Correct Oil weight to Use? C-6's With-Superchargers?
Question? what oil, weight, to run in a SuperCharged LS2 . Sort of interesting? but LPE put 15-50 Mobil One in mine with the M112 Supercharger, which makes sense given the added heat and stress of the Supercharger.put on the engine. LPE, also indicated in their maintenance instructions 15-50 is the recommended oil for warmer weather use applications. They also recommended 10-30 Mobil one in more moderate weather conditions, I live in New England and I think perhaps this might be the right choice going forward for me.
Also noticed in passing in the GM owners manual mentions " not to use" 15-50 Oil's? in the LS2? Eng. However in the end, one who has modified the eng.. one has to do some of their own engineering? make these decisions, to a point.. on these issues.
However I was sort of curious what the recommendations/Experiences have been of others in this area , regarding motor Oils , the types/viscosity, ranges, etc. given the added stresses that both turbo's and Superchargers put on the standard LS2 Eng. Certainly any other recommendations along these lines, for the rear end? and ( I have the A-6 transmission) are very appreciated
A&A put 13w50 M1 in my 416 L92 motor which sees 260+ oil temps when I get on it. But with the oil cooler, they kept 10w30 in my blown LS7, I will probably switch to 0w40 later this Summer.
GM doesn't "recommend" 15w50 for fuel economy issues.
PS - In Europe - Mobil 0w40 is the choice for Vettes.
Thank you for your insights, suggestions & recommendations. I am as you can tell? a new bee, to the Corvette world. I do love this car, its an amazing peace of equipment, and even! more amazing with a Supercharger, on it. Who would have guessed?, what a difference? it would make.
Doug Rippie put 5w30 back in mine after Vortech s/c install. No issues with high temps despite driving in high-90's outside. This would seem to be to be an obvious statement, but correct me if I'm wrong. Multi-viscosity oil alters its thickness as temperatures demand. For heat issues, you might want to go to a higher second number (40 instead of 30, for example), but the lower number would only be applicable to COLDER temps (you'd use 0 instead of 5 if it's really cold outside). If your FI install is running so hot that you need to install 50 instead of 30, doesn't that indicate something isn't quite right? Also, why would anyone install 10 instead of 5? Makes no difference?
Doug Rippie put 5w30 back in mine after Vortech s/c install. No issues with high temps despite driving in high-90's outside. This would seem to be to be an obvious statement, but correct me if I'm wrong. Multi-viscosity oil alters its thickness as temperatures demand. For heat issues, you might want to go to a higher second number (40 instead of 30, for example), but the lower number would only be applicable to COLDER temps (you'd use 0 instead of 5 if it's really cold outside). If your FI install is running so hot that you need to install 50 instead of 30, doesn't that indicate something isn't quite right? Also, why would anyone install 10 instead of 5? Makes no difference?
Andy at A&A told me he likes 10 a bit better then 5 because its a bit thicker and we never see really cold temps in So. Cal., he feels it will protect better with the high temps. 10w30 is acceptable as per the manual in warmer weather states.
I'm having an oil cooler put into my 03's L92 set up, if I can keep my oil temps in the 220 range when I'm driving hard, I'll go with 10w30.
Personally I think 15w50 is a bit too thick for start up circulation, but I bet nothing protects better once your going - M1 15w50 is the oil used in the C6.R's and NASCAR.
All very good points and suggestions,thank you again.
My C-6 is not a daily driver, just weekends and recreational use. So I don't push it very hard and have never tracked the car, So I am thinking? the Mobil 1, 10-30 or 10-40 would all be good choices. Winters? She gets tucked away in early November and taken back out in early April. Those Supercar tires would be quite the ride?? in the winter time?? in New England.. I am thinking.
One thing to keep in mind (firmly) is that oil weight recommendations are not the same for stock and built engines, and it has a lot to do with bearing clearances.
If you build an engine with .002-.003" bearing clearances you do that so you can run 50 weight oil for maximum load bearing protection. This is good.
I don't know the factory engine's clearance specs, but I'm gonna guess it's in the .001" range or even lower. That's tight. If you try to pump 50 weight oil in there, it might just shear. You don't want your oil molecules shearing. In the best case scenario you'll be losing power due to this drag, and worst case you might "wash out" your bearings and it's time for a rebuild. Sheared molecules also means broken down oil - which doesn't provide adequate protection. Heavy weight oil combined with tight clearances also increases your oil pressure, which can also contribute to the washing out effect.
As I said earlier, the reason for heavy weight oil is higher load bearing. If you have high combustion pressures, ie lots of torque, you need the thicker oil. Otherwise the load on the bearing may overcome the oil film's resistance and make meral-to-metal contact. My thinking is that GM specified 10w30 after enough testing to know that they won't be getting a bunch of engines back for rebuild due to broken down oil films. For the stock engine's power that oil suffices. So if you have a stock car or simple boltons, there's not much reason to go to a heavier oil.
If the euro-spec 0w40 is the same as US spec, then it seems it's totally fine to run 40 weight oil. Going to 50 is more questionable. When someone tells you "well NASCAR runs 15w50" you need to remember those are not engines with stock clearances.
I'm new to Corvettes so I have no specific experience, but those are the things to consider. Hopefully someone with experience can chime in.
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Correct Oil weight to Use? C-6's With-Superchargers?
