Red Line Oil

Luvjet

Enthusiast
Joined
May 30, 2001
Posts
31
Reaction score
0
Location
Dallas,Texas USA
Can somebody tell me why Red Line Oil is fine for racing but not recommended for street use? Something about start-up lubrication. I've always been told Red Line was one of the best if not the best. Thanks in advance.
 

GTS Bruce

Enthusiast
Joined
Dec 29, 2000
Posts
3,328
Reaction score
0
Location
Orchard Park,NY,USA
My guess would be its high in anti wear ingredients but has few detergents if any to give maximum protection and parts coating.Oil with detergents to disperse guk etc tends to stick less well to metal.High anountsa of anti scuff materials tend to foul cat converters.In racing you throw the oil out after an event so you don't have to worry about gunk build up and of course there are no cats to foul. Bruce
 

Tom F&L GoR

Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 3, 2000
Posts
4,983
Reaction score
5
Location
Wappingers Falls
The additives in oils are designed to work at various temperatures. For example, antiwear additives are generally of two types, primary and secondary "zinc." An all-primary zinc system would only be appropriate for operation at high temperatures all the time, as in racing (er... maybe, since oil temperatures are usually well controlled) and in very heavy duty engines (diesels that run at 80% load and up all the time.) In practice, there is little need for an all-primary zinc system anymore since mixtures of the two cover any need, including racing. In US engine oil formulations, I would predict essentially all passenger car and diesel oils are mixed zincs.

Another story is an out-of-date one: detergent additives cause combustion chamber deposits. It used to be that racers would use aircraft engine oils because they had no "organo-metallic" additives. That was only because the high oil consumption rates they had would consume enough oil that yes, deposits would form and cause knock - a death spiral problem particularly in aircraft engines because they run at near full power and you can't hear it knock. However, even race engines don't generally consume that much oil any more, and also having detergents is a good idea, since they keep the ring land areas clean.

Lastly, unless you only drive on the track and always change your oil after every event, and rebuild (and clean up) your engine periodically, you will want all the other additives in "normal" oils, especially dispersants. They help keep all the gunk, the wear metal particles, water, and anything else suspended so that when you change your oil, all these things are drained out. If you don't have dispersants, it all settles inside the engine and accumulates.

From what I have seen in engine oil formulations, I would ask what is being *left out* of racing oils, not what *extra* is being put into racing oils.

Keep in mind many NASCAR engines are lubricated by unadulterated off-the-shelf oils and don't have any problems at all.
 

Tom F&L GoR

Enthusiast
Joined
Oct 3, 2000
Posts
4,983
Reaction score
5
Location
Wappingers Falls
"Regular" oil should have the API service symbol on the back, use API SJ or API SL. NEVER use API SA, SB, SC, SD, SE, SF if you ever find them. API SG and SH are pretty good oils, but have to be several years old by now.

A 10W-30 should also have the ILSAC starburst on the front. Having both of these is a "good housekeeping seal" that guarantees the oil was developed with the proper testing, manufactured with certain quality controls, and meets criteria the OEMs and technical societies agreed upon.
 
OP
OP
L

Luvjet

Enthusiast
Joined
May 30, 2001
Posts
31
Reaction score
0
Location
Dallas,Texas USA
Thanks for the feedback. The oil I'm referring to is the regular 10-w30 and not the racing Red Line. Does that still apply?
 

Latest posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
153,200
Posts
1,681,928
Members
17,699
Latest member
jpolen21
Top