Automotive motor oil ?

[hamerican gigolo]

I was just wondering if there were any auto mechanics on the forum. I was shopping for motor oil.

Can you use the store brand ( Wal-Mart,Mejier,etc.) & would they offer the same protection as the

national brands ( Pennzoil,Castrol,etc.) Can i save a couple of bucks or am i being penny-wise &

pound foolish? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

[JohnnyB]

I was just wondering if there were any auto mechanics on the forum. I was shopping for motor oil.

Can you use the store brand ( Wal-Mart,Mejier,etc.) & would they offer the same protection as the

national brands ( Pennzoil,Castrol,etc.) Can i save a couple of bucks or am i being penny-wise &

pound foolish? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Read the fine print on the packaging. Many low cost motor oils are recycled. I don't know if multi-weight motor oils are recycled, but if they are it's not a good idea. It also depends on your application. If you're putting it in a low-revving engine for light duty, it's probably OK, but I'd never put house brand oil in--say--a Honda 2000S with the 8700 rpm redline as a matter of principle.

That's the other thing about house brand oil--it's probably made by a major petroleum mfr (or several) under contract, but we don't know by whom or to what standard exactly. The certification rating will give you some clue as to its applicability.

I just buy Chevron or Pennzoil 10w-40 at Costco for $27/case. That way it's cheap and I know where it comes from.

[ZR]

Here's my take, YMMV. To me, if the oil has the proper high rating (that little circular label with numbers in it) then I'm OK with it. I do use more expensive Mobil 1 100% synthetic in my motorcycle but the oil in a bike does double duty in engine and transmission/clutch.

In principle, I'd like to believe that spending more money on name brand oil is getting me a better product but I just don't know. I always ask myself just how many cars did I have to get rid of, or blew up on me because I didn't use just the right oil or change my oil in exactly every 3000 miles? It's usually other things; transmission, electronics etc. that become such a problem that forces someone to want to get rid of their car.

I usually run Mobil 1 through a car / truck a few times, or even every now and then, then back to regular cheaper stuff. They say that doing that gets you a lot of the advantages of the 100% synthetic w/o the extra expense doing it every oil change, because even as the oil is drained a lot of the synthetic lubricant film stays behind coated on your engine parts.

As usual, if you look on the net you'll find a million arguments for every side. You just need to find what you feel comfortable with and go with it.

[edgar_allan_poe]

I wait for Mobile 1 to go on sale and stock up when it is. I can get it for well under $30 for a 6 pack at Costco and $21 for 5 quarts at Wall-Mart. I then get either a Mobile-1 filter or a Royal Purple filter.

I look at it this way....

I have no idea if it is better or not, but I figure for around $20 extra an oil change it is worth it just in case it is better. $20 extra dollars twice a year isn't going to break my bank.

[doody]

I have always used valvoline but for no scientific reason other than my dad and brothers did. I have never had a problem it. I have blown motors but its always been my fault

[murkat]

the old tv ad, "motor oil is motor oil".....

you get what you pay for.

Mobil 1, then switch it up with Castrol.

never a oil failure in my well tuned fast cars.

also, the bigger the filter, the better. you can usually size up no prob.

[Steve Haynie]

Years ago my father had a Mobil service station. When changing valve cover gaskets you could see the differences in oil.

Mobil and Havoline left the valve covers looking clean with no more than a light golden color. Quaker State would leave thick sludge inside the valve covers. That was in the 70's and early 80's. Now that 30 years have passed you cannot really go by what those oils used to be like. What you can do is find someone who works on cars and ask what they see inside different cars when they know what kind of oil was used regularly.

My cars get Castrol and the oil is changed regularly.

[JGale]

Moblie 1. Both cars.

[BubbaVO]

Moblie 1. Both cars.

+1

[Punkavenger]

I always buy the best oil and filter possible, usually Castrol with a Wix filter ... its still cheaper than having it done at Jiffy lube or wherever

[sledhead44]

I was just wondering if there were any auto mechanics on the forum. I was shopping for motor oil.

Can you use the store brand ( Wal-Mart,Mejier,etc.) & would they offer the same protection as the

national brands ( Pennzoil,Castrol,etc.) Can i save a couple of bucks or am i being penny-wise &

pound foolish? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

Department store brand is usually made of recycled oil and / or made to lower standards, even if made by a large national brand. If you want to save some money buy a Auto Parts store brand. I found that some of the NAPA products are EXACTLY the same as the Valvoline packaged product. That's what I use in my race car and I have never had a problem.

[hamerican gigolo]

Thanks for all the replies.

[Devnor]

Mobil 1 in my '03 Nissan Maxima. Good stuff.

[kenjones]

Use Wolf's Head 30 weight. It'll never let you down.

[Thundersteel]

I've used Valvoline for years, until the price of oil skyrocketed. Now, I just use Advance Auto branded oil. As long as it has the same API ratings as the national competitors, then it's just as good in my book. A lot of times, it's made by a big name manufacturer; they just put a different label on it. My truck has > 60k miles on it, and it's still going strong.

[DaveH]

I have my thoughts and opinions n motor oils, but there have been enough of those posted already. At the end of the day what matters is that changing it on time or even early is cheap insurance. So whatever oil you go with, just change it regularly, and (at the minimum) when you're supposed to.

[cloakerz]

i like valvoline or kendall for conventional oil. for synthetics I like mobil 1 in cars and use amsoil motorcycle oil in my bike. I am not too fond of amsoil car oil it seems to give a lot of engine noise.

[Armitage]

I wonder if Consumer Reports or a car mag has ever tested motor oil... it's kind of invisible to me. I just put in what the guy recomends...

[specialk]

A follow-up...

Years (and years) ago I was told that a motor started on "regular" oil, say for the first 50k miles, should not be switched to synthetic oil as leaks and other bad things could happen. True?

[Uncle Thor's Hamer]

There was a big study done maybe ten or so years ago. What they found was that any brand of natural oil was as good as any other. Buy for price. But the fully synthetics did do better than the natural oils at withstanding aging and also the synthetics stick to the parts when the engine is shut down. This provides lube when the engine starts up, the most critical time for engine wear. The semi-synthetics were no better than the natural oils.

So, fully synthetic is best at lubrication. I use it in all our vehicles. If you don't want to use fully synthetic, skip the semi-syn and go to the fully natural oil.

Whichever you use, change it and the filter at the recommended intervals. 3k to 5k for regular oil, 5k to 10k for fully synthetic.

There is no problem switching from regular to fully synthetic according to everything I've read.

[edgar_allan_poe]

If you don't want to use fully synthetic, skip the semi-syn and go to the fully natural oil.

From what I understand, there is also an issue with what *exactly* constitutes a "full synthetic" oil. Mobile 1 and Royal Purple are the standard, but there are a wide range of oils that claim to be synthetic but are really just regular old dino oil that has been enhanced in some way that is beyond my comprehension.

Like I said, I stock up on Mobile 1 when Costco has it on sale. They normally have it on sale about 2 times a year which is more than enough for me because I put roughly 10k miles a year on my car.

[copper blue]

If you want to get into serious serious oil discussions go here:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

I use Valvoline HM Full synthetic and and oversized oil filter in my Jeep 4.0

[Armitage]

Has anyone had wear problems in an engine in the last 20 years when they follow the recommended oil changes? I think it's much more important to get it changed often, then what you put in as long as it's certified.

[specialk]

Has anyone had wear problems in an engine in the last 20 years when they follow the recommended oil changes? I think it's much more important to get it changed often, then what you put in as long as it's certified.

I was just talking with a mechanic about this last week, how engines these days last so long, when it used to be bragging rights if one made it to 100k. I speculated that machined tolerances were better these days. He said no, it's that the unwashed masses wised up to the advantages of changing the oil/filter when it's supposed to be done.

Even though I'm hearing 5k miles between changes now for natural oils, I still do mine at 3k.

[Victor (Fret Friend)]

I'm a part-time mechanic. I always go for a quality semi-synthetic in any car I'm running & a good filter. No point skimping. Keep it tidy under the bonnet (hood) & it should last you for years...

[Armitage]

Even though I'm hearing 5k miles between changes now for natural oils, I still do mine at 3k.

I called into "The Glass Castle" at Ford when I got a notice to change my oil at 5,000 km (3000 miles) instead of the 8,000km (5000 miles) in the manual and chewed the guy out. I told him if they were going to send out flyer's to get the oil changed, they could at least use their mailing list to get the different engines and ratings right. Heck, I don't need to waste any more money or time getting more oil changes...

I asked him if he thought changing early made any difference... and he said no, the oil is generally good for twice what they recommend. He tells me the change date is a hold over from the '60s and oil and engines are much better then back then.