15w40 or 20w50 for Ford Pinto Engine With LPG

[Dogan]

Hi,

Which oil Grade can you recommend to me ?

I live in Turkey so amsoil or royal purple impossible to find.
And climate is between minimum -10 and Max. +40 all year.

According to user manual i can use both grade

Im planning to buy valvoline brand

Max life 15w40 or VR1 racing 20w50

Max life because;
-i have oil burn
-high km Engine
-and protect for sludge

VR1 because;
-my car with LPG so more heat generated
And vr1 has more protect for heat

Help me to choose please

 

[eljefino]

The max life should do you fine.

I'm not aware of LPG making more heat, does it make more power, and are you tuned to use it? You have a water-cooled engine, it should shed heat fine.

 

[Lubener]

I had a 2.3L many years ago. Myself, in your climate, I would go for a 10W-40 Max Life all year. The weights you mention are too heavy during your winter months. Keep an eye on the timing belt.

 

[hpb]

The Maxlife 15w40. LPG isn't hard on oil. I used to service very high mileage taxis, (6 cylinder Fords) and we always used the normal bulk oil that the petrol engined cars got. These taxis would go 20,000km or more between oil changes, and still happily run to a million kilometers! (They'd be on their third transmission though...)

By the way, if your vehicle is dual fuel (LPG and petrol), be sure to give it a decent run on petrol occasionally, otherwise you'll run into problems with blocked injectors, fuel going stale, etc.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: Lubener
The weights you mention are too heavy during your winter months.


How do you figure that ?

 

[Silk]

They actually run cooler, we had big trouble with acid build up in the oil when we ran CNG and LPG back in the '80's. The country fleet, not a company fleet...about the same anyway.

 

[hpb]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: Lubener
The weights you mention are too heavy during your winter months.


How do you figure that ?


I was waiting for it! My first car was a 1977 Ford Escort with the 2 litre Pinto, and I can assure you it ran just fine on Castrol GTX 20w50, no worries whatsoever firing up on zero degree Celsius mornings...and that was with (poorly adjusted) points ignition and a dodgy auto choke on the Weber carby!

 

[hpb]

Originally Posted By: Silk
They actually run cooler, we had big trouble with acid build up in the oil when we ran CNG and LPG back in the '80's. The country fleet, not a company fleet...about the same anyway.


NZ government experimented with gas? Our state government had a police car running LPG for a while, but it never progressed any further. They buy petrol at a huge discount, so I doubt there was any cost advantage.

 

[Garak]

A 15w-40 would be more than sufficient. Don't worry about LPG being difficult on an engine. The oil will stay very clean and OCIs on LPG can typically be extended longer than the same engine using gasoline.

 

[A_Harman]

Yes, gaseous fuels are typically easy on the oil, except for sour gas. LPG won't have hardly any sulfur in it, and won't deplete the TBN quickly. Go for the 15w40. The only thing to watch out for with gaseous fuels is a high rate of intake valve recession. This is due to the fact that gaseous fuels don't provide lubrication as a liquid fuel would between the valve and seat.

 

[aquariuscsm]

The VR1 20W50 would be a great choice. I've used the conventional version many times and it's a great oil,plus I feel Valvoline is one of the best oils made. UOA's always turn out great!

 

[Garak]

Originally Posted By: A_Harman
The only thing to watch out for with gaseous fuels is a high rate of intake valve recession. This is due to the fact that gaseous fuels don't provide lubrication as a liquid fuel would between the valve and seat.

The taxis started on LPG around the phaseout of unleaded gasoline. If it was a car from the leaded gas days, we had problems down the road. If it was a car that was already prepared for unleaded, it usually worked out very well.

 

[Dogan]

Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: A_Harman
The only thing to watch out for with gaseous fuels is a high rate of intake valve recession. This is due to the fact that gaseous fuels don't provide lubrication as a liquid fuel would between the valve and seat.

The taxis started on LPG around the phaseout of unleaded gasoline. If it was a car from the leaded gas days, we had problems down the road. If it was a car that was already prepared for unleaded, it usually worked out very well.


Im not sure well but my 2lt Pinto Engine for leaded fuel,
So with LPG i dont think so much wear happen on valves

 

[Kruse]

I used to maintain a fleet of about 30 LPG-powered engines and I really never did see the need for a special oil. Unlike a gasoline engine, an internal combustion engine using LPG will actually have the oil slightly thicken between changes. The only time I saw an increase in temperatures was when the fuel system wasn't set correctly. Of course, you CAN run extremely high compression with propane and that can create more heat.
My least concerns with LPG was the engine oil.

 

[Shannow]

Originally Posted By: Dogan
Im not sure well but my 2lt Pinto Engine for leaded fuel,
So with LPG i dont think so much wear happen on valves


Australia had leaded fuel until the late '80s, and the engines were built to take advantage of that and had soft exhaust seats (straight cast iron for iron heads, and still often quite soft for alloys).

Valve seat recession was a significant issue, that didn't exist on engines designed for unleaded.

(It was an issue on those vehicles when run on unleaded too, just not as bad as on gas).

 

[Dogan]

Please correct me if im wrong, im trying to learn

Multi point injection modern engines spray gas on intake valves and provide coolant and lubrication (negliable or not)

But old carburetor engines, jets send gas by venturi through manifold so no direct contact with valves and lack of Liquid fuel coolant and lubrication

When my car is new, there is leaded fuel and still have mid of 90's
Lead in gas provide protection for valves but with unleaded,no

I have 2 scenarios
-LPG or unleaded fuel wont harm my valves because no direct contact with valves
-both fuel wil harm my valves because lack of lead which provide protection my valves

And oil choice
Vr1 or Max life ?

 

[Silk]

Originally Posted By: hpb

NZ government experimented with gas?


We have no oil, but a lot of gas. So in the late '70's the Government put up incentives to convert to CNG and LPG. Gas lines were run all over the North Island, and an extensive LPG network in the south Island. Government schemes subsidised car conversions and filling stations. I have a cert to convert cars to either gas, haven't used it for 30 years. Had my family car (HG Holden) and company ute on CNG. We got pretty good at it, and used our expertise to help other countries set up to do the same.

Then they pulled the plug. We still have an LPG pump on our island at work....sees maybe one car a week at the most. but we fill bottles everyday.

 

[hpb]

Dogan - how many years has this car been running on LPG? Did you buy it already converted, or have it done recently yourself? Reason I ask is perhaps the cylinder head has previously been removed and fitted with upgraded valves and seats. In the '80's, a lot of LPG cars in Australia used a device to lubricate the inlet valves, it was called Flash Lube or something similar, maybe you could look into that if you're concerned. If I were you, I'd speak to a local LPG installer and seek some advice from them.

As for the oil - 15w40 is what I'd go with.

 

[hpb]

Originally Posted By: Silk
Originally Posted By: hpb

NZ government experimented with gas?


We have no oil, but a lot of gas. So in the late '70's the Government put up incentives to convert to CNG and LPG. Gas lines were run all over the North Island, and an extensive LPG network in the south Island. Government schemes subsidised car conversions and filling stations. I have a cert to convert cars to either gas, haven't used it for 30 years. Had my family car (HG Holden) and company ute on CNG. We got pretty good at it, and used our expertise to help other countries set up to do the same.

Then they pulled the plug. We still have an LPG pump on our island at work....sees maybe one car a week at the most. but we fill bottles everyday.


I wonder why they dropped it? Pressure from oil companies perhaps? Oz is the same, we could run our vehicles on locally produced LPG or CNG, but the government isn't interested, probably because they make too much money from petrol tax...

 

[Lubener]

Originally Posted By: Shannow
Originally Posted By: Lubener
The weights you mention are too heavy during your winter months.


How do you figure that ?


I would bet you do not run a 15W or 20W when it -10.