this is for my 3000gt vr4, these cars have horrible ticking, i've tried the new pcv valve and oil cap. I've tried risoline with thicker oil. Some have said to get amisol oil with a stock mitsu filter, do you think this will help?? This tick is getting very annoying and i'm still not sold on putting the ATF fluid in yet.
adam93tsi
Well, I've been using Amsoil in my engine since I got the car at 15,000 miles. I've heard a slight ticking, but it was never anything that has really bothered me that much. I agree, it may not be the cure, but it will help keep everything cleaner so that oil can get into all the small spaces that perhaps a lesser quality oil has blocked with deposits. I have sold to others that have said their noise went away or was much less than before. One person was running Mobil 1 and said he had loud ticking, and then switched to the Amsoil 20W-50 and the noise was gone. At worse Amsoil won't help get rid of the noise, but will provide better lubrication and protection. At best you'll have that and maybe the noise will be gone or lessened. Don't add any additives, though, it will void the Amsoil warranty.
I think the key thing though, would be to run 20W-50 as opposed to 10W-30. Since synthetic oil is naturally thinner than other oils, a 10W-30 I don't think would quiet down the lifters a bit. I have 10W-30 in my Laser, and it didn't do a thing to do. Of course, if I put 20W-50 in it, then I might notice a difference.
Trevor
Trevor
Okay, I think I found a possible answer to why Mobil 1 allows all the ticking. I think I will even start a new thread with this info, since it seems to always come up. While picking up some Amsoil supplies today, I commented about the Mobil making all the noise in our cars and was told that that was because Mobil is so thin, and then was shown info by what is meant by this.
In order for an oil to be within a certain viscocity, it needs to fall between certain numbers. This is shown on tech sheets as:
Kinematic Viscosity @ 100°C, cSt (ASTM D-445)
The range for a 30W oil, which what a 10W-30 or similar viscocity should be at when warm, is between 9.3 and 12.4. Mobil is barely above this lower number, making it a very thin 30W which could cause the the noise. Amsoil, with the exception of the LX-7500 series, is over 11, much higher and closer to a 40W when warm. I tried to look up Valvoline SynPower, since that was mentioned, but they have no tech sheets listed on their Web Site. You can see the Mobil 1 numbers at:
http://dallnd6.dal.mobil.com/GIS/Mo.../26b7c4b33367a4a086256665004e4266/9337c5cedcf5e32e852567b60056db77?OpenDocument
Here is a comparison of the Mobil 1 Tri-Synthetic to the equivalent Amsoil viscocities to get an idea:
Mobil 1 OW-30.....9.7
Amsoil Series 2000 0W-30....11.1
Mobil 1 5W-30.....9.9
Amsoil XL-7500....10.1
Amsoil 5W-30....11.7
Mobil 1 10W-30.....10.0
Amsoil XL-7500....10.3
Amsoil 10W-30....11.6
These numbers also show me why often the Amsoil XL-7500 is being compared more with Mobil 1 than our other lines, since they are very similar.
In order for an oil to be within a certain viscocity, it needs to fall between certain numbers. This is shown on tech sheets as:
Kinematic Viscosity @ 100°C, cSt (ASTM D-445)
The range for a 30W oil, which what a 10W-30 or similar viscocity should be at when warm, is between 9.3 and 12.4. Mobil is barely above this lower number, making it a very thin 30W which could cause the the noise. Amsoil, with the exception of the LX-7500 series, is over 11, much higher and closer to a 40W when warm. I tried to look up Valvoline SynPower, since that was mentioned, but they have no tech sheets listed on their Web Site. You can see the Mobil 1 numbers at:
http://dallnd6.dal.mobil.com/GIS/Mo.../26b7c4b33367a4a086256665004e4266/9337c5cedcf5e32e852567b60056db77?OpenDocument
Here is a comparison of the Mobil 1 Tri-Synthetic to the equivalent Amsoil viscocities to get an idea:
Mobil 1 OW-30.....9.7
Amsoil Series 2000 0W-30....11.1
Mobil 1 5W-30.....9.9
Amsoil XL-7500....10.1
Amsoil 5W-30....11.7
Mobil 1 10W-30.....10.0
Amsoil XL-7500....10.3
Amsoil 10W-30....11.6
These numbers also show me why often the Amsoil XL-7500 is being compared more with Mobil 1 than our other lines, since they are very similar.
Hey Adam93tsi,
Just wanted to warn you about adding those mystery oils to your engine. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet, but my buddy has a 3kGT VR4, and he recently added some kind oil additive that a mechanic said would get rid of the ticking. So he did, and the ticking went away. 2 weeks, later, his engine throws a rod. Coincidence? Maybe, but he's looking at ~$5k for a used engine now. Becareful what you do with what is essentially the lifeblood of the engine. Just because it stops the lifter tick doesn't mean it's actually doing something good for the engine.
My recommendations, short of swapping the lifters, is just to keep the engine clean(flushes, more frequent oil changes), and experiment with thinner/thicker oils. I wouldn't add any additives. Hopefully, if you keep your engine clean enough, deposits that might be blocking oil flow to the lifter might get cleaned out etc. Good luck.
Oh, and Vineet might have some insights into the 3kGT engine, ticking etc, since he has a Stealth RT/TT. Any comments Vineet?
Just wanted to warn you about adding those mystery oils to your engine. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this yet, but my buddy has a 3kGT VR4, and he recently added some kind oil additive that a mechanic said would get rid of the ticking. So he did, and the ticking went away. 2 weeks, later, his engine throws a rod. Coincidence? Maybe, but he's looking at ~$5k for a used engine now. Becareful what you do with what is essentially the lifeblood of the engine. Just because it stops the lifter tick doesn't mean it's actually doing something good for the engine.
My recommendations, short of swapping the lifters, is just to keep the engine clean(flushes, more frequent oil changes), and experiment with thinner/thicker oils. I wouldn't add any additives. Hopefully, if you keep your engine clean enough, deposits that might be blocking oil flow to the lifter might get cleaned out etc. Good luck.
Oh, and Vineet might have some insights into the 3kGT engine, ticking etc, since he has a Stealth RT/TT. Any comments Vineet?
I agree with Jehu on oil additives. First off additives void an oil manufacturer's warranty, so if something happens, your oil company will back away from you.
There are all kinds of additives trying to say they are good. Most contain PTFE or chlorine. Your PTFEs would be Slick 50 style additives. In most cases the PTFE particles are big enough that a good oil filter will catch them and take them out of the oil immediately. But sometimes a little may catch on an imperfection in the engine, more PTFEs gather on this piece until buildup forms, which can cause a bearing to go out if it happens to be blocking an oil passage. I've talked to a few mechanics that have looked into some of these engines, with stories varying from they didn't know why the bearing went bad until they found that one blocked passage, to the engine was filled with sludge-like build up and it was pretty useless to even want to rebuild.
The second major additive is chlorine. These include brands like Duralube or Prolong. This is the same stuff you have in your swimming pool. Put a piece of metal next to an open bottle of bleach for a while and see what happens. This is happening in your engine. Also when it starts to break down, it becomes a hydro-chloric acid.
Many of these companies have been slapped with fines by FTC for false advertisement, etc. Below are a few links:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1997/9707/slick.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/9911/prolongcmp.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/9909/prolong.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/9905/duralub2.htm
Another company I hear on the radio advertising all the time is X1-R. A couple years ago I got a printout that showed it had an additive that made a good extreme pressure additive in a gear box, but could be damaging within an engine. Their advertisement goes on to say how X1-R is NASA approved, or something like that. Well, if you go to their web site, you will see what was really approved by NASA. Apparantly they made a lubrication for the treads for the crawler that takes the shuttle to the launch pad. This is a very slow moving and high pressure application. The X1-R oil additive is not this approved fluid.
Basically an oil companies opinion of these additives, and Amsoil has said this in an article in one of our newsletters showing how Duralube (or maybe it was Prolong), broke down their oil, Mobil 1, and I think Valvoline, that if these additives really did work, companies would be using them in the oil already. In 50s or 60s, the oil companies played with chlorine for a bit, but saw how it ate the engine and stopped adding it. What people are pouring out of these bottles is a higher concentration than even the oil manufacturers were playing with.
There are all kinds of additives trying to say they are good. Most contain PTFE or chlorine. Your PTFEs would be Slick 50 style additives. In most cases the PTFE particles are big enough that a good oil filter will catch them and take them out of the oil immediately. But sometimes a little may catch on an imperfection in the engine, more PTFEs gather on this piece until buildup forms, which can cause a bearing to go out if it happens to be blocking an oil passage. I've talked to a few mechanics that have looked into some of these engines, with stories varying from they didn't know why the bearing went bad until they found that one blocked passage, to the engine was filled with sludge-like build up and it was pretty useless to even want to rebuild.
The second major additive is chlorine. These include brands like Duralube or Prolong. This is the same stuff you have in your swimming pool. Put a piece of metal next to an open bottle of bleach for a while and see what happens. This is happening in your engine. Also when it starts to break down, it becomes a hydro-chloric acid.
Many of these companies have been slapped with fines by FTC for false advertisement, etc. Below are a few links:
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1997/9707/slick.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/os/1999/9911/prolongcmp.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/9909/prolong.htm
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/1999/9905/duralub2.htm
Another company I hear on the radio advertising all the time is X1-R. A couple years ago I got a printout that showed it had an additive that made a good extreme pressure additive in a gear box, but could be damaging within an engine. Their advertisement goes on to say how X1-R is NASA approved, or something like that. Well, if you go to their web site, you will see what was really approved by NASA. Apparantly they made a lubrication for the treads for the crawler that takes the shuttle to the launch pad. This is a very slow moving and high pressure application. The X1-R oil additive is not this approved fluid.
Basically an oil companies opinion of these additives, and Amsoil has said this in an article in one of our newsletters showing how Duralube (or maybe it was Prolong), broke down their oil, Mobil 1, and I think Valvoline, that if these additives really did work, companies would be using them in the oil already. In 50s or 60s, the oil companies played with chlorine for a bit, but saw how it ate the engine and stopped adding it. What people are pouring out of these bottles is a higher concentration than even the oil manufacturers were playing with.
this is all opinion, But what I do is this. I run Dino oil in my car on the street. GTX is all I use and I change it when black. at the cost of it you can afford to do this. Now with changing the oil like changing your shorts it WILL quiet it down. It takes a lot of oil and many changes to clean the dirt out of the lifter. When I am at the track and going to be giving the car a good whooping I run AmSoil. I feel that the cost doesn't warrent the oil at all times. BUT this is ONLY B/C i change my oil ALL THE TIME. this is what makes it work. NOTHING is going to fix a damanged lifter so if it is past the point your not going to fix ti with just oil. But it's worth a try. About the ATF and things like MCCC. I am not a huge fan of B/C it will cause excessive wear on the top compression ring and some times even wipe out the oil control ring. leaving you with good compression but burning oil.
90GSX 198+K and NO lifter tick!!
Good luck
90GSX 198+K and NO lifter tick!!
Good luck
I use Amsoil and it does not stop the tick. Amsoil does offer great protection and thats why I use it. Mobil 1 did not cure the problem either. Just put those CD-2 quiet lifter additives with your oil change. This does work for about 1500 miles, then the tick comes back. If you can't live with the ticks, get it repaired (real solution).
93 TSI AWD
92 TSI AWD
93 TSI AWD
92 TSI AWD
Amsoil helped, but did not remove my ticking. However it is quiet when started cold. It goes TICK TICK very loud for about 1 second till oil pressure comes up, then it vanishes. Once the oil temperature comes up, it goes to making the average not very loud ticking. My theory is that when cold (and therefore much thicker), it does the job. Once it warms up, not so well. It's Amsoil 10W-30. Maybe 20W-50 would do the trick all the time. I just plan to get new lifters soon.
I have used Mobil 1 10w30 in my 99 GSX since the first oil change at 500 babied miles, then at the next 500 I changed it again and every 2000 miles after that. I currently have 19,500 miles on the car and have never experienced ANY lifter noise AT ALL. I also use the Mitsu. OEM oil filter part # MD031805. Maybe I'm just lucky so far.........
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