html

[Ryan]

They reason they ask you to check oil hot is so that they know then that its managed to fill all the passages and the air content in the oil should be lower. Speculating on the air content thing.