Just ordered some Castrol Edge FST 10w60 for the P38..

Anyone else used it?

H

Yes, been using nothing but since the engine went in to V8 Dev to be rebuilt (at their recommendation). 105,000 miles since and it still as smooth as it was when it went in.

Good to know..

Thanks,.

Sounds expensive... Or not?

Can be had from ECP for £43.99 with the current discount code for 4 litres. You'd probabbly find it cheaper elsewhere if you looked around enough.
https://www.eurocarparts.com/p/castrol-edge-fst-engine-oil-10w-60-4ltr-521770981

I only ever buy it when it's on one of their deals although my local factors (currently shut) does it at £49.99 as their everyday price. I change the oil, filter and spark plugs every 10k miles but running on LPG means the oil stays clean anyway. ECP also have 10W-60 Mobil 1 at the moment at around the same price but for 5 litres rather than 4 but as I've run on the Castrol stuff since the engine went back together I'm not inclined to change it now.

Isn't 10W-60 a wee too much hi-tech for the RV8?
I use 10W-60 on my Guzzi ... I did use the Edge EST and later the Motul 7100. Stopped with both as there are too many counterfeit out there and can't trust them.
I use now Marly, I know the importers since years and know can trust the product.

It's not high tech -just a different weight. I'm interested that the recommendation from V8 Dev is so different from Rovers - do they build the engine to different tolerances?
I'm on 5w40 at the moment, with plenty of ZDDP for the valves but I might come back to 10w40 next time round. She does have a slight rattle on start up. I'm in two camps really, she's not driven every day so I don't know if the thicker oil would stay in place or if the thinner (when cold) oil is better as it gets to the valve gear very quickly.

Edit 5w40 not 5w50. Sorry!

My same dilemma ... thicker to hold on more, or thinner to pick up fast? Waiting some wizard to shed light on this :-)

It's thinner when cold, equivalent to an SAE 10 grade oil but stays thicker when hot (equivalent to an SAE 60 grade). At colder temperatures a 10W-60 will be the same viscosity as a 10W-30 but will stay thicker when it warms up. LR recommend 10W-60 for ambient temperatures between -20 and +55 degrees C so easily good enough for what we get in Europe. Ray a V8 Dev told me that the 10W-40 I had been using was too thin for an old technology engine designed in the days when multigrade oil was 20W-50, and suggested 10W-50 or 10W-60 so I went for the thicker one as I tend to drive for hours at a time in high temperatures.

The Rover V8 internally remained unchanged from 1960 to 2005 it was just recommendations that altered in regard to oil...

I have the handbooks for my dads old Classics.

His 1974 3.5 wanted 20w50
His 1987 3.5 "same engine" except it was EFI wanted 15w40..

My 2001 Vogue "wants" 10w40..

The RV8 increased in capacity over the years and the oil pump went from the dizzy drive to the far more efficient Crank driven pump and thats it..

As Richard says above, it will stay a 10w when cold like a 10w40 or 10w30 but is a 60 when hot which is ideal for the RV8..

I've just changed the oil for this stuff..

As for it being "high tech for the RV8" not really it has greater anti wear additives than a non or semi synthetic and the surface protection is far better!
And it doesn't break down under excessive heat like a lesser 10w would..

I've been using Castrol Edge/Syntech 5W40 per RAVE for our climate here. About $CAD35 for 4 litres at Costco.
Morat, do you add the ZDDP, or does it come blended in the oil? Should we be adding it?

Good info! Will switch to 10W-60 when I get the beast out of hibernation ...

Harv wrote:

I've been using Castrol Edge/Syntech 5W40 per RAVE for our climate here. About $CAD35 for 4 litres at Costco.
Morat, do you add the ZDDP, or does it come blended in the oil? Should we be adding it?

Harv, I use Comma oil which is a UK based supplier to the industry who also have a retail arm. Some of their oils have high ZDDP for older engines. My Jeep 4.0 also has flat tappets/pushrods and it is recommended to use Zinc/ZDDP at about 1200ppm to prevent wear. Those engines regularly do 250-300k before rebuild so those little things can help. The flip-side is that ZDDP was removed from modern motor oils as it will eventually poison the catalytic convertors. My position is that aftermarket cats are a lot cheaper than a top-end rebuild and if you run on LPG you don't really need them anyway.

StrangeRover - that's very useful info on the changes in handbook recommendations through the years. I suspect (but only suspect) that the gradual reduction in recommended viscosity has more to do with Fuel Economy than lubrication. By 2001 manufacturers were under much greater scrutiny for their fleet average consumption and lighter oil gives slightly improved figures.
That info certainly gives me more confidence to change to a higher viscosity oil as recommended by Richard and V8 developments.

Hmmm. After a quick Google:
https://tinyurl.com/uu49948 (ebay link to 5w50)
Not bad on ZDDP or price.

I suspect they would recommend what was available at the time. It's probably also why the recommendation for anti-freeze on a GEMS is Ethylene Glycol but for a Thor is OAT, OAT wasn't around when the GEMS came out. Same goes for the alternator, the alternator on an early (95-96) P38 has the voltage regulator set at 13.8V but later ones are at 14.3V. Older batteries didn't like being charged at too high a voltage whereas the later batteries with a higher Calcium content, can take it

To some degree the thinner oil is for emissions purposes - I suspect partly as stated above for fuel economy reasons, but also thinner oil should be easiler for the oil control rings to scrape off effectively, preventing it being burnt in the cylinder. Of course the flip side to that would be that it also isn't doing the job its wanted to do so well in the same cylinder, but that may not be taken into account (or a concern for them) by those that specify it for other reasons.

Thanks for all the great info.
Richard, as for the anti-freeze, is there an after market type you would recommend? I've been using the orange stuff from the LR dealer, but there must be a much cheaper good alternative.

Depends what you can get in your area. Over here it's mostly Comma or Granville but you can buy it as either a concentrate that you dilute or ready mixed that you just pour in. I know that in Europe you can't buy the concentrate only the ready diluted. Check that it any you find has approval numbers from various car manufacturers and choose a make that you've heard of.

Thanks Richard. Probably Prestone around here.

Well i've just gone out to start it just for curiosity.

The Oil pressure light used to hang on for a second or two and there was a tappet making itself known even after a short period of inactivity...

I'm pleased to report the oil pressure light didn't hang around for any period of time, and the noisy tappet is no longer making itself known.

Which i'm pleased about..

Engine Purrs like a big V8 Kitten now!!