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Oil quality in 2,0 V6 Turbo

5K views 20 replies 6 participants last post by  Gustav_H 
#1 ·
Hello folks!
I've just installed new camshafts in my Alfa 166 2,0 V6 TB and want to know if there is any special oil to use to get the camshafts to last longer than the old ones.

Tha car has run 130000km with the old camshafts and these were RUBBISH! The car had a loud valvenoice when I bought the car, so I calculated with a camshaft exchange when I bought it. Probably a previous owner have put in the wrong type of oil or ran to long between oil changes.

But what shall I do to get my new camshafts to get them to last longer?
 
G
#3 ·
Put the manufaturer recommended spec oil in (from your handbook) and make sure you change the oil and filter every 6 months or 5k and that should help prolong the life of the whole engine. Also, try to keep the area round the oil filler cap clean and make sure any container or funnel you use to pour the oil in is spotless. This is usually the cause of camshaft wear as it's usually the first lobe (directly under the filler cap) that wears first due to sand and grit etc. getting in when changing the oil.
 
#4 ·
Thanks! I never use anuthing but the specified oil, but I don't know what previous owners have put in the engine. If you had seen my engine bay you would know that it is spotless, so no dirt is coming down that way :)

In my engine almost all loobes were wore down. I'm going to the workshop this afternoo to check out the old camshafts. I will take some photos to show the damage.

Hopefully clean and close oil changes will make the shafts last longer.
 
#5 ·
If your donkey is running a turbo, the chances are the oil being used is getting a lot hotter, more often that it's supposed to. Hot oil degrades more quickly than cool oil (oil temp should be 80C normally).

Changing the oil at 6000 miles will obviously help your wear problem as the oil will just be newer more of the time.

I'd also consider a synthetic oil, if you can afford it as that is also more stable under extremes of temperature.

A compromise might be to use semi-synthetic during winter, when the oil is cooler and you're booting it less anyway, and switch to a synthetic between May and October, so you have maximum protection when it's hottest and when you're more likely to be ragging it down the Autoroute de Soleil etc.

Ralf S.
 
#6 ·
Ralf S. said:
If your donkey is running a turbo, the chances are the oil being used is getting a lot hotter, more often that it's supposed to.
The 2.0V6 Turbo is a std engine, not a normal engine with an aftermarket turbo conversion.
 
#7 ·
This is what my lifters looked like. Probably the engine have run with not enough oil at one time, or the wrong oil type for the engine. 4 lifters looked like this, and a few more were going the same way. Tho knockers at the camshaft was worn down 4-5 mm at most.

So a tip is to check your oil level once or twice :D
 

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#9 ·
I check my oil level everytime I fuel up, so that is twice a week. But I know a lot of people that don't fill up the oil until the red light is turned on on the dashboard. Horrible people... Probably this is what happened to my car with one of the previous owners.
 
#10 ·
I had a chat with an expert about my car, and he reckoned that the correct oil was essential in Alfa engines. I might have a problem in my 3 litre V6 due to wrong oil, and the very high oil pressures when it revs when cold. Made worse by old anti freeze dissolving the block. I wish I knew then what I know now!
There is a special oil for my engine, but you may need to change the oil and filters 2 or 3 times after very few miles until you get it all clean, apparently!
 
#14 ·
David C said:
I could be wrong, but I don't think the 2.0V6 Turbo had hydraulic tappets.

So when were the valve clearances last checked and adjusted?

Correctly, the 2,0 V6 Turbo is an old 12V engine. No hydralic lifters here. But to have the oilpressure checked is not that bad idea after all. I'm going to have a Bilstein Engine Flush done at the next oilchange, just to make sure the engine is absolutley clean inside.

I also wonder if I should install an oiltemp gauge. Could be fun to see what oil temperature raises up to when driving hard. MAybe should set up a 3 gauge holder at tha a-post with oil-temp, oil pressure and turbo boost?!

I checked and adjusted the valve clearence this summer when I changed the cambelt, but when it was done before that, I don't know.
 
#15 ·
paul gardenshed said:
I had a chat with an expert about my car, and he reckoned that the correct oil was essential in Alfa engines. I might have a problem in my 3 litre V6 due to wrong oil, and the very high oil pressures when it revs when cold. Made worse by old anti freeze dissolving the block. I wish I knew then what I know now!
There is a special oil for my engine, but you may need to change the oil and filters 2 or 3 times after very few miles until you get it all clean, apparently!

What is that "special oil" that you use? I run my V6 engines on AGIP 10W60 fully synthetic oil.
 
#16 ·
Well I don't that is the problem, I just change it every 4,000 miles! But the 164 forum guys suggest that there is a specific oil for Alfa V6 3 litre engines, check with them, I think it was 10w80, but it may be the one you use. They suggested that the really expensive Alfa specific oil was not much different to any synthetic of the correct type. But it is an unusual one. It is supposed to last twice as many miles, but you have to change it a few times to get it all clean, and it can be worse with the correct oil, with all the muck from the old wrong oil slushing about in it!

I am going to get it all flushed out and clean, then go to the correct oil. I will let you know when I find out again, but I am on a different computer, and the one with the links does not currently work, sorry I can't help but the info is out there!

I have been told (from a skilled mechanic who has worked on 12v v6, and 24v ever since they have been about, he has a 33, and does the cambelt for me) that when cold, above 3,500 rpm the oil pressure gets above 6bar, to very high pressures, which doesn't happen to the same extent when warm. Why you have to use a fancy oil? This is available from the internet, from a company that specialises in performance oil (in Italy I think), but you should be able to get the correct grade anywhere once you check which one it really is, and I am very sorry I can't tell you at the moment.

Paul
 
#17 ·
I never rev above 3000rpm when the engine is cold, NEVER! Especially not with my turbo engine.

The AGIP 10W60 is one of the expensive oils you talk about. And I will get my engine flushed next time I'm about to change my oil. I hope that will clean the engine out and make my camshafts last longer.

If you find that oil info I'm glad to hear from you. More information is never wrong!
 
#18 ·
Yea I know, never rev it when cold, but it takes 15 min to get warm, and sometimes I need to accelerate to get into a gap to join the motorway. I was just saying that over 3500 rpm the oil pressure gets very high when cold so not to do it. I agree!

The oil recommended was SAE 10w-60, Selinia synthetic racing oil, but any 10w-60 should be fine.

I had a pully sieze today and broke the auxillary belt, so I nearly had to be in the Alfa on a tow truck club, but near destination so just made it before it got too hot and ran out of battery. I was going to check all that this week when I cleaned out the oil and coolant!

They won't sell me just the pully I have to buy the whole tensioner arm. Any one changed the bearings in one before?
 
#19 ·
Yikes! Good though that it was'nt the cambelt!!!

I've changed tha bearing for the oulley on my 155 2,5 TD I had before. It was a standard SKF bearing that you could by in any machine shop. Try to get the bearing out and take the measurements. This is if the pulley is in metall, if it is in plastic you should get it changed completey. At least up here in the north they seem to crack over the years. But maybe it is the cold climate that does it.

I will continue with AGIP 10W60 also after the engine flush.
 
#20 ·
Thanks, if they will only sell me the whole tensioner I will have a go at changing the bearings. I was expecting £6 for a new pully, not £55 for the whole thing! It is metal, I have never had anything go wrong like that before, what a smoke screen of belt rubber smoke it caused!

Is the oil you use readily available? In the past I have always got oil from a friend who buys a 20 gallon drum of the stuff but he has run out at the moment.

Not aware of many Alfa turbos, I bet yours goes well!

Paul
 
#21 ·
I buy AGIP 10W60 for 8 euro/litre here in Gothenburg, Sweden. Castrol 10W60 costs more than the double!

Not many Alfa turbos here in Sweden either. The 2,0 V6 TB engine has only been sold in Italy due to tax regulations. But it runs really well, 205 bhp gets the car moving pretty good :)
 
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