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MG MG Y Type - Motor Oil

Just curious - what brands/grades of motor oils are you using in your Y?

Thanks,

Mark
Mark Weissman

When I got my YA last year, it had SAE 20W-50
oil in the engine. When the temperature dropped last Autumn, the engine began to run sluggishly so I changed the oil to Valvoline 'Durablend' 10W-30, a mixture of PAO synthetic oil and Hydrotreated mineral oil which I use in everything. Throttle response was greatly improved with no leaks, smoke or noises.
Many folks will insist that a heavier bodied oil is better for older engines, but I think it depends on the environment and temperature conditions. A lighter oil will develop less heat from shearing than a heavier one. Efficiency, which translates into fuel economy, is improved with a synthetic type oil and usually the operating temperature will drop down a bit, too.
I continued to improve performance and efficiency by changing the transmission and rear axle oil to a SAE 90
(ISO 220)synthetic blend gear oil with no EP additives. A YB would need gear oil with EP for the rear axle, but not for the transmission.
Scott Barrow

10/40 at present but only because 20/50 is impossible (practically) to get in the UK. Next change will be 20/50 Castrol GTX.
Paul Barrow

20/50 is plentiful in my part of the UK. My motorists shop sells it a £9.99 for 5 litres. Duckhams still produce it for about £12-£15 for five litres. Why do you think 20/50 is uniobtainable Paul?

I use the £9.99 oil, changing it every 3000 miles, the filter every 6000 miles.

You can get really cheap 20/50 reclaimed multigrade from places like Tesco/Asda for about £5 a gallon, even that is better quality that the cars had in 1947-53.
Neil Cairns

To avoid confusion, my comments relating to the availability of 20/50 oil in the UK was related to buying it in 50 imp gal drums - it was way more expensive to do that than buy 10/40.
Paul Barrow

A "classic" 20W60, but I think it's too thick, going to change to 15W50 next time.
Willem van der Veer

I've been using the Penrite HPR30 Classic oil, which confusingly is not an SAE30 oil but a 20/70 (yes, 70). It seems to strike a very good balance between cold starting ease and preservation of oil pressure in summer running conditions (as I write, London is 31C). It's not cheap, but the engine has now done 15000 miles on it and is running very smoothly and quietly - that's quiet for an XPAG, of course!
Tim Griggs

Putting expensive oil into a Morris saloon car engine with white-metal faced shell bearings running in hard steel journals, is not economic sense. The camshaft runs on MAZAK bearings. Ordinary 20/50 oil is perfectly OK for this mass produced engine. Using expensive oil ( that is only ordinary oil in a posh tin) only caters for ones ego. As it is changed every 3000 miles anyway, why waste money.

The straight SAE 20 winter, and SAE30 summer oil used in 1947-53 was of very poor quality, and the engine survived high mileages on it as well.

Using anything thinner than 20/50 will only find its way out via the crude asbestos-string front seal, the reverse rear scroll seal, and up past the piston rings and down the valve guides.
Neil Cairns

What for a rebuilt/improved engine ? In my case, crankshaft and camshaft nitrided, bearings aluminium-shelled, pistons made to measure and with up-to-date technology rings, modern front and rear oil seals fitted ? I am still in the running-in period and for this I chose to use supermarket 15W-40. But after ?? I don't think the generalization old engine = thick oil is true. After all, Citroën specified SAE20 for their pre-war engines (Traction Avant). I wonder if they did the same for their Slough-built cars.
(By the way I am getting at my vibration problem: One culprit was an exhaust pipe clamp screwed directly onto the frame, but I have been told from many sides that rubber engine mounts now actually are made from harder material)
YB 0561
Remo Peter

While I agree that almost any modern oil is better than the car would have had in the 1940's and 1950's, I do think that the small marginal cost of a high quality oil is well worth the extra - obviously this is a personal choice, but there are two reasons for my profligacy (about £5 or 7€/year by my reckoning).

First, the XPAG does not use white-metal crank bearings, but the later and more sophisticated tin-aluminium Glacier type thin shells. (I can bore for England on this subject as I used to work for Associated Engineering, home of Glacier and Hepworth and Grandage pistons.) These bearings are less tolerant of oil shortcomings as they are harder and run at closer tolerances than earlier white metal designs - this is one of the reasons why integral filtration finally became standard on post-war engines.

Second - almost any modern oil contains a range of detergents and solvents which are designed to keep the engine clean and corrosion-free. Some of these additives can have a distinctly unhelpful effect on the non-ferrous alloys used in bushes and other parts of older engines, and on gaskets and seals. (In the same way, modern unleaded fuel has a slow solvent effect on the solder used in early SU carburettor floats). The "classic" oils omit these additives to avoid long term damage. This is one area where less is more.

As with most things, you pays your money....
Tim Griggs

This thread was discussed between 15/06/2005 and 25/06/2005

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