[apexit53]

Its a well proven and loved oil in the LS community but just wanted to see of anyone out here is using German Castrol in their LT1?

BTW by german castrol I mean the 0w30 not the new 0w40.

[cellsafemode]

Wouldn't you be concerned about the direct injection gasoline diluting the oil to the point where it doesn't lubricate adequately? This is already a concern with the proper 5w30 rated oil for normal 5k-10k oil change intervals. I'd imagine it would be much more of an issue for 0w oils.

[apexit53]

Originally Posted by cellsafemode

Wouldn't you be concerned about the direct injection gasoline diluting the oil to the point where it doesn't lubricate adequately? This is already a concern with the proper 5w30 rated oil for normal 5k-10k oil change intervals. I'd imagine it would be much more of an issue for 0w oils.

Well the most I would ever go on any oil is 5k but thats just me. 0 is this but remember thats cold weight. It will still flow just fine, and as far as diluting the oil, i dont know much about that. Might have to research that now.

What about DI causes the oil to dilute?

[cellsafemode]

The high pressure injection causes gasoline to leak passed the cylinder seals and into the oil a bit. You'll notice if you smell your oil that you change that it smells strongly of fuel compared to other types of engines you may have had in previous cars.

The cold weight of the oil is the thickest it will be, so 0 being already below what the recommended is (5) is already thin. As it heats up it will become thinner, though full synth will mitigate that a bit under normal operating temps. The fuel however, will further thin the oil out and reduce it's lubricating qualities.

I change when it gets dirty, whenever that ends up being. But full synth can easily go 10k ...filters ..much less and if i'm under the car i change both so I change when the filter starts going (oil gets dirty when this happens). But with Direct injection, it may be recommended to change the oil even before it starts showing signs of getting dirty due to degradation from fuel contamination. This can be as early as 3k miles regardless of if you have full synth or conventional. I imagine V8's may experience much more fuel contamination than the V6's or I4's ...but they do have much more oil to spread that contamination around.

Either way, i'd be very wary about using 0w in a direct injection engine and not changing it as soon as the oil starts smelling strongly of fuel. We wont know much until someone sends in for analysis. So far i dont know of anyone who has for the camaro's engines and comparing to different engines is pointless.

[apexit53]

Ok that's kinda what I though about gas getting into the oil.

Yeah it's hard to say, I mean it is 0 but it's also quite thick for a zero. I guess we won't know until someone tries.

[jreagle56]

wouldn't you use an oil that is on the approved Dexos certification list in case of need for engine warranty work? there is a blurb in the owners manual about oil. anyway, not sure 0w40 or 0w30 is on the list. the list seems pretty limited as far as different oil viscosity weights go.

a couple of examples:
was recently considering using a 10w30 for the summer, checked the list and found none listed.
Also was considering using Redline 5w30, brand new bottles left over in storage from my previously owned BMW, not on the list......

[cellsafemode]

how much you care about your warranty is up to you. I dont really. I'm not waiting 3-5 years to do stuff to my car and engine. So as long as the oil is equal or better than what's listed, i'm good.

In any case, i dont think anyone is suggesting using an oil that doesn't have _at_least_ the certifications that GM recommends. The concern here is about oil weight ...which is somewhat of a different matter than certifications. I would not stray from what the manual recommends weight-wise unless you have a really good reason to and know enough to not ask questions about why you are using a different weight. changing weights will impact the engine far more than even choosing an oil that lacks certifications or has better ones.

[apexit53]

Originally Posted by cellsafemode

how much you care about your warranty is up to you. I dont really. I'm not waiting 3-5 years to do stuff to my car and engine. So as long as the oil is equal or better than what's listed, i'm good.

In any case, i dont think anyone is suggesting using an oil that doesn't have _at_least_ the certifications that GM recommends. The concern here is about oil weight ...which is somewhat of a different matter than certifications. I would not stray from what the manual recommends weight-wise unless you have a really good reason to and know enough to not ask questions about why you are using a different weight. changing weights will impact the engine far more than even choosing an oil that lacks certifications or has better ones.

yeah for sure. Honestly the dexos cert is kinda pointless. I mean I get it but it just seems like a licensing thing they can charge other companies to say it works with their cars.

Ill probably end up using amsoil signature 5w30. A good friend of mine uses German castrol in his 06 evo woth zero issues but for me... I like to keep the viscosity what it should be.