Hi Guys, I have been a lurker at BITOG for about 6 months, and I really do enjoy reading this forum. First off, I am a 37 year old gen X er from a tropical country called Malaysia, and the ambient temps here are really high especially in the afternoon. In the early morning ,if it rains, temps will be circa 22 C, and if it sunny in the afternoon it probably will be up to 40 C. Now a little history about my car. Its an econobox from the 80's.
Its a Malaysian made car called the Proton Saga, which is a copy of a mid 80s FWD Mitsubishi lancer fiore. It even comes with a MITSUBISHI 4G13 or 4G15 OHC engine. Mine is the 4G13. The car has been fed dino oil since it left the factory in 1991. I bought the car used in mid 97, and even then the engine wasn't in the best of condition,. I just followed the recommendation of the manufacturer to use 20W-50 oil for most of its life. By 1999, the engine was already noticeably burning oil whenever I rev up. A few years later in 2001, even burns oil while idling, and the valvetrain makes rather horrible noises. Even the spark plugs get oil fouled back then.
In mid 2004 I decided to give this car a new lease of life, and sent it off packing for a month for a complete engine overhaul. The camshaft, pistons, piston rings, valves ,bearings oil pump, water pump, the whole works was replaced with new components. The engine block was rebored since it had ovalized.
I got back the engine a month later, and it was fed with 20W-50 dino for the first 1000km break in. Then it was on duckhams QS fully synthethic twice. Castrol magnatec 10W-40 twice. I wasn't happy with the magantec semi syn cause it seemed to evaporaten a quart in 3000kms .Since the overhaul and the use of synthethic oil, the car's exhaust cleanliness, engine performance, sound are all top notch, so I continued with synthetic. After the disappointing magnatec,tesco were having a sale on shell helix ultra 5W-40, so I bought six 4L bottles and used them for the next 6 oil changes. I was really happy with the helix ultra. After a few more helix 5W-40, I tried BHP syngard 5W-40, wasn't very happy with it, the Tesco did a sale on Mobil 1 5W-50. The M1 was really good and made my engine quiet , even though it did burn half a quart after a 1000km long distance driving. As the M1 reached 9000km, my engine didn't seem as quiet anymore, and the oil had darkened considerably, so I figured it was time to change the oil. Tesco had Castrol EDGE 0W-40 with titanium on sale so I picked that up. After changing the oil, the engine was quiet once again. However after 2 weeks of driving and about 750km, the valvetrain is making some noises. What worries me the most is its not making noise upon cold morning startup, but during optimum working temperature. I know 0W-40 isn't supposed to be too thin as viscosity at 100C is the same as 5W-40, but I am really perplexed as to why why valves are making those noises. This is my first time using 0W -40 oil and it doesn't seem to be reassuring. My boss has a 2000 Mercedes C230 Kompressor, and he said when he used M1 0W-40 his engine made a horrible sound, and he quickly switched back to M1 5W-40 and it was quiet again. So am I worrying too much, or should I trust this EDGE 0W-40. I am worried I may be damaging my engine if I don't change the oil to a 5W-40 or 5W-50. Thanks to you guys on the forum, I have got in touch with blackstone and requested a UOA kit, they were gracious to send me one even though I am in Malaysia. I am planning to have a UOA done on this Castrol to see if indeed I have excessive wear.
I know my car is no firebreather but I do want to take care of it for life.
Its a Malaysian made car called the Proton Saga, which is a copy of a mid 80s FWD Mitsubishi lancer fiore. It even comes with a MITSUBISHI 4G13 or 4G15 OHC engine. Mine is the 4G13. The car has been fed dino oil since it left the factory in 1991. I bought the car used in mid 97, and even then the engine wasn't in the best of condition,. I just followed the recommendation of the manufacturer to use 20W-50 oil for most of its life. By 1999, the engine was already noticeably burning oil whenever I rev up. A few years later in 2001, even burns oil while idling, and the valvetrain makes rather horrible noises. Even the spark plugs get oil fouled back then.
In mid 2004 I decided to give this car a new lease of life, and sent it off packing for a month for a complete engine overhaul. The camshaft, pistons, piston rings, valves ,bearings oil pump, water pump, the whole works was replaced with new components. The engine block was rebored since it had ovalized.
I got back the engine a month later, and it was fed with 20W-50 dino for the first 1000km break in. Then it was on duckhams QS fully synthethic twice. Castrol magnatec 10W-40 twice. I wasn't happy with the magantec semi syn cause it seemed to evaporaten a quart in 3000kms .Since the overhaul and the use of synthethic oil, the car's exhaust cleanliness, engine performance, sound are all top notch, so I continued with synthetic. After the disappointing magnatec,tesco were having a sale on shell helix ultra 5W-40, so I bought six 4L bottles and used them for the next 6 oil changes. I was really happy with the helix ultra. After a few more helix 5W-40, I tried BHP syngard 5W-40, wasn't very happy with it, the Tesco did a sale on Mobil 1 5W-50. The M1 was really good and made my engine quiet , even though it did burn half a quart after a 1000km long distance driving. As the M1 reached 9000km, my engine didn't seem as quiet anymore, and the oil had darkened considerably, so I figured it was time to change the oil. Tesco had Castrol EDGE 0W-40 with titanium on sale so I picked that up. After changing the oil, the engine was quiet once again. However after 2 weeks of driving and about 750km, the valvetrain is making some noises. What worries me the most is its not making noise upon cold morning startup, but during optimum working temperature. I know 0W-40 isn't supposed to be too thin as viscosity at 100C is the same as 5W-40, but I am really perplexed as to why why valves are making those noises. This is my first time using 0W -40 oil and it doesn't seem to be reassuring. My boss has a 2000 Mercedes C230 Kompressor, and he said when he used M1 0W-40 his engine made a horrible sound, and he quickly switched back to M1 5W-40 and it was quiet again. So am I worrying too much, or should I trust this EDGE 0W-40. I am worried I may be damaging my engine if I don't change the oil to a 5W-40 or 5W-50. Thanks to you guys on the forum, I have got in touch with blackstone and requested a UOA kit, they were gracious to send me one even though I am in Malaysia. I am planning to have a UOA done on this Castrol to see if indeed I have excessive wear.
I know my car is no firebreather but I do want to take care of it for life.
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