88 replies to this topic

[Se7enS1ns]

The classic car oil from halfords, the stuff mentioned earlier with a mini on the tin - what grade would this be then? And is this synth or mineral, you've got me thinking now. Damn you for making me think!!!

[ImagoX]

The classic car oil from halfords, the stuff mentioned earlier with a mini on the tin - what grade would this be then? And is this synth or mineral, you've got me thinking now. Damn you for making me think!!!

The Halfords' is petroleum-based (from what I gather - you can't get it on this side of the pond) and you should use 20W-50. Just be sure to allow the car to warm fully when starting it in cold weather (if you don't garage it in the cold months) - the "20W" is the cold viscosity, and a thicker oil needs a bit more time to warm and flow into all of the engine spaces... Give it an extra minute before driving off and your engine will like you better in the long run.

[taffy1967]

The classic car oil from halfords, the stuff mentioned earlier with a mini on the tin - what grade would this be then? And is this synth or mineral, you've got me thinking now. Damn you for making me think!!!

The Halfords Classic 20W/50 Oil is actually Comma Oil and I've heard good things said about it too, but I've invested in some Duckhams Q Classic 20W/50 myself.

[jayjay66]

On reading the thread about engine oil im now more confused than ever!!!!
At the local scrappie we found a mini owners handbook that came from a Rover mini Automatic that had been scrapped and on the back page it tells you what type of oil to use which is a 10W/30 or a 10w/40


Confused

[icklemini]

Kudos to DanWebster - I too run bike oils in the (championship winning) Mighty Mini amongst others.
it works very well i have found and not that much more expensive than a 'cheap' mineral of the same viscosity..

ttfn,
Dave

[TimS]

Moved

[taffy1967]

On reading the thread about engine oil im now more confused than ever!!!!
At the local scrappie we found a mini owners handbook that came from a Rover mini Automatic that had been scrapped and on the back page it tells you what type of oil to use which is a 10W/30 or a 10w/40


Confused

Austin Rover or Rover were recommending the same type of oil across all it's range of cars. But after years of use it's been discovered (by the owners) that Minis require a more suitable oil to cope with it's transverse mounted engine and gears in the sump arrangement.

[jayjay66]

I put the recommended oil in the car 10w/40 and now i have problems and it may be the gearbox,do you think it could have been down to this oil?

Edited by jayjay66, 05 September 2007 - 07:38 AM.

[Matt]

Interesting.. ive got a bad oil leak on my car.. and my oil is actually due to be changed...
so perhaps by using a thicker oil.. it might cure my oil leak??

very interesting

[jayjay66]

I check my oil regularly once twice a week and i had the 10w/40 at the time but with no time at all when i checked on the oil the oil was on the minimum mark ?????where did it all go????i checked for leaks and yes we do have one of those leaks but its not a bad leak

[redhotmini]

it has probably burnt the oil.

i use valvoline vr1 20w50 in my minis, does the job nicely and makes the gearbox slicker. or if you want to spend a bit more or have a highly tuned mini, then millers CTV 20w50 is superb, and is specifically designed for minis, as the oil has EP based additives (what you would find in a proper gearbox oil) so really helps gearboxes. Millers even do an oil specifically for jack knight straight cut boxes on mini engines, although that is blended to order and costs a bit...

[camp freddy]

I put the recommended oil in the car 10w/40 and now i have problems and it may be the gearbox,do you think it could have been down to this oil?

was it mineral or synthetic?

[camp freddy]

On an older mini i would use a 10w40 mineral based oil, as when the
transverse A series engine was designed synthetic oils were not avaliable.
if it is a later or tuned motor i may go to a semi/synthetic at a push.

the main problem with the mini is that engine, gearbox and diff all share
the same oil as pointed out, so it seems the sensible thing would be to use a good
quality mineral oil!

http://www.moss-euro...mp;SortOrder=46

[jayjay66]

On an older mini i would use a 10w40 mineral based oil, as when the
transverse A series engine was designed synthetic oils were not avaliable.
if it is a later or tuned motor i may go to a semi/synthetic at a push.

the main problem with the mini is that engine, gearbox and diff all share
the same oil as pointed out, so it seems the sensible thing would be to use a good
quality mineral oil!

http://www.moss-euro...mp;SortOrder=46

Unfortunatly it was the synthetic 10w30 and not the 10w40 as i explained before
I dont know whether the car shop advised using synthetic or the mineral but my chap thinks theres not much of a difference.

[Jammy]

As a general rule I use a mineral 20/50W, which I think most of us now agree on!