Erik VanRenselaar
Member
Would there be any advantage to using aviation oil in a motor vehicle engine? I see that most major motor oil brands offer an aviation version, for use in recip piston aircraft engines.
Aviation oil vs motor oil
- Thread starter Erik VanRenselaar
- Start date
Robert Kenney
Super Moderator
I have pondered the same as my family has a recip cessna that I maintain and fly in.
First thing that comes to mind is the additive package that av recip oils use. They contain 00ppm zinc or the ep elements that we are accustomed to having to protect the cams in our vintage engines. This created a major bout of cam failure in lycomings about 15 years ago. This prompted a ad to add lw-16702 (what is akin to lynkite) to your engine during an oil change to protect cam and lifters from damage upon start up.
Aero shell has this already in the oils.
Also av oils are specifically designed to deal with the lead in av fuels. The dispersant qualities make them good case cleaners and in a gunked up 40 year old sv it could be fatal when all of it loosens up.
Might be ok in a new broken in engine but I don't want to be the guinea pig.
First thing that comes to mind is the additive package that av recip oils use. They contain 00ppm zinc or the ep elements that we are accustomed to having to protect the cams in our vintage engines. This created a major bout of cam failure in lycomings about 15 years ago. This prompted a ad to add lw-16702 (what is akin to lynkite) to your engine during an oil change to protect cam and lifters from damage upon start up.
Aero shell has this already in the oils.
Also av oils are specifically designed to deal with the lead in av fuels. The dispersant qualities make them good case cleaners and in a gunked up 40 year old sv it could be fatal when all of it loosens up.
Might be ok in a new broken in engine but I don't want to be the guinea pig.
There would be no advantage, in fact a detriment, for using aviation engine oil in an automotive deal. As Robert pointed out, the additives are different and at different levels, with little or no detergents, than automotive needs. Our engines run much cooler with average oil temps much lower, and at constantly varying power levels, combined with different tolerance specs; makes the lubrication needs so different between them.