25-04-2020, 05:04 PM
(This post was last modified: 25-04-2020, 05:09 PM by Ruairidh Dunford.)
In 1999 I built up an engine for the Pearl Cabriolet to do a big tour through the Alps around Italy, Austria and Switzerland.
It has been used extensively since then, I took the engine out two years ago, after covering just over 60’000 miles, because it was starting to rattle (this appears to be piston slop).
In all that time I only ever used the cheapest 20/50 supermarket oil changed every 2000 miles. I wanted to see if it would prove detrimental in any way. I found time today to strip the engine - I wiped the insides down with a cloth to get rid of the oil residue and was genuinely surprised at how clean it still was, considering.
Only real damage I could find was part of the piston snapped off.
Cheap as chips detergent oil seems to have looked after the insides remarkably well!
It has been used extensively since then, I took the engine out two years ago, after covering just over 60’000 miles, because it was starting to rattle (this appears to be piston slop).
In all that time I only ever used the cheapest 20/50 supermarket oil changed every 2000 miles. I wanted to see if it would prove detrimental in any way. I found time today to strip the engine - I wiped the insides down with a cloth to get rid of the oil residue and was genuinely surprised at how clean it still was, considering.
Only real damage I could find was part of the piston snapped off.
Cheap as chips detergent oil seems to have looked after the insides remarkably well!