what oil do u guys use??
 

i was wondering what oil you guys use in your m20's

Good question! I was just reading a great thread about this on E30tech.

I've been using BMW synthetic 5w30 because Mike at Maranello's gets us a great price. But there are so many opinions and options....The most interesting one i've heard is using Diesel oil (forget the brand) becaues it "does wonders to lower noise M20 valvetrains"

I use synthetic 5w50 in the winter, 20w50 in the summer.

I wouldn't personally go below a 40 weight. You can get 5w40 and 10w40.

If you ask me for a recommendation it will be 5w50 synthetic especially if you run the car in the winter. Most engine damage occurs when the engine is starved for oil during a cold start or when the engine overheats. The synthetic is what you want in those cases. Higher flash point, boil point, and pumps way better at very cold temperatures than regular oils. I still recommend changing the oil at or before 5000km even if it says it lasts longer, but that's just my preference.

where do u get the 20w50??

Canadian Tire sells the jugs of Castrol Syntec 20W50

I just used regular 20w50 in the e30 with a can of Molyslip everytime. Worked well for me!

yea always can of mos2 Molyslip :) what 20w50 do u use??

regular Castrol

I use Mobil 1 15w50 synthetic, since I drive less than 3000 kms a year on this car it allows me to keep the oil in it over the winter instead of having to change it in the fall and put 0 kms on it and change it again. I have an oil pressure gauge and I wait until the oil "gets moving" before being hard on the loud pedal.

my old m20 always got mud (actually, 20w50). now my m50 gets 20w50 too.. mainly for the hot months. and i never did oil changes........i just kept topping up *whistles away....*

i ran 20w50 in my e30 too. ran awesome.

50 weight is a little excessive IMO for an M20, especially 20W-50...

a good 5W-40 is fine...

Take a look @ Rotella T6... it's cheap and very good oil.

20 dubya fitty dinoco all year round. Like the manual says.

What ever is on sale that is 20w50, I don't believe the whole synthetic argument. As proof, my car that is beat on has 350,000 of good ol' regular oil. I put 60,000km/ year on the car since I've had it which is two years now, previous owner told me he just put regular oil as well.

As an added bonus whenever you get an oil leak it will eventually scab over.. nyuk.