So whats the concensus on the grade to use and manufacturer? After all this is the blood and probably most important bit to get right?
And have yourselves a Happy christmas and a great New Year from New Zealand to all you Lotus drivers from New Zealand.
You and Maddog have a great one Mate, hope everythings is going well.
Cheers
Russ
Hi Jez,
I’m using Motul Competition 300V 15W-50 in mine… although the car seems to have developed rather an appetite for it!
Donj’t know what oil the car came with (whatever Murrays put in the car when they last serviced it I reckon) but it didn’t seem to use too much of it, although I only did 500 miles on it… the 300V stuff is pricey and was recommended to me, but I’m a little concerned at the rate the VHPD drinks it… it’ll easily chug through a litre on a trackday, and from Auckland to Hawkes Bay and back (about 600-700 mile round trip of mixed driving, some sedate, some fun) it’ll drink about a litre.
Thing is, the car NEVER smokes, although you can smell a bit burning when you’re really pressing on, so it’s obviously going out the tail pipe.
Going to change the oil soon and not sure what to do… keep with the Motul and accept that I need to top it up every few hundred miles or so, or look for something else.
I Used Mobil 1 15/50 in the VHPD and a litre a track day seems about right !
In the Honda Im using the same stuff but will change to Motul 300V 15/50 … simply because I found a 25l drum of the stuff However the Motul is Fully synthetic and as good as if not better than the Mobil 1.
I Used Mobil 1 15/50 in the VHPD and a litre a track day seems about right !
In the Honda Im using the same stuff but will change to Motul 300V 15/50 … simply because I found a 25l drum of the stuff However the Motul is Fully synthetic and as good as if not better than the Mobil 1.
To be honest, if a litre a trackday’s about right for the engine then I’m not too worried… other than the cost of replacing the oil (which does seem to add up!) it doesn’t really bother me. I check the oil between sessiond on track and usually every second fill at the petrol station, so it never has a chance to get low.
Gusee I’ll stick with the Motul.
Ummm, I would have thought 1 litre/ track day is a joke. My Honda engines consume f’all oil and even the QED VHPD in the 340R uses no oil. Time for a rebuilt mate.
Normally I’d agree with you, but this messageboard abounds with tales of VHPDs that use similar amounts of oil and still appear in the best of health.
It’s spitting nothing out into the catch-can so I’m assuming blowby’s not an issue, so it can’t be that hideously bad… I’m just wondering if the oil I’m using is particularly susceptible to burn-off… perhaps I should be using something thicker?
I’d agree i wouldn’t be worried about the trackday consumption, although it does depend on how hard you are driving it and how many miles you get in; but I would think that a litre on 600-700 road miles is quite high. Perhaps not high enough to start stripping things off to see but high enough to keep a very regular check on.
I’d agree i wouldn’t be worried about the trackday consumption, although it does depend on how hard you are driving it and how many miles you get in; but I would think that a litre on 600-700 road miles is quite high. Perhaps not high enough to start stripping things off to see but high enough to keep a very regular check on.
Yeah, my thoughts exactly… don’t tell me I’ll have to be shelling out for an S/C Honda this soon 
Still, I do wonder where it’s getting burned, because to lose that much oil, I’d expect to see it smoking badly, but it just doesn’t… plugs look a healthy colour… it just seems to disappear
Been chatting to an oil expert about this and apparently it is possible for oil to just evapourate when very hot he did give me some science around it but he lost me just after he said “it’s really simple”
Maybe, but no way will 1 litre of it vanish in 1 day.Valve guides or rings are the likely suspects.
Funny thing is though, I had a Triumph that burned a lot of oil once, although less than the Lotus is, and the back of the car would go BLACK, and I mean BLACK… there’s not a trace of soot on the back of the Exige, which suggests that it’s not smoking too badly… you can SMELL it’s burning, but there’s no visible trace.
My S1 Sport190 used about half a litre per track day but next to nothing on the road, a couple of people said to me it was due to sloshing of the oil on track getting thrown up the bores then burning the oil off.
Funny thing is though, I had a Triumph that burned a lot of oil once, although less than the Lotus is, and the back of the car would go BLACK, and I mean BLACK… there’s not a trace of soot on the back of the Exige, which suggests that it’s not smoking too badly… you can SMELL it’s burning, but there’s no visible trace.
Just before my rebuild, my engine used 3 litres of oil in 1,000 miles. There was not alot of evidence on the back of the car or through the rear view mirror, but the car that was following me for most of that mileage had a thin layer all over the front and sides of his car .
It was the valve guides as Dave suggested above.
Honestly I did something like 8K track miles using a Litre a track day or therabouts. Original VHPD with 25K miles on it at start
I was concerned about that volume and did a leakdown test and yes everything was leaking, guides and rings but it seemed to be the norm for a Lotus standard VHPD.
Having seen the guides and especially the bores from a similar mileage VHPD … well its no wonder it uses that amount. The question is when is do you do the rebuild ? Like I said mine did 8K track miles like that … HGF was the final nail for me. ( although 3l in 1000 miles Steve )
And yes my Honda uses no oil
Similar story, & views as Andy really.
My VHPD would use between 1/2 & 1 litre of oil per trackday, & engine was “refreshed” at 25K miles.
PS Andy - is it hot enough for you over there? Hope you enjoyed the rather special fireworks over Sydney the other night! Finally, if you get chance, buy Ozzie Dave a drink or two on my behalf - I’ll settle up with you at Donny (honest!)
Reports like yours Pesky and Andy make me not worry so much. Burning oil doesn’t seem to be out of the ordinary with the VHPD, so as long as it doesn’t get to the point where it’s drinking more oil than petrol, I’ll keep running it
I’m only hoping to get another year or two out of the VHPD anyhow, after that I’ll have to answer the eternal question whether to keep the VHPD and overhaul/tweak it a little, or to swappit for a S/C Honda lump. JDM K20s are becoming a little more common in this part of the world now, so prices should be coming down longer term.
But for now, I’ll just buy shares in Motul and keep feeding her the good stuff
Pesky,
If you’re trying to crack onto me vicariously it will take more than a couple of beers. It’s a good start though.
Pesky,
If you’re trying to crack onto me vicariously it will take more than a couple of beers. It’s a good start though.
That’s not what everyone has heard over here… a schooner of VB and you are anyones apparently ?
Normally yes, but Pesky will take a few more beers.