Hi guys Damien here after a week away in the usa,was on 5th avenue in newyork this week,not a panda 4X4 in sight!!just hummers!!he he!!coudnt imagine a panda 4X4 on the roads over there,poor little thing would get run over by all those suv's on 22inch wheels !!I remember last year watching the detroit motor show, where smart had the idea of importing their cars to the USA,to which one of the american program's presenters said,and i quote ''that there little automobile would make a great golf cart'' .

Back to my original question,anybody use mobil 1 5w40 in thier panda 4X4's.Thats what im running in my 1.1inj valdisere,and the seals seem to be holding it in?Do you think its a waste of time using fully synthetic in our cars?

surely just some semi-senthetic at the most!

In a word, yes. I buy the cheapest 10w40 Semi Synthetic oil I can find. Fully Synthetic oil seems excessive for a Panda. I suppose it won't do any harm though and it will make you feel better. I would be inclined to stick to 10w40 though rather than 5w40. FIRE engines are leaky enough as it is without using a thinner oil.

Erm... Steve

Your car is running on Mobil1

Jim

panda valdisere said:

anybody use mobil 1 5w40 in thier panda 4X4's.

Click to expand...

think he accidently hit the space bar think its meant to be 15

e505jpy said:

Erm... Steve

Your car is running on Mobil1

Jim

Click to expand...

No, it's not. I changed the oil and filter shortly after I bought it Jim. It's running on Castrol 10w40 Semi Synth and a Coopers filter.

yup dont go thinner than 10 40 as i did on the turbo cinq (1108 fire)and it weeped oil like mad

Thanks for the comments and points of view guys!
Damien.

I now use Castrol GTX Magnatec 15W-40 oil, in my panda

edit - if you get magnatec oil from Halfords, you get a free cordless screwdriver worth £10

First post in the Panda section but my wife used to have a fire engined panda 4x4 and the only oil I ever put into it from day one was mobil 1 0w40 it had 135,000 miles on when it we swapped it and she never had moments bother with it. I Took the cam cover off it once and the engine looked as though it had been gold plated inside

I swear by the stuff and all my cars run on it

allanhelen said:

the only oil I ever put into it from day one was mobil 1 0w40

Click to expand...

I take it you mean Mobil 10w40

Nope Mobile1 is either 5-40 or 0-40

christopher watson said:

I take it you mean Mobil 10w40

Click to expand...

No 0w40 worth every penny

running oil like that in a FIRE engine isn't a good idea imo. as custard said, it will leak.. too thin when cold.

use selenia 20k like ur meant to and be done with it!

arc said:

running oil like that in a FIRE engine isn't a good idea imo. as custard said, it will leak.. too thin when cold.

use selenia 20k like ur meant to and be done with it!

Click to expand...

Hmm, ive done 10 thousand kms with 5W 40 mobie 1 and still no leaking from my little 1.1 valdisere.just think mobie 1 is a really developed oil,and has great anti wearing properties and the fact that its fully synthetic means its effective for longer than any semi synthetic oil ,and i recon in the longterm better for our engines!
Damien.

arc said:

running oil like that in a FIRE engine isn't a good idea imo. as custard said, it will leak.. too thin when cold.

use selenia 20k like ur meant to and be done with it!

Click to expand...

Arc when the engine is cold most of the oil is sat in the sump so where will it leak from the sump plug? if it is going to leak it will leak while its hot and thin & being thrown around the engine at pressure. I can tell you that Panda never leaked any oil

I am using 0W40 in the Cinq right now as I do with all my cars 46K on the clock 40K of that running 0w40 and its still as dry as a bone no oil leaks anywhere. But i supose if you did have a leaky engine to start with thinner oil wouldn't help.

To be honest Mobil 1 is so good anyway that I personally wouldn't care if there was the odd oil leak if it is caring for the inside of the engine a spot of oil or two on the drive is not the end of the world after all.

There is nothing wrong with running a higher spec oil than fiat recommend anyway just like there is nothing wrong with fitting uprated none genuine fiat parts! Quite simply what Fiat recommend is always a compomise so that it can meet the needs of differing markets it is not nessesarly the best. How much of your car (apart from your oil) is still running on what "fiat recommends as standard"? not that much I quess

i am running the oil that the guy who did all my headwork, and builds race spec FIRE engines recommended i use - not using it because FIAT say so.

There is a missconception going here that a thinner oil is a higher spec, it isn't. On a precisouly engineered japanese or german engine, a thinner oil would go down a treat but lets be honest here - a FIAT engine isn't built to that kind of tolerences (just look at the balancing on the coops conrods!). I'm not fussed about it leaking out the engine, i'm more concerned with it seeping past valve stem seals and past piston rings, being burnt and clogging up the combustion chambers with crap.

A thinner oil won't cling to internal engine bits as easily when cold either, ok it's going to circulate a bit quicker - but there is some trade off going on there.

Oil is one of these things that we can go round in circles over with no resolve, so please don't read my reply as me trying to start a beef here - i'm just explaining why i use the oil i do

How much of your car (apart from your oil) is still running on what "fiat recommends as standard"? not that much I quess

Click to expand...

erm... errr.. there is.. the..erm.. err.. steering wheel!!