Hey all,

I was reading the thread about Royal Purple, and I thought I'd start a new one rather than hijacking that one. When I rebuilt my engine last year the machinist I took the block to told me something that I found really interesting...

He said that talking about good oils vs. bad oils was a waste of time. He also said that synthetic was a better oil in general, but he doesn't use it. He said that it was better to use dino oil and change it every 1,500 miles than to use synthetic and change it every 3,000, 5,000, or whatever.

So, since I had to use dino oil for the break-in, I pretty much just kept using it. Now, I use Valvoline 10w40 during the summer and 10w30 for the rest of the year. I change it out every 1,500-1,800 miles (I let it slide sometimes) and throw a new Wix oil filter at it.

I don't usually take advice on oil very seriously because most people don't have clue one what they are talking about. "My engine loves (insert oil brand name here)!!!" No, you just mean that your engine hasn't been destroyed by using it, which is hardly a stellar review.

This guy, on the other hand, said that he didn't have any particular loyalty to any particular brand of oil. He said the only consistancy that he sees with his customers is that the people who change their oil every time they go to the track or after a fairly low number of miles (for the street/strip cars) are the ones whose engines last forever.


What do you guys think about this advice? It seemed like the best advice I've heard on the subject. It's logical, and I've never heard anyone say differently, which is more than I can say about people's reviews of oil brands.

 

He said it all in the next to the last paragraph. The key is changing oil when you need to change it. Most of us on here run our cars hard as hell, so those 3k oil changes are useless. 3k oil changes are for normal driving, we are from from normal driving. Hell I manage a oil change shop. I know what oil can do to an engine. I use Mb1 and still change it every 1500k. As far as oil, oil is oil, only diff is conventional or synthetic, and hell even most conventional oils today rated as a GF-4 has some synthetic in it!

 

Go read up on used oil analysis on bobistheoilguy.com. Inform YOURSELF on it.

Thats why I choose to go with German Castrol my first oil change in my new Formula.

 

I always like to throw out my '94 Silverado experience during oil conversations. While it is not a performance vehicle, it is at least a 350 SBC engine. It currently has 314,541 miles on the original engine. The only work I ever did to the engine was to replace the intake gasket. The valve covers have never been off the engine in 14 years. I change the oil between 3k to 8k miles, use whatever 10W30 is on sale, and use a Fram oil filter 90% of the time. I'm not a big believer in the oil filter test hype or even the "change oil every 3k miles" crowd. Take it or leave it - that's my experience.

 

damn 315000

 

Think the rings have seated yet?

 

Nuff said.

As I've said a million times, I've torn down engines that have used all different types of oil from Pepboys brand on up to Amsoil. I have seen absolutely no different in any of them, except for the ones who's oil wasn't changed on a regular basis.

Get a decent name brand oil on sale at WalMart, change it every 2500-3000 like you're suppose to, and don't worry or buy into the oil hype. Engines have been lasting through plenty of abuse, and 300-400K miles long before any of these fancy oils were even thought of.

 

I read in Hot Rod mag once that inside GM they expect their engines to be able to go 300k miles in normal use due to their current state of knowledge of material science and manufacturing processes.

 

BTW, change oil on anything that often, and ANYTHING will last forever!
Scott

 

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com

Changing oils that often seems to be a waste to me if your known good oil has less wear after 5k than a "walmart dino" has after 2k. If oil was oil was oil, I doubt companies like Royal Purple would dump so much into R&D when they could just put it into advertising and increase sales.

And as far as the "My engine loved brand X" statements, I don't buy a whole lot into it myself, but I DO know which oils my engine likes to consume, and which don't need to be constantly topped off between changes.

 

Using different types of oil does make a difference from what my LS1 has demonstrated to me over a study period of 2 years, changing the oil at 2500-3k intervals. Purchasing the car from the original owners with 36k on the clock, a fast oil change was performed. It was appearant that it had contained dino oil. Mobil1 10w-30 full synthetic was what went in as the new replacement. Promptly upon the post oil change startup, the oil pressure gauge shot up and displayed 48psi with the engine being ice cold and settled to 42-44psi at idle in neutral when hot. Upon shifting to drive, the psi drops by just 1lb. The gain in oil psi has stayed permanent with each oil change up to this day using the M1 10w-30. Prior to the M1 treatment, the car would not do more than 40psi at idle in neutral when hot and 38-39psi at idle in drive when hot with the original dino oil. With these exhibitions of engine oil pressure characterisitics shown clearly from the oil psi gauge, one can conclude that an increase in oil pressure is to be had from using full synthetic mobil 1.

 

My DD has 865,000 miles and I have been using high mileage castrol for about 2 years ......ill post a pic tommorow

 

Good god another oil thread!! Oil is like religion here. Just believe in what you want to believe in. Thats all there is to it (besides the facts).

 

Yeah this thread is going to go on for miles.

As far as oil,just choose a decent name oil and change it regularly. My buick t-type gets synthetic and so does my vette. My 2500 diesel duramax gets conventional oil. They all just get changed regularly and hope to last me a long time to come.

 

I could not agree more!!

 

I'll bow to 865k miles... I don't think my poor '94 pickup will ever see that. I have quit daily driving it because it only gets 17 mpg and my C5 gets 27 mpg.

 

There are differences in the way they are manufactured. Oil has more charecteristics than just lubrication. It cools, cleans, and seals. If you change from one brand to another, you run the risk of having leaks. It is not as likely now with the way the gasket materials are made, but on engines that had high milage in the past, changine the oil would cause the gasket material to change.

I purchased my diesel from an engineer from Ford who used to be in the oil department. He said he was at a facility in Germany and watched a stress test over a period of time. He said they used a graph to watch the failures of the engine. There were different oils used with pretty much the same results. As the oil started to fail, the stress went up. They added another quart of oil and the graph leveled out for approximately 75% of the original test. Each test had the same results. Next they used synthetic oil. The test continued to the point that they just stopped it because the graph stayed level. Good enough for me.

Chris

 

ooooooo yaaa

 

For old school engines, especially carburated models, the 3,000 miles rule was a good one to follow. With the efficiencies of a fuel injected engine that is not true.

Unburned fuel would get into the oil and contaminate and thin the oil which would cause the premature wear and damage.

If you have a mechancally sound engine that is turned correctly, the AFR's are set correctly, you should not get large amounts raw unburned fuel into the oil system.

The synthetic vs dino will go in forever, the old school guys will still say do not use it, don't break in your engine with it etc etc. GM and other manufacturers use synthetic right from the initial startup. They stand by them with with a 5 year, 100,000 mile warranty using their oil life monitor system which relies on data gathered from various engine sensors through an algorithm that senses engine run time, coolant temp, air temp, and lots of others. That includes some of our favorites, the LS3, LS7 and LS9. The warranty covers all of the parts:
WHAT IS COVERED
Engine
Cylinder head and block
All internally lubricated parts
Manifolds
Timing gears and timing cover
Timing belt (until the first scheduled maintenance interval)
Flywheel
Oil pump/oil pump housing, water pump and fuel pump
Harmonic balancer
OHC carriers
Valve covers
Oil pan
Engine mount
Seals and gaskets
Turbocharger or supercharger
Fuel systems
Fuel pump
Fuel injectors
Throttle body
Fuel lines
Fuel rail
Diesel injection pump
Glow plugs and control module

I personally use synthetic in my engine, trans, and rearend. My lawn mower and air compressor and Rhino also have synthetic. None of them use any oil or leak because of synthetic oil usage.

 

Well said.