Ok I just recently picked up a 99 SS with 140k I'm thinking of running joe gibbs ls30 with Lucas oil stabilizer. Is think a good choice?

 

Don't waste your money on the lucas especially and the joe gibbs. Go to Walmart and run 0-40w Mobil 1 for $22 a 5 quart container and a fram ultra filter for 8 dollars. More than you can ask for in protection.

 

Any decent 10W-30 synthetic should do you well. And a decent oil filter-which means NEVER a Fram filter. When I need a store bought filter, I like a Mobil1 Extended, Wix/CarQuest, K&N or Hastings filter.

Joe Gibbs oil is very good-and can be had for the same or less cost than most other synthetic oils. When my stock of German Castrol runs out (they no longer make it) I'm going Gibbs. Royal Purple is good-but certainly no better then other oils for much less money and not worth it IMO.

And NO, never put an additive in your oil. Lubricant engineers work long and hard to perfect their oils, don't go and ruin it with any other junk. And that Lucas stabilizer? Just 90 weight oil with paraffin (soap) in it and it's been shown to foam up the oil. Foamed oil is AIR-which you don't want as a lubricant.

BTW, never use Fram oil filters.

 

I agree with using Mobil 1 0w40 and a wix/car quest blue/napa gold filter (they're all the same).

 

What's this difference between a 10-40 or 10-30 and a 5-30

 

Just did an oil change with Joe Gibbs LS30. Based on what I've read, and what I've heard from lots of engine builders, I'll continue using it.

 

I gotta add something here, I have a low mileage TA and its always had lifter noise issues. I always use Pennzoil 10-30 and change it regularly but I think the previous owner let it up to the dealer to service and they screwed him.

I started using a lot of oil, like 1 qt every 1000 miles. It also started pinging at light throttle. So I knew it was carboned up but I figure the rings might be pasted with carbon too causing the oil usage. I ran a bottle of techron through and it helped the pinging but not the oil usage.

So I decided to try a product called Rislone in with the oil. It dissolves carbon and the oil filter picks it up. All the lifter noise is gone and it stopped using oil.........


Guys using oil with 75k plus miles on stock engines might want to try it. I'm going to use it every oil change for a few. Good Luck grasshoppers.

 

You might want to do some research on the Fram ultra before making that comment.

 

I have, multiple times. This has been discussed forever.

The vast majority of Fram filters are so poorly made that none of them can be trusted. I don't care that the Ultra is their "better" filter-for your 8 bucks you can get a better filter.

If you had $8 for an oil filter, the Mobil1 or Wix/CarQuest is certainly a better choice than a Fram Ultra.

 

Oil is a touchy subject, and probably one of the most talked about on any motor vehicle forum. It's also a very complicated subject. Here are the basics, without getting too technical or long winded.

- Viscosity is how thick the oil is, like 5W-30 or 14W-50. The higher the number, the thicker the oil.

- The first number - 5W, 10W - is the thicknes of the oil when cold. Lower is better. That way you get good oil movement when the engine is first started.

- The second number - 30, 40, 50 - is how thick the oil is when hot. Higher is not better, contrary to popular belief. You need enough viscosity to maintain proper oil pressure in all situations, and no more. Thicker oil takes more energy to move around, and puts added wear on some engine components. That, in turn decreases efficiency.

I use a 5W-30 in my race/street car. Works great, good UOA's, and minimal bearing wear.

Synthetic vs. dino is also a popular discussion point. Synthetic has two advantages: heat management and extended drain intervals.

- Oil is heated primarily by rpm's. If you're road racing, oil can get pretty hot. Otherwise, oil temps are rarely an issue.

- An extended drain interval is nice if you drive your car a lot. 12-15K miles between changes is pretty common. If you drive that many miles a year, it might be more convenient for you to change it once a year. BUT.... if you only drive 5-6K miles, you still need to change it once a year. Might as well use the cheaper dino oil; same results, half the money.

- A true synthetic is just that - synthetic. They use a PAO base stock - Man made, in a lab, by chemists. No dead dinos involved. There are only 4 true synthetics on the market: Royal Purple, Redline, Amsoil, and Schaffer. Mobile 1, castrol syntec, etc, are NOT true synthetics.

- These semi-synthetics start with dead dinos, and are then refined to a point where the FTC allows them to be called "synthetic". That doesn't mean they're a bad oil. For most vehicles on the road, they are just fine. But they're priced like a synthetic, and that (IMO) makes them a bad value.

- Based on UOA's, the semi-synthetics do not hold up as well as a true synthetic.

I use Royal Purple. It's easy to buy in almost any Wal-Mart, cheaper than M1 from Autozone, and the UOA's show that it performs better and lasts longer.

 

Good info boB, thanks! I've heard very good things about all four of those brands.

Might you know about Joe Gibbs oils? It's very popular in racing.

 

Curious too. I used it for the first time this go around because of what I heard from many engine builders.

 

Looking at the additive packages for the major synthetic oils you won't see a ton of difference. Your driving habits and frequency of oil changes will make a larger difference than a slightly different additive package. Mobil 1/Champion/Bosch, Napa Gold/Wix/Dana, Puralator Pure One, K&N, and Baldwin 251/253 all make decent filters. A lot of them are the same filter with just a different name stamped on them. You can do a little research to find the micron/filter rating to ensure you get what you need. Most important thing is to change it. Oils oxidize just sitting in your dirty oil sump. The dinos can get waxy just sitting on the shelf in cold weather. I would change dino oil more than once per year if your miles are >5K. BJ's sells the Shell synthetic for $4/qt and I use that in my daily driver - change it twice per year. The additive package is not all that different from Pennzoil Platinum. Boron, Sodium, Moly, and Magnesium are the main additives that seem to differ between brands. I have no idea if the extra Sodium in Royal Purple works better than the additional Boron, Mg, and Moly in Mobil 1.

http://pqiamerica.com/March2013PCMO/...sallfinal.html

Read this and you'll understand why you want the 5W cold weight and not a 10W. The 0W may even be better offering less cold start wear. Probably not a huge difference between the 5W-30 or 5W-40. I'd use the 5W-30 that GM recommends for the SS. The same weight synthetic oil flows better at low temps than the same weight dino (ie 5W-30 syntec vs. a 5W-30 dino)....hence less engine wear. 90% of normal engine wear occurs on the cold start (even 100F is "cold").

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/motor-oil-103/

 

I'v never used it, because it's hard to come by around here. But my local speed shop swears by it. They won't warrenty any engine they build if you don't use Gibbs oil.

 

I've done a little digging around. I've discovered group IV oil is pretty high end and group V is better BUT oil manufacturer's specs generally don't show what group their oils are.

Joe Gibbs, Redline, Royal Purple and Amsoil are VERY expensive-$10~$14 per quart, even when bought in gallons or pails. Deals can ONLY be found on Royal Purple. Of the four of them, I think I'd go for the Redline first.

 

I like how fram gets bashed all the time....take note my dad ran high performance fram filters on his BBC running 7's in the 1/4mi. Never had one failure in 20yrs of racing.

Edit

Just to note I do not specifically run Fram filters. I buy whatever Synthetic oil
And filter is on sale. Mobil 1, Valvoline syn, Penz Plat, and what filter is on special...K&N, Bosch distance...etc. The bottom line is change your oil and filter regularly and you will be fine.

 

The higher end Fram filters are fine but the cheapest fram filters are the questionable ones. ALSO NEVER EVER EVER use a ECORE designed filter. You can tell by looking inside, ECORE designs use a cheap black plastic cage to support the filter media. That plastic cage can collapse under high oil pressure conditions sending pieces of black plastic into the oil gallery and blocking the oiling system. You can imagine what happens if you are WOT at the time.

 

I like Redline and Amsoil. Currently:

5 quarts of Amsoil 10W-40/1 quart Amsoil Z-Rod 10w-30 and an Ea064 filter in the SS. Car sits a lot especially in the winter, which is why the Z-rod is in there. Changed once per year. Usually early May.

6 quarts of Amsoil XL 5W-30 and an Ea011 filter in my 2002 Expedition changed twice per year. Usually end of April end of October.

 

The Fram Ultra isn't even close in construction compared to the other filters. Check it out on BITOG.

 

I just turned 140K on the clock of my T/A. I have ran Castrol GTX 10w-30 in all of my LS1 F-bodies. And I drive(n) them every day of the week. My previous commute used to be 100 miles a day and two 6 hour trips a month. Now I still drive my T/A everyday but it isn't as many miles. I am considering switching to Valvoline VR-1 on my next oil change but haven't decided yet.

You don't need anything special for an LS engine unless it is some kind of custom build, in which case use what your builder recommends. The main thing is you want plenty of Zinc, but as mentioned above do not us additives. I don't like Mobil-1 because the valvetrain makes to much noise when not warmed up. From what I have read it is a bit lower on zinc and lower on the scale for 10w-30. But GTX has never let me down for my bolt on F-bodies.