Is it just me or is anyone else reading through this wondering how some of these people are paying less than $3 a quart. Even on sale I've never seen oil that cheap

 

I'm with ya. I had to look at the thread date to make sure it was not from 1996 lol

 

Ls1tech is not your average novice community. Lol

I have ten 5 quart jugs of magnatec 5w30 and 10w30 I picked up from autozone for $10 a jug, and 3 cases of vr1 I got for $1 a quart clearance at autozone.

I know alot of people who buy parts online, but when you know a guy on the parts counter he will give you a call to sell some bulk oil lol


I personally couldn't ever not run synthetic. I've had my used f13 camshaft in the car for 60k miles and never touched the bottom end. 140k miles on my 98 which is known to have the worsst oil drain block design and weakest main caps

 

Even when I worked in parts I couldn't find it for that cheap. Must be a regional thing in some areas.

 

$2.44/qt for this junk
https://www.walmart.com/ip/SuperTech...Quart/16565378

Furthermore... intervals and synthetic ramblings are comical.... It's all how how you use the car.

I know ppl changing their synthetic oil each week... because they flog the car at the road course 2-3 days/week.

Then my dad changes his once a yr... since he's only driven 10k mi in the matter of 15 yrs. Yea, it's synthetic... Cheap insurance. More stable.

I just change mine every 3k. Lucky to get 4k on my car a yr. Yea, it's synthetic... Cheap insurance. More stable.

Our daily cars only take synthetic because that's the only way 0w20 is available. 10k mi factory intervals too.

My friend has numerous cars over 200k mi... just uses conventional oils in them. Works for him. My way works for me. Whatever makes you happy.

 

In my experience the LS engines are harder on oil than most other engines. The short piston design lets plenty of crap into the oil. In my LS cars I change every 2500-4000 miles and its always very dirty. In my other vehicles I usually go 5000-6000 miles. I use diesel rated oil in everything. My cars fall apart before the engines have any trouble.

 

I agree with this very much. I do run my car very hard but I see the exact same thing.

I change my T/A oil around the same intervals ( 2500-3000) and around 5000 on my daily driver's. I also run diesel oil in my vehicles ( rotella t6 )

 

Talking with the engine re builders i get coming through my shop they all agree on one thing, ignore the factory recommended 10-15k between oil changes. It's killing the engines, no longer are they consistently 200k+ mile engines but we are back to the 100k engine. The biggest problem is the oil drain back holes in the pistons, they OE's have made them so small, smaller ring lands, etc to get up the CAFE standards that they plug up quicker, when that happens you start burning oil, the rings stick, and your needing a rebuild soon. Some builders are making their own pistons but the easiest way is to just change your oil at 5k no mater what kind of oil you're using. Now on your track car, race car, summer cruiser that gets a few miles a year, the once a season or how you see fit works great.

 

What makes them experts? Are any actual engineers?


Who recommends that???

 

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ub..._Sales_and_Pro

There's the promotions/rebate thread running on BITOG that gets you $2.65/qt for a name brand synthetic oil during the year (PennzPlat, SynPower, Castrol Edge, M1, QSUD). And here's the exact thread for the SOPUS (PP/QSUD/QSAD) rebates. Ignore some of the bitching on those that claimed they got screwed out of rebates. If you don't want to take 10 minutes to submit a rebate, then just wait until the December AutoZone clearances and buy top synthetics at $2/qt. In 2015 they actually went down to $1/qt. Some stores aren't as good as others. But most people have multiple AZ's in their area, especially near larger cities. One of these years though, AZ is going to get smarter and stop doing this.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ub...es#Post4292706

I will say once again, if you're living in the continental US and have a Walmart anywhere near you, then getting Mobil 1 or Pennzoil Plat at a net $12-$14/5 qt jug is the NORM that past couple of years. Other retailers besides Walmart often have discounts too. Read through the above BITOG thread. No Walmart close enough to drive to? Then order it on line, order over $50 worth of oil (2 jugs+) to get free shipping and have them deliver it to your home. Then process the rebates. SOPUS allows up to 24 qts or $48 in total rebates. M1 has a $24 rebate limit per household.

Walmart PP and M1 jugs are typically at Walmart for $22-$26. I usually wait until they are on roll back at $22. In fact during this past Thanksgiving weekend Walmart had Pennzoil Plat on roll back at $19+....with a $10 rebate that was under $10 per jug. The shelves cleared out in short order too. Subtract the $10/$12 mfg rebates from $22-$26 and you're in for $12-$14 per jug. I've bought 6 jugs the past 2 years with rebates, never higher than a net $2.67/qt. The other $10 jugs of Castrol Edge 0w-40 I got during the Autozone clearance sale in December. At that same time I picked up a load of PP/Synpower in 30/40 grades for $2/qt. Spread your wings and look around.

If anyone near me (zip 06371) wants Castrol Edge 0w-40 jugs at my cost ($11 each) I'd be happy to oblige. I have about 15 qts of PP Euro 5w-40 and PU SRT 0w-40 be happy to exchange for $2/qt. I have too much of it any ways. And can always buy more. The Pennzoil rebates run during all of 2016.....and will run all of 2017 as well. The Mobil 1 rebates run 2X per year. The current one for $12/jug ends in May. If you can't get $2.65/qt oil, you aren't looking for it.

 

I used to run Pennzoil Platinum then switched to rotella t6 but have recently seen Pennzoil Platinum Euro.
What is the Pennzoil Platinum Euro?

 

Pennzoil Plat Euro is basically a beefed up Pennzoil Platinum that takes it from a A1/B1/Dexos 1 type spec up to Mercedes/Porsche/BMW/VW/Audi A3/B4 type spec. That typically means a stronger additive package, and higher HTHS viscosity. In Europe they are more concerned about motor oil holding up under continuous (higher oil temps) Autobahn driving at 90-110 mph rather than the CAFE-driven fuel mileage savings of the US API rated oils. Nothing wrong with running an oil that meets the most stringent specs of Mercedes, Porsche, and BMW engineering. Those specs have equal or tighter tolerances for soot, sludge, emissions, etc. than say a GM Dexos 1 cert.

Don't be confused with a Penn Plat Euro L version. That's a low SAPS version oil as I recall and probably is not A3/B4 certified...meant more for diesels. The Pennz Plat Euro 5W-40 is a stronger oil than than similar graded PP oils. Mobil 1 0w-40 FS is also a Euro blend with similar A3/B4 approvals....though in this latest variant, M1 lost the BMW LL-01 cert. In a nutshell, the M1 0w-40 "FS" dropped a bit closer in viscosity to a regular M1 5w-30 grade oil. They still sell the earlier (pre-Feb 2016) and "thicker" M1 0w-40 variant in Europe....still meeting all the Euro mfg specs. Regardless, I still use the M1 0w-40 FS in my LS1. Since the car actually calls for a 5w-30, getting a little lower in viscosity is probably a better idea for how I drive. The "FS" version barely starts off above the highest viscosity that a 30 grade oil allows (12.5 cSt at 100C). It will shear down into a 30 grade within a few thousand miles.

 

Sounds good, thanks much for the explanation.

Just got done with a h/c build and did my season beginning oil change after the install and Walmart was out of rotella t6 so I ran the Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5-40

 

Pretty sure the guys at Jasper that are designing their own in house pistons for these engines are engineers, next time my rep is in here I'll get the list and PDF info.

Newer Toyota, BMW, Lexus, VW, etc all have oil change intervals of 10k or more.

 

For situations like that, where one is using a Jasper engine or an engine built with their parts, I would be inclined to follow the direction of their company (and engineers) as to how to lubricate. For a GM-built engine, I would be inclined to follow GM's direction.

I think a lot of people get in trouble when they hear one thing on the street relating to one of those flavors and try to apply it as a blanket to everything.


That's kind of shocking considering how they bend their customers over the barrel for service!

 

True, but when the engine re builder is taking apart these engines and seeing the cause of failure and constantly find the clogged oil drain back holes, there is obviously something there. I also think it's a lot to do with the end user, they rely on the car to tell them when it needs something (later model cars obviously), but that means the oil life monitor needs to be reset at the time of service etc, and then not ignore it for another 1-2k miles. The engines are set up on the ragged edge of efficiency these days so prolonging even a simple maintenance item, in the long run can have catastrophic effects.

 

I'll bet there is something to the sample pool, as well. A re-builder will never see many engines that have been properly maintained or treated gently. So, they probably have a certain level of bias since most of what they get is the junk that needs to be fixed.


Great point - I wonder how many average drivers take the time to understand this and learn how to reset it?

 

Very good point there.



The vast majority don't I bet, the sales guys probably quickly glance over that and say the car will tell you when it needs anything, now lets sync your phone to the bluetooth hands free system...

 

I just changed my oil recently 2 months ago. The last time i changed it was over a year ago. I doubt i even hit 300 miles as my car just sits in the garage..

as i was draining my oil, it still looked brand new. But i usually change my oil 2x a year. I use M1 5w-30.