Red Line 10W 40, correct?
That's a good oil but so are almost all the rest. I have been experimenting with oils, drain intervals, and high performance since the early 1980s. About all anyone really needs is 5 psi and use something slippery. Right now I am running heavy oil in the Mondial [either 20-50 or 15-50] can't remember for sure - because it developed an oil leak. Getting on the exhaust manifold and smoked so much was afraid it might catch fire! So. In addition to the heavy oil I added one of each stop leaks available at the local Autozone. The car has simply stopped using oil. I personally do not favor the thinner oils below 10W but have used them without ill effect. They are intended for fuel economy. ------- Two years and going on 11,000 miles worth of smiles!
I use the Redline 10W40 in my '88 3.2. I'm happy with it. It's pricier than the alternatives, and I'm pretty sure I could get by with a different (less expensive) oil, but I'm pleased with the car's performance with the oil, so I'll stick with it until I have more of a reason not to. Some people have reported that full synthetic leaks out of their seals where conventional oil never did, but I have not found that I have that problem.
Well, at my last oil change, they put in Amsoil 20W-50 synth. I was just wondering if that was OK. Back in '85, it probably came from Marinello with Agip or elf.
I think its just fine. I put heavy oil in last year probably 20-50 [I think it was $10 per quart] to slow an oil leak. The oil leak was going onto the exhaust headers and smoking so in addition I added lots of various stop leaks and they worked. In fact, I started the car with this heavy oil with temps 20F. It started right up but took longer to get up to pressure. I let it idle for a few moments then drove off sedately. In normal temps that would not even be an issue. These cars have industrial strength oil pumps.
I believe the original oil from the factory was a 10-something blend of regular and synthetic. That might explain the issue with oil leakage. Specifically, some guys have had leaks with synthetic but this is just speculation on my part. What is not speculation is that, after about 7,000 miles with synthetic I DID get a serious leak onto the exhaust header. That leak was entirely stopped by adding about four or five different stop leaks at the same time. The primary advantage with synthetic is it is good to 260F while mineral is only good for, I believe, 230F. I do not know how important this is but I have several times hit 230F on my oil temp guage at which point I backed off. But my oil fan does not work so do not know how effective it is. One reason I do not fix the fan is it forces me to back off at 230F.
Of course, Autozone has their own brand. Must be good stuff if they care enough about their customers to offer their own brand of oil.
Hi , In our country its hot & humid , I use Mobil One 20 - 50 oil . What stop leak additive are you guys using. When do you add it? Is it during the oil change? Audio Research
Agip 15W40 Synth, but hey they changed to Shell Helix when they sponsored, so you go and figure. cheers braq
230F on the street? That is pretty high even for aggressive street driving. Remember, oil technology has come a long way since the mid to late 80's. Often times oil recommendations have little to do with the oil and a lot to do with the branding arrangement, with the motor company receiving compensation for specifying their oil (see Castrol/BMW in the late 90's and 2000's). So Ferrari's recommendation in the '80's was not just based on the right oil (although they did specify a weight for primarily engineering reasons) being made by a particular company. Most of the wear on the engine occurs in the first few seconds, before the oil circulates. So the first number is important for cold start, the second number for running hot/hard. In my climate (south Florida0 I am using 15w-50 M1. It rarely gets below 50F, so 15w is fine. The 50 gives a little more protection in the heat of the summer. I use M1 0w-40 for most of my other cars. If temperatures dropped significantly, I would use 0w-40 in the "cold" months. Everyone has their own take on oil. This is mine! Regards, Jerry
I had great success with stop leak last year. The car developed a bad leak onto the exhaust header and smoked so bad worried it might catch fire. Needed a quart every two or three hundred miles. Figured I would have my mechanic change out the seals this Spring but added four or five of the stop leaks available around here including a quart of Lucas just for the hell of it. Added it over a period of a couple of weeks when the oil was down. Funny thing happened. The car seems to have stopped using oil at all! Its been at least a thousand miles and not added any oil at all, and still have all the stop leaks in there. Results may vary of course. I drive between three and four thousand rpm and shift four or five thousand. So far so good...... What sort of audio research do you do? I am an audiophile from the old days and have assembled what would have been my dream system for 1975. Marantz 1060, Technics turntable with KAB custom cartridge, four KEF 104 speakers. Plus a high end SACD player and an premium internet radio. The 320k stations, such a LINN, seem very good to me.
I agree with you on these things. The car can achieve 230F with vigorous driving in not all that long a period of time. Certainly less then five minutes. Could not possible run full tilt at the track like this. But then again the oil cooling fan is out and I just do not know how effective it is. I have a story on bearing wear from the 1965 Corvair I found in 1979. The engine was worn out at the time with all sorts of blow-by but ran fine. I could not run M1 because the oil light came on. So I used various heavy weight oils, sometimes STP and entirely neglected proper oil changes since, of course, it was going to be rebuilt. And I ran and still run the bejeezus out of the thing. It has short gearing and will top out at 90 mph at who knows what rpm? I shift when the power drops - it actually has a nice high rpm torque curve because each of the two carbs are attached directly to the intake manifolds. There are no intake runners. End of long short story; after thirty years and forty thousand miles I DID get around to an overhaul. We miked each of the rod bearings. Each and every one of them were equal and and at the high end of 'new' tolerance. The blow by was caused by someone who had replace the two center cylinders BACKWARDS. Broken rings etc. After rebuild still runs about the same. Go figure......
I would think the fan would not be that effective at speed, as air flow would do most of the cooling (like the car's radiator for coolant). Why not check for air flow to the oil cooler and perhaps make up some ducting to get rushing air to push through the cooler? Then you can drive harder without worrying about oil temps! Regards, Jerry
Do not tempt me! Like a six year old I need my limits set by outside forces. For instance, I only stopped running at near 8,000 rpm when I scattered the clutch plate. That whole episode cost me about $4,000. But worse, my local mechanic, never having had a Ferrari of any sort in his shop did due diligence and had the car four months. But he had a real gas fixing the thing and did a super job. Even rounded up an exact oil seal replacement when the overhaul kit had something a bit different. Then he offered to change my belts. This is a man I do not argue with!
Thank you Rapalyea for your reply regarding the Stop Leak. I would like to ask if you add the Stop Leak oil additive when the oil level is down or do you correct the oil level first using oil brand that is currently in the engine then add Stop Leak oil additive? Regarding Audio Research it's the brand name of my electronics in my Home audio system. They are for me the Ferrari of audio. They're made in the USA. They've been around since 1971. They make valves ( tubes) & transistor electronics. My favorite are the vintage tubes models made from the eighties. I current have the SP 11 MK2 preamp, SP 10 MK 2 preamp, EC 21 Electronic Crossover, a pair of D79B amps, D250 MK2 Servo amp, Classic 150 monoblocks. My speakers are a pair of Duntech Princess C5000, and occasionally I listen to a pair of Magnepan MG 3A planar speakers. My source is purely analog . I prefer the VPI turntable brand from the USA. I'm currently using the VPI TNT 6 turntable w/ Kuzma Stogi Ref 313 VTA tonearm , Benz Micro Gullwing SLR phono cartridge, I also have the VPI HR-X turntable w/ VPI JMW 12.7 3D tonearm, Lyra Kleos phono cartridge.
First regarding the stop leaks. As stated above I bought four or five [basically every brand I could find] and added them one after the other right on top of the existing oil without even checking oil level except for the entire quart of Lucas. But I was loosing so much oil there was little chance of overfill. However, in my experience there is little danger in overfill anyway. My mechanic changed the oil and overfilled it nearly a quart before I found out. Never hurt anything and I am a vigorous driver. And that was a COLD check! The same concoction of oil and stop leaks is still in the car after several thousand miles of driving. Oh yeah... not all the good results were immediate. The severe leak with smoking went away very soon. Within a couple of hundred miles. Still was using a quart every, perhaps, 500 miles. Its now been perhaps 1,500 or even 2,000 miles and the car seems to have stopped dripping oil at all. Have not added an once. Checked it cold this AM and was well in the full zone on a cold check. I sometimes get a whiff of oil during a hot run, but that has always been the case. My two years of driving add 10,000 miles as my primary vehicle. In financial terms I consider the car totally depreciated. And although I have always driven vigorously I am now keeping rpms always above 3,000 and typically run up to 5,000 just driving around. Routinely to 6,000 and once in a while to 7,000. Never beyond that. Pushing 8,000 scattered the clutch plate when I first got the car. My Mondial likes me! Simple vigorous driving very much improved how the engine ran. It had noticeable light-throttle surging on part throttle acceleration, and a bit of sulphur smell at times. All that went away AND the car got WAY faster. My estimate is about 5mph faster in 1/4 mile. At least. However, since I have been keeping the revs up the engine has changed its tone. It always had bit of a ferocious tone full throttle and high rpms. That has very much changed since I started keeping the revs up. It now is almost refined! Like a well balanced sewing machine. Its taken, perhaps, 1,500 miles to clean its throat like this. What a joy to drive around the mountains at about 4,000 rpms and run up to 6,000 in third! Back to the important topic of AUDIO! I agree with you on analog but I have been unable to find modern pressings for some of my old favorites. For instance Olivia Newton John "Olivia -Totally Hot". From the old days I have an Original Master Recording half speed master but it must be a second. The sound is there but the tracks have some crud that is impervious. Plan B was SACD but none there either. Final bought what was probably the last 'Japanese' Redbook CD and it just did not measure up. I have an opinion on analog/digital for your consideration. I have done A/B on so much stuff it makes my head spin. I can not verbally describe the difference. I believe it is almost subconscious. Specifically, digital is exactly the same every time and at high sample rates would seem to be perfect. HOWEVER. No two analog sessions are ever the same. LOTS of variables. Everything from temperature, humidity, amp warm up time, small voltage variations in the tubes. And vinyl tracking can NOT be identical every time. Not even during a single session or from one grove the the next. The grove/needle interface is always variable. My speculation is the human ear is not used to absolutely predictable sound. Perfect reproduction or perfect repeatability is not found in nature. Just my two cents worth!
. If you overfill to the level where the crankshaft can touch the oil, the beating action can foam up the oil, reducing the lubrication property of the oil.
This is certainly true but one quart overfill (cold) in my 3.2 seems not to have done that, even with vigorous driving. I suspect an eight quart system is not all that sensitive one quart either way. My only evidence for that is my own car though.
