Engine Oil for 156

[bix]

By the way, on the topic of sump oil sludge, GianCarlo advised at the tech night that they recommend using a bottle of "engine oil cleaner" which is poured in just before the oil is replaced, engine is run for 10 odd minutes and this cleans all the sludge up. Do others use this stuff?

[wankski]

yes, as listed on my ausalfa thread i was about to use the amsoil equivalent - but held off as i didn't know what was in the engine prior...

i'm high fiving myself for that decision as the stuff that came out of the filter was ridiculous.... no use thinning that stuff out with solvent and throwing it around the engine to clog things up...

i'm gunna go thru a few rounds of lighter oil (10w40 cf the 10w-70 in there prior) to clean up and move on most of it before flushing... tappets sounding better already but needs a flush i reckon. 

[colcol]

I have heard that some Castrol oils have a lot of detergent in them, and they are good at cleaning out dirty engines, but not so good for lubricating, and that Penrite has very little detergent, but lots of oil, but the lack of cleansing agents will turn your engine black, i have heard this yarn several times over the years, old wives tail or true?, Colin.

[bix]

Thanks for all the links and info. After reading many of the threads, I decided to go with the Amsoil 10W-40 based on Wankski's maximise "fluid flow" mantra.
There are a number of fully synth oils whose specs line up similarly. Namely Redline & Motul 300v, but I believe the Amsoil may align better to the Selenia 20k VI rating @ 100 degrees (14-15cst) and has high zinc content for reduced wear (although this may reduce the catalytic life).
I just took the car for a spin with the new oil. It may be all psychological, but I swear the engine runs quieter in comparison to the heavier oil that was in there.

As an aside, while changing the oil on the TwinSpark I discovered that you don't actually need to remove the engine guard to take the sump plug out (this was a first for me, although I'm sure anyone more observant than me know this). The sump plug is actually just shy of where the guard starts, so doing the oil change now takes 10 mins as opposed to over 30 mins (with a lot of messing around). In addition to that, I can also remove the oil filter from reaching down in the engine bay (just watch those HOT extractors. HAPPY DAYS!! Looks like the Pela oil extractor I bought is no longer needed.

[colcol]

Thanks for the good information Bix, i know you can change the oil without removing the undertray, but the oil filters i use are slightly larger than normal, bigger = better - right?, and i can't get a normal filter wrench on it, so i have to put a strap type filter wrench on it to get it off, my undertray was  a pain to get off, because it had a combination of torx, cap screws and countersunk screws, so i needed 3 different tools to remove it, so i changed them to cap screws, so now i can get the undertray on and off in about 10 minutes total, and its only once a year for a filter change, so its no big deal, Colin.

[bix]

Colin,
I just hand-tighten the oil filter (ensuring a smear of oil on the filter's rubber gasket), and it doesn't seem to leak or come loose.

[colcol]

I only do up the filter by hand, but after 12 months the rubber gasket hardens up, and makes the oil filter hard to remove, and i need to be able to look it in the eye while removing it, so i don't do something stupid, like crack the casting, and while i am under there i can admire that good Italian engineering!, and check for oil leaks, Colin.