Oil preference

[Nick A]

oil change needs to be done on the GVR4 today. i have heard some people using Mobil 1 synthetic 15-40 or 15-50, Arnie recomended 15w-50 to me and use a Wiks oil filter,

What does everyone use?

What do you Recomend?

Thanks,

[Monochrome]

Mobil 1 15w50 (the one with the red cap). I've never seen 15w40...

To be honest though, if you're going to drive the car in the winter, and the temps get close to 0 degrees, that oil will be too thick, and the motor may have a hard time turning over.

I always ran 10w30 in the coldest winter months.

From my experience, these motors don't like 5wXX oils as whenever I used it (no matter what the temps) the lifters would always tick and sometimes the oil light would flicker at idle.

[Arnie]

Luke Draeger talked me into 5-30 once and I was rewarded with a lot of lifter tick. 15-50 is the only thing I run now, with a Wix filter, either a Napa Gold, CarQuest premium, or WIX, is all same thing.

I have also heard Bosch filters are very good.

[Jeremy Meyer]

Wix filter :woot: i love em....

[Nick A]

just called autozone Mobil 1 synthetic 15w-50 $34.14 for a case comes to about $5.69 per quart...

so ill proably end up picking some up at lunch time

[Deusxmachina]

Mobil 1 is $20 for a five-quart jug at Walmart here. I use 10w30 because that's what the manual says and because even if something is possibly better, it won't be better by much.

[PHAT TONY]

Mobil 1 0W40 read about the reviews of it. Runs great in my junk. williamz reccomended it to me.

[DoctorMofo]

Mobil 1 10w30 for winter - 5 gal. = $20 at walmart.

[pma1123]

Dinosaur oil all the way!!! :) Castrol GTX 20w50 and a Mitsu filter. Used to use kendall all the time till they discontinued it everywhere around town. I say its not about how expensive the oil is, but rather, the cleanliness and interval at which you change it.

[Arnie]

The big reason I prefer to run synthetic oil is that synthetic has a much greater resistence to thermal breakdown. Due to this, it greatyly reduces coking of the oil inside the turbocharger after shutdown.

Also, many tests have shown a small but noticable HP increase over dino oil. For what it costs when you only do 4 oil changes a year, Mobil 1 is a deal.

[pma1123]

For what it costs when you only do 4 oil changes a year, Mobil 1 is a deal.

Keeping on track with a discussion over a 'preference' of oil brand, please (in a friendly manner) quantify the value in doing a $30 oilchange. 8-)

The only reason I dont use synthetic really comes down to the cost, and I change the oil on the colt before the 3000mi mark.

[Donny]

Break in oil? or regular use oil? i'd use 10w30.. extended performance... for winter.. and daily shit.. for break in i'd use valvoline race oil 15w50 it's not cheap but it's a non synthetic for break in.. use for first 2 oil changes at 500 miles a piece. Then switch to 10w30.. or if you plan on beatin the crap out of it when it's warm like everyone says 15w50 mobil one.

[Arnie]

What does a new turbo cost?
Regular oil, by the time you buy a good filter, is $15 or better. To save $60 a year, I would not switch from Mobil 1. Inferring from your signiture, your preferred methods are fast and cheap.

This is not to say Castrol GTX isnt good oil. I use it in my F150 and used it in my RX-7, a car that the general consensus is it should not ever have synthentic oil due to the oil injection. Even the turbo RX-7s run Castrol GTX.

[Jeremy Meyer]

note: i can get and have kendall oil here at my shop in whitewater... $2.69 a qt. 8-) and wix filters....

[Deusxmachina]

Dinosaur oil all the way!!! :) Castrol GTX 20w50 and a Mitsu filter. Used to use kendall all the time till they discontinued it everywhere around town. I say its not about how expensive the oil is, but rather, the cleanliness and interval at which you change it.

There is more to it than that at times. I ran non-synth in my turbo cars for years, and if using non-synth ever caused an engine-wear problem or a turbo-coking problem, I never saw it. I wasn't running those at 8500rpms or anything either, though.

However, at one point, I think it started awhile after switching from Valvoline to Mobil, my DSM had massive phantom knock. Switched lifters, worked great, and then dino Mobil gummed-up the NEW lifters in one week. If there was a cliff nearby, I'd have pushed the car off of it. Mobil 1 cleared it up in a week and it's been fine since. I think non-synth Valvoline or other good oil would work fine, but I don't feel like messing around, so I continue to use Mobil 1. Funny how Mobil 1 is great and how regular Mobil is such crap.

With a good dino oil like Valvoline around two bucks a quart, and Walmart having Mobil 1 for $4 a quart, it's hard to justify not using Mobil 1. I also don't pay attention to mileage anymore and now simply use the scientific method of doing oil changes when the oil looks dirty.

Recently bought 24 quarts of Pennzoil SuperSynth or whatever, free after rebates, so I'll see how that works during the next year. The cases are stacked four feet high already, but now I wish I had bought more last month.

[use2bnt]

From what I remember at the Oil Refinery Seminar is that all non-synthetic oil that is the same grade regardless of what brand is the same. If you are running non-synthetic oil it should not matter what brand you use. The refineries are so heavily regulated on their processes and how the oil comes out that it is truely identical. Where the difference comes in is in synthetic oils. Not all refineries make synthetic oil for Mobil. Mobil buys their oil from specific refineries. My main comment is that Walmart brand non-synthetic 5w-30 is the same as any other non-synthetic oil on the market. I wouldnt run anything other than Mobil 1 on my talon because it is a new motor. Synthetic is designed to withstand harsher conditions while preventing thermal breakdown making it truely a much better oil. What you use is your preference.

[ChrisR]

Harv, is this the same sort of thing as gasoline, where all gas is virtually the same (and comes from the same major network of pipelines), until each company pulls it off the pipeline, mixes in its own additives, and then sells it as its own brand?

Not that I'm suggesting oil is being pumped all over the place, but that the refining process is the same for everybody, and its the additives that differentiate one oil from the next.

[Jeremy Meyer]

kendall oil used to be green..the 20/50, now how is that the same as other non-synthetic oils! u would seem to think that the synthetic oils would be more of the same breed because they are "synthetic blends", for non synthetic, i would use kendall motor oil, and synthetic's i would use mobil one or syn power valvoline..make sure u buy the "full synthetic".....

[Beergeek]

It is all about the additives. Penzoil adds Perifin (wax) to their oil. Many of the addatives can have adverse effectes at High temp's of Turbo Engines. I run synthetic, Mobil 1 if avaliable 15w-50 all year round. but then again my GSX hides from snow so it is not as much an issue.

[Arnie]

From what I remember at the Oil Refinery Seminar is that all non-synthetic oil that is the same grade regardless of what brand is the same. If you are running non-synthetic oil it should not matter what brand you use. The refineries are so heavily regulated on their processes and how the oil comes out that it is truely identical. Where the difference comes in is in synthetic oils. Not all refineries make synthetic oil for Mobil. Mobil buys their oil from specific refineries. My main comment is that Walmart brand non-synthetic 5w-30 is the same as any other non-synthetic oil on the market. I wouldnt run anything other than Mobil 1 on my talon because it is a new motor. Synthetic is designed to withstand harsher conditions while preventing thermal breakdown making it truely a much better oil. What you use is your preference.

Thats not really true. Reading this article here (http://www.chevron.ca/ProductsServices/Retail/MotorOilLabel.htm) will confirm that. There are many different grades of oil for both gas and diesel engines. You saying that Walmart brand non-syn oil is the same as anything else may or may not be true, it all depends on the API rating. For most vehicles however, it probably doesnt matter. For something like gear lube, especailly with DSMs picky synchros, it really does matter if you choose the correct GL grade, which I forget off the top of my head right now.

[myszkewicz]

GL4 for the picky synchros. GL5 is too slippery.

Same thing with my car. :hmm:

[Monochrome]

You guys who are arguing for dino oil need to pull off your valve covers and compare the back side of them to mine sometime.

Betcha mine are going to me much cleaner. ;)

[Arnie]

You guys who are arguing for dino oil need to pull off your valve covers and compare the back side of them to mine sometime.

Betcha mine are going to me much cleaner. ;)

That is true, my 20k mile redone head looks as new as the day I had it done. Under the valve cover is still brand new bare aluminum.

[Williamz]

Mobil 1 0W-40

[use2bnt]

Doesnt API have to do with the type of Crude Oil? The higher the API the lighter the crude and better the crude oil. I do remember our presenter for the seminar was a guy with years of knowledge on refineries and the process. It is hard to remember everything from a 2 day seminar. He did say that all non-synthetic oil with the same grade (5w30) is all the same when it comes out of every single refinery because it is so heavily regulated. I am not sure if individual companies add anything.

[Arnie]

Did you read the link? It clearly states what the API rating means. Just because it comes out of the same hole in the ground does not mean the end product in the bottle is the same.

[use2bnt]

I never once said it came out of the same hole in the ground. Go to walmart once for me and check all the 5w-30 oils that are non synthetic and tell me what ratings they have on them. I feel this is the only way to clearly know if the guy that gave the seminar is right or is talking out of his ass. I will do the same.