Hello all,
I want to double check that I have the right take-away from all my lurking here over the past 2 months.
I have a 1981 Pontiac Trans Am with a 301 turbo which was rebuilt just before I bought it 2 months ago. This is the engine that was famous for it's draw through turbo coking oil after engine shut off which led to all kind of problems. I make sure to do a 1 minute idle in the driveway to help cool off the turbo before I shut it off.
The mechanic used high zinc break in oil after the rebuild then put 5w30 dino in it (the manual calls for straight weight 30). I gave it another oil change after 500 miles, again with 5w30 dino.
I live in Phoenix, the car is my daily driver. I have a 25 mile round trip commute for work and the cars sees around a dozen 6 mile RT errand runs each week. The oil pressure seems high to me, after 10 minutes of driving in stop and go traffic it sits at 30 psi at 750 rpm idle. At 2000 rpm it is at 60 psi and above 2500 rpm it levels off at 70 psi. These are all well above the recommended 10 psi per 1000 rpm that I saw listed in the "Motor Oil 101" series on this forum.
I am trying to figure out what oil is best to use from now on, please check my reasoning here:
I have settled on synthetic to help avoid the oil coking issue, my understanding is that the anti-wear agents in newer oils means I shouldn't worry too much about it being low zinc (especially because this is not a performance engine in any sense of the word). Since the oil pressure is high I am thinking that I should switch to a 20 grade, perhaps a 0w20.
Am I on the right track?
Many Thanks,
Todd
I want to double check that I have the right take-away from all my lurking here over the past 2 months.
I have a 1981 Pontiac Trans Am with a 301 turbo which was rebuilt just before I bought it 2 months ago. This is the engine that was famous for it's draw through turbo coking oil after engine shut off which led to all kind of problems. I make sure to do a 1 minute idle in the driveway to help cool off the turbo before I shut it off.
The mechanic used high zinc break in oil after the rebuild then put 5w30 dino in it (the manual calls for straight weight 30). I gave it another oil change after 500 miles, again with 5w30 dino.
I live in Phoenix, the car is my daily driver. I have a 25 mile round trip commute for work and the cars sees around a dozen 6 mile RT errand runs each week. The oil pressure seems high to me, after 10 minutes of driving in stop and go traffic it sits at 30 psi at 750 rpm idle. At 2000 rpm it is at 60 psi and above 2500 rpm it levels off at 70 psi. These are all well above the recommended 10 psi per 1000 rpm that I saw listed in the "Motor Oil 101" series on this forum.
I am trying to figure out what oil is best to use from now on, please check my reasoning here:
I have settled on synthetic to help avoid the oil coking issue, my understanding is that the anti-wear agents in newer oils means I shouldn't worry too much about it being low zinc (especially because this is not a performance engine in any sense of the word). Since the oil pressure is high I am thinking that I should switch to a 20 grade, perhaps a 0w20.
Am I on the right track?
Many Thanks,
Todd