Thread: Got rod knock? What oil were you using?

In a ka i used 10w30 from some backroads store in BFE. By the time i got to the track my car spun a bearing. Long story short my car burned oil very bad and i stopped at this gas station to get some oil for a drift event. Well it was only a dollar a quart. Looked like i was pouring water in the motor!

I put in some Mobil 15w50 in my car a few days ago. I really hate this oil. My oil pressure has dropped to below 25psi at idle. The Rotella NEVER went that low. It is a little frustrating because this oil is fresh. Only 3 days old and already I can see it breaking down into nothing. Grrrrr.

On another note, the Rotella Synth 5w40 has gotten rave reviews in the new formulation. I think I am going to stick with that one and the new VR1 synthetic from Valvoline.

coheed do you think you are seeing the break down from the particular brand of oil, or the higher 15w50?

i have a question in regards to rod knock and oil. i swaped my gtir engine and ran mobil 1 10w-30, within a month i had rod knock. i didnt swap bearings when i first had the engine. so i pulled it out and put new bearing in. just to give you and idea i had put 500 miles on the engine in that month. i read about how mobil 1 wasn't the greatest. so i put castrol 10w-40 in this time. ran it for another 500 miles but this time i spun the bearing really good and got the crank with it. now here is the thing. with the mobile 1 i was having issues with my cooling fan not turning on and overheated a few time. not supper bad, 215 degrees. so i put a switch in to just manually run my fan all the time. this last time, i moved to ct and i overheated it really bad like 280 degrees. and i just parked it and let it cool down. the next time i went out in it. i spun the bearing. so my question is do you think this is caused by the oil heating up and breaking down the bearing material or is there something else.
i really want to say it has to do with me overheating the car and causing the high oil temps to break down the oil. sorry for this to be so long. but i'm in the process of rebuilding and would like to get some thoughts on this.

I think the oil is just shearing down really fast. 15W should have over 40psi at idle at all times with the GTiR pump. Hell, the 20w50 had almost 60psi warm at idle when it was fresh!

If you keep spinning bearings you could have stretched rod bolts/rod, or a clogged oil passage in the crank. I would have everything measured, then cleaned and you should be good to go.

well went back to rottela since it seems to hold up better then any other oil. everything else seems to look waterd down, i use the synthetic one this time and i like how it works for me, also the turbo is the reason for my smoking....

the rotella t synthetic 5w40 is an awesome oil.. a bit too thick for winter in below 0 conditions, but great for summer. and its cheap!

some oils are going to look thinner when they are cold verses when they are up at opterating temps.

i dont know that we can firmly say that one oil is bad or causes damages verses another one without taking into consideration, driving conditions,maintaining the engine,mileage of engine so on....now thats not to say that one oil has not been reformulated and not as good as before. but you do have to look at other factors to when it comes to engine damage and failure, oil play 1 part that is my opinion.

its not to say that all these damage bearings and rod knocking isnt cuased by high mileage worn out engines ect that would have went even if you were using the best of the best oil...just a thought

I will tell you that the 15w50 mobil in my car now is garbage. I hate this oil. I bought it because it was $10 for a 5 quart jug at wal mart on clearance. I will be changin it and selling what I have left.

I will be going back to rotella, as it seems to hold up the best with the higher temps with the turbo.