Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

There seem to be quite a few "high performance" oils available these days and also spark plugs with funky new features, so I was just wondering which engine oils and spark plugs are best for Skylines (and turbo-charged cars in general).

Anyone got any recommendations ?

Cheers,

EXIT

yeah i went to autobarn yesterday to choose an oil for my gtst .. theres so much to choose from .. i mean every maker has about 2 or 3 high performance oils ... i'm going to try either the mobile 1 or the castrol .. can't remember what its called ... also heard mutol was good but that was like 80 bucks for 3 litres and it came in a metal can whereas the others came in a plastic one :P

Exit,

The high performance oils out there are excellent, i.e. Redline,HKS, but at 2-3 times more they aren't worth the money unless your doing circuit racing. In circuit racing a normal oil will start to break down, whereas these oils should still function quite well.

I use Mobil 1 Synthetic, and it seems to be very good. Whatever oil you choose just make sure to change it regularly along with the oil filter.

With spark plugs I wouldn't bother with any of the fancy ones, the factory platnium plugs gapped correctly will be fine, or go for the Iridium ones.

Just my 2c.

See'ya:burnout:

I was shown a dyno graph of a 180sx running oldish platinum plugs and standard new 4 dollar plugs and the difference was huge!! (the shitty ones were much better) And then another run with new HKS ones, it was like an extra .5hp. My oppinion is just buy cheapish plugs and change em' every service or second service. Also, platinum plugs should come ready gapped. Never re-gap them, what makes them platinum is a thin layer, if you push in a felar gauge it scrapes it off.

Oil: I use Shell Helix (fully synthetic) 5W-40. It's about $42 for 5 litres and performs really well. Im my experience, It has stayed cleaner than Mobil and Castrol oils, and my car seems just a little smoother with it.

As far as plugs go, just stick with $3-$4 copper plugs NGK-BCPR6E (For RB25), as the only diffence with coppers and Iridium/Platinum plugs is that the coppers dont last as long. But seeing as Skylines run so rich, changing plugs more often is desirable, as you would need to pull your platinum/Iridium plugs out for cleaning every so often.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • Surely somebody has one in VIC. Have you asked at any shops?  Is this the yearly inspection or did you get a canary?
    • This is where I share pain with you, @Duncan. The move to change so many cooling system pieces to plastic is a killer! Plastic end tanks and a few plastic hose flanges on my car's fail after so little time.  Curious about the need for a bigger rad, is that just for long sessions in the summer or because the car generally needs more cooling?
    • So, that is it! It is a pretty expensive process with the ATF costing 50-100 per 5 litres, and a mechanic will probably charge plenty because they don't want to do it. Still, considering how dirty my fluid was at 120,000klm I think it would be worth doing more like every 80,000 to keep the trans happy, they are very expensive to replace. The job is not that hard if you have the specialist tools so you can save a bit of money and do it yourself!
    • OK, onto filling. So I don't really have any pics, but will describe the process as best I can. The USDM workshop manual also covers it from TM-285 onwards. First, make sure the drain plug (17mm) is snug. Not too tight yet because it is coming off again. Note it does have a copper washer that you could replace or anneal (heat up with a blow torch) to seal nicely. Remove the fill plug, which has an inhex (I think it was 6mm but didn't check). Then, screw in the fill fitting, making sure it has a suitable o-ring (mine came without but I think it is meant to be supplied). It is important that you only screw it in hand tight. I didn't get a good pic of it, but the fill plug leads to a tube about 70mm long inside the transmission. This sets the factory level for fluid in the trans (above the join line for the pan!) and will take about 3l to fill. You then need to connect your fluid pump to the fitting via a hose, and pump in whatever amount of fluid you removed (maybe 3 litres, in my case 7 litres). If you put in more than 3l, it will spill out when you remove the fitting, so do quickly and with a drain pan underneath. Once you have pumped in the required amount of clean ATF, you start the engine and run it for 3 minutes to let the fluid circulate. Don't run it longer and if possible check the fluid temp is under 40oC (Ecutek shows Auto Trans Fluid temp now, or you could use an infrared temp gun on the bottom of the pan). The manual stresses the bit about fluid temperature because it expands when hot an might result in an underfil. So from here, the factory manual says to do the "spill and fill" again, and I did. That is, put an oil pan under the drain plug and undo it with a 17mm spanner, then watch your expensive fluid fall back out again, you should get about 3 litres.  Then, put the drain plug back in, pump 3 litres back in through the fill plug with the fitting and pump, disconnect the fill fitting and replace the fill plug, start the car and run for another 3 minutes (making sure the temp is still under 40oC). The manual then asks for a 3rd "spill and fill" just like above. I also did that and so had put 13l in by now.  This time they want you to keep the engine running and run the transmission through R and D (I hope the wheels are still off the ground!) for a while, and allow the trans temp to get to 40oC, then engine off. Finally, back under the car and undo the fill plug to let the overfill drain out; it will stop running when fluid is at the top of the levelling tube. According to the factory, that is job done! Post that, I reconnected the fill fitting and pumped in an extra 0.5l. AMS says 1.5l overfill is safe, but I started with less to see how it goes, I will add another 1.0 litres later if I'm still not happy with the hot shifts.
    • OK, so regardless of whether you did Step 1 - Spill Step 2 - Trans pan removal Step 3 - TCM removal we are on to the clean and refill. First, have a good look at the oil pan. While you might see dirty oil and some carbony build up (I did), what you don't want to see is any metal particles on the magnets, or sparkles in the oil (thankfully not). Give it all a good clean, particularly the magnets, and put the new gasket on if you have one (or, just cross your fingers) Replacement of the Valve body (if you removed it) is the "reverse of assembly". Thread the electrical socket back up through the trans case, hold the valve body up and put in the bolts you removed, with the correct lengths in the correct locations Torque for the bolts in 8Nm only so I hope you have that torque wrench handy (it feels really loose). Plug the output speed sensor back in and clip the wiring into the 2 clips, replace the spring clip on the TCM socket and plug it back into the car loom. For the pan, the workshop manual states the following order: Again, the torque is 8Nm only.
×
×
  • Create New...