Approved Fluids for 451 - 451 smart fortwo

my last boss was on the pit c…

2008-04-25T22:02:38.550Z

my last boss was on the pit crew of Bill Miller Engineering's (www.bmeltd.com) top fuel drag racing team. they would always "pre-heat" the engine before a race (usually a 4 second race!) and none of the races are in winter conditions.

matt, thanks for the "input", i'm near chicago and we get cold winters, sometimes to -20F and i have no garage or access to a plug-in outlet. so i'll nix the slick 50, the smart battery is so tiny as it is! no room for a second without it flying around in back, and it would sit on top of the engine access panel!

Thanks for the feed back. As…

2008-04-25T15:06:01.409Z

Thanks for the feed back. As a wise guy in college ICE class we were testing different grade oils for flash & freeze, so I went and bought a can of Mobile 1, Anyway it was just about off the graph superior compared to the other testing oils.
The disadvantage with Slick 50 is the other side of the extreme heat that the info-mercial doesn't show us the extreme cold. Way back when before I had heard of a block heater I used slick 50 and one winter I had to buy two batteries from cranking so much to get the car started.

I think I'll keep checking these comment boards for the reply on the moly-di-sulfide as you posted.

ttyl - Matt

i idle my smart at least one…

2008-04-25T00:55:29.467Z

i idle my smart at least one minute when cold and 15 seconds when warm to get oil all over inside, in my old cars i used to idle one minute cold and 30 seconds when warm with regular motor oil. in my 30 years of car ownership, i've never had oil/engine problems with this practice.

i wonder if the smart oil filter catches smaller particles than a standard filter. capturing teflon particles? it would fill up quite fast, so small, and 10,000 mile oil changes? sounds like some kind of voodoo!

slick 50 works in all other cars but not the smart? the smart US engine is a mitsubishi, not some wunder-tech! i might go with slick 50 after 10,000 miles. it's a standard aluminum block and head. of course, unless MB instructed mitsubishi to blend bald eagle heads into their aluminum composite construction ;)

I think Smart is specifying M…

2008-04-24T22:49:30.438Z

I think Smart is specifying Mobil One 0w-40 for this car (same as my 2003 Porsche). You could probably get away with other viscosities but that low number - the zero W - is the cold temp viscosity and determines how the oil flows on those chilly mornings. I've had very good luck with Castrol Syntec 5W-40 in a BMW as well. Castrol claims to leave a 'film' on bearing parts to help with 'dry starts' which would be a good thing.

maybe that's why my mercedes…

2008-04-24T22:05:43.116Z

maybe that's why my mercedes dealer charges $100 for an oil change! i plan on 5000 mile oil changes on my smart.
i remember when mobil 1 first came out and Popular Science tested a car by running it 100,000 miles on the same oil. they tore down the engine and it had negligible wear.

I Live in Portugal and on my…

2008-04-24T21:31:36.769Z

I Live in Portugal and on my manual they don´t give any indications of the property´s of the oil used on the 451.
So i Called my Seller and she told me it uses a Fully Syntetic one and if i wanted when i put my car on the shop for servicing i can bring my own oil and then save a lot of money. On The Sc, they charge € 100 for 2 Liters and you can buy them for € 40 more or less on any store...Ask the same yourself, perhaps you get lucky as me...I Use BP Visco 7000 Sport on my and i think the reference is 5W35.
Cheers

I've used Slick 50 on vehicle…

2008-04-24T16:44:09.231Z

I've used Slick 50 on vehicles in the past but could never see any real benefit. I think changing the oil on a reasonable schedule (NOT every 10,000 miles!) has helped me acheive very long engine life on many vehicles. My concern on Slick 50 is that the teflon particals that are supposed to 'embed' themselves into the interstitial sites, or pores, of the metal. Unfortunately, the teflon may be large enough to be caught by the oil filter on nearly the first pass thru the engine! Plus, I'm guessing that this little 3-banger is probably a high silicon content pressure cast block etched back to the hard silicon. There may be enough "holes" for the teflon to get into - if they can do so before the filter catches them!
I've studied the effect of moly-di-sulfide treatment on ferrous alloys in jet engines and found they are a HUGE benefit. Maybe we can get a comment about the alloy of the cylinder walls vs ring alloys from someone on the "inside" of Smart. The racing industry pretty much coats EVERYTHING they can with moly-di-sulfide with great results.
One more thing: Do Y'all remember the test Consumer Reports did on oil changes from several years ago? They did tests on taxis in New York City. They found that extending the oil change out to 12,000 miles DID have an detrimental effect on engine internal dimensions after 100,000 miles or so. They did not see any differences between 3,000 mile and 6,000 mile oil changes. They concluded that with 60 engines tested, oil changes at about 6,000 seemed about right for taxi cabs.
I plan to change oil on this 3-cylinger at about 6,000. My 6 cylinder Mercedes I let go out to 10,000 because it holds 9 quarts of Mobil 1! (Ouch!).

Greetings all, Has anyone ad…

2008-04-24T15:41:46.185Z

Greetings all,

Has anyone added "Slick 50" or other brand of teflon coating oil? It seems to me from the discussions here that the high RPM high heat 71Hp engine is a good canidate to use such oils.
What your thoughts?
Matt

BOT 328 is only a good 100% s…

2008-04-24T13:50:26.758Z

BOT 328 is only a good 100% sintetic SAE 75W90 API GL-4 Castrol.

With all Daimler benz marketing and parafernalia of miraculous aditives,of course............but at 20€ liter here at Spain.

Having Aftermarket 5L 100% sintetic same SAE at 35€.................

Well, Specs say it holds 3.5…

2008-04-15T23:12:56.871Z

Well,
Specs say it holds 3.5 quarts including the filter. It took 3 quarts to fill with a new filter, and after I ran it for a few miles and rechecked it looked good and clean. Close enough I guess.