One of the crucial factors influencing engine wear is the oil used for
lubrication. The Mini is a special beast because it shares oil
between the engine and the box (a few other cars do as well,
eg. Citroen Visa). I enquired with Neste (currently part of the Fortum corporation) about
their recommendations. I asked about the following cases:
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Marcin Dobrucki,
thank you for your interest in Neste Lubricants. We have good shear stable engine oils, which can be used also in cars, where the engine and gear box are lubricated by the same oil. The gears and roller bearings in the gear box shear the viscosity index improver additives (VI improver additives), which are up to 100 000 carbon atoms containing polymers (olefin copolymer, styrene butadiene polymer, polymethylmetcrylate polymer). Neste City Pro 0W-40, fully synthetic top class engine oil, also for racing. The oil contains very shear stable VI improver, and small amount of ester base oil to balance the effect of polyalpfaolefin based oil on seals. Old seals may start leaking with non ester synthetic oils. Neste 1 5W-50 contains also ester base oil, and is a popular engine oil in Finland in older cars (1970's and 1980's models). This are my recommendations. We have also mineral oils like Neste Super 10W-40 and Neste Special 10W-30, 20W-50, which can be used in older cars. Especially Special 20W-50 is good in old Austin and Morris Mini's which tend to shear and eat oil.
Best Regards NOTE Neste's English web site does not seem to provide as detailed information on these oils as the Finnish site does. I've took the liberty to provide some info. Below are the quality specifications for oils mentioned by Mr. Niemi:
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