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Engine Oil--A slippery subject
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Benefits to justify higher price? Yes they exist. Will one notice them? No, not in terms of increased mileage or performance. However, in terms of meeting one's goals of having a longer lasting engine it makes sense to use a high end filter. They do filter a much greater range of damaging particles, they hold a much greater amount of particles and they provide for better flow. All these factors are documented by the major filter manufacturers - Amsoil, Mobil, etcetera - which means that, with a better filter, during each mile or kilometre one drives there are fewer damaging particles circulating in the engine. Multiply that fact by 200 or 300 thousand miles and it seems to be a safe bet to spend about $200-300 over the ten or twenty year life of the car for high end filters.
My dealer made a big deal about using Nissan Filters even if I don;t get my oil change done there? Any Advice?
Are there any good places in Texas to get a synthetic oil & filter change done that isn't too expensive? I could do it myself for about $20. But getting to my filter is a pain (Nissan Pathfinder).
I'm going to use Castrol or Mobil 1 synthetic and do oil changes every 5000 - 6000 miles.
Synthetic may not have any sufficient real world data to back up its claims but no one can deny that on paper it looks much better that DD oil. Better safe than sorry.
"Bosch" filters are of good quality, although I only see them at a small import store near me.
The other issue, which the math algorithm doen't take into account, is the amount of dust in the air which eventually some of which will end up in your engine oil.
So,..... it depends. If you live in temperate conditions and frequently drive highway miles, I'd go 4 to 5k.
One can go 15k if the conditions are good. (Avg miles per yr are 12-15k)
On course for 300k Scotty!!
$5.25 for a Nissan Oil Filter
So I guess the price seems a little high but not too bad.
Is it really better than regular oil ?
Maybe they know somthing we don't.
I did call Mobil and asked them about extended oil changes. They said to follow manufactors recomendations.
Check out http://auto.msk.ru:8101/auto/ehoilfaq.htm an interesting article about motor oil.
from now on., I'm the only one who's going to change the oil on my car!
My car is using 5w-30. I am wondering that is it OK to use it instead of 5w-30. Mobil's web page does not make any recommendation. Any idea, any experience..........
Thanks
When I start my car in the morning (cold start) I get an obscene amount of exhaust to come out of the car...After about 10 seconds it goes away and I don't see it again until I have another cold start. The car only has 45k miles on it. Somebody said I should add oil detergent to my oil... does this actually work? A tech also once told me I have engine sludge. What can I do to resolve this problem without major engine work??
Thank you.
Kmart, et al, has an engine cleaner. It is basically diesel fuel. Put a quart in your engine, run it for a few minutes, drain. Do not load the engine. If you need to put it on a ramp, do so BEFORE putting this in.
Running synthetic oil after changing the oil will also do a good job washing it out, although will cost $16 or more. Either one will work.
When the car sits overnight, the oil in the top half of the engine slowly runs down into the combustion chambers. When you start the car the oil burns quickly.
But, this would be very unusual for a car with low mileage. Instead of guessing, I would take the car to a competent shop and have it looked at.
Also, if this car was ever overheated, this could be the cause.
Good Luck!
I saw one Edmunds participant who had that exact problem. Oil would not stop leaking on his brand new car, until he switched to regular oil. Kind of strange I've only seen one experience, though. I've read every oil related topic thoroughly since Edmunds started. So I personally give it zilcho credence as a rule.
Synthetic WILL DEFINITELY cause leaks on older cars that have gunk built up in the engines. Synthetic will wash away the gunk, and expose leaks in gaskets.
As guitarzan said, synthetic can find EXISTING gasket leaks faster than some dino oils because syn flows well at low temps and doesn't thin out as fast as dino at high temps. For these reasons it also protects your engine better, especially during cold starts and also at high operating temps.
If syn really ate gaskets, auto manufacturers would tell you in their owners manual not to use it, and that its use would void your warranty. I have a 99 Honda, and my manual says it's fine to use it. They just say not to exceed the normal oil change intervals.
Also, viscosity of cold oil is so much lower in synthetics vs conv. When your engine is cold, the largest clearances exsist. A really thin cold(synthetic) oil can leak or blow by during the first minutes of operation.
proud of their products , it's good , good ,good,
the other oil product I am using is Castrol Synthetic , it's very good ,too. The difference
of good and bad oil can be easily tell when your
car has a small block engine and busy working attitude ,(typically Honda 4 cylinders ) , most
conventional oil I'd tried in the past , make your
car fell powerless as soon as 1800Mi. after oil change, and works badly when the weather is extremely wet and hot during summer time . And all
STP products are a wasting of $$ , as well as slick 50 . (just my experence speaking )
old car or a truck , it does matters a lot on small engines , if I can't even tell when my car starts to losing it's response time , can you tell
from a far distance ? If you do change your oil
all by yourself through out the time , you can even tell how THIN conventional oil products become , they are just.... things of the past ,
and not the endurance one . Thiner than vegetable
oil after 3000 Mi.. Which was not when I pour them
in , so maybe you want to change 1. your seat. 2.
your pants . Better yet change the one under it too !
used Syn. oil , Saturn SC2/92 , Prelude Si/92 ,
Accord EX/92 , Olds cuts/87 , Camry V6/89 , and
Buick Regal/92 , Maxima/91 , these are/were cars in the family or the extent family , non of them
has/had those problems , quit the rumors already!
Don't tell me it's being spread out by some oil
Co. that doesn't know how to make quality Syn. oil . (well, there are some major oil Co.s doesn't
has Lab and Lab badget , belive or not .)
Perhaps Markbuck should fight it out and we should overcome ! I enjoy change oil for all these
cars when we are gathering around, the only 2 I
can't tell difference are the olds cuts and buick
Regal v8 , which are both GM products .
I concede it is possible that you've witnessed a better response with synthetic. I haven't done any comparisons, so I don't really know. It is possible that it's flow characteristics help the engine respond better. But you know what? When pushing an engine to high rpm's, changing from 5w30 to 10w30 will reduce vibration significantly at those rpms. And your response will probably go DOWN due to the extra power needed to pump the heavier oil. In some way, a better response can actually be more damaging to the engine.
In my new Chevy truck, I run synthetic blends that I buy cheap with private labels like Tech2000 (Walmart)($1.27 per quart). Just not convinced that spending all that money is worth it on my non-race vehicles that will fail for other reasons than engine wear.
Seat of the pants measurement accuracy is around +/- 10%. There is no way oil brand or type makes that much difference.
small engine cars , I am not saying Sync. oil boost power , but when con. oil was used in these small engines , they lost power as soon as those
oil worn thin , on the other hand , Sync.oil does
last longer on handling the engines , therefore
quicker response(compare to con. oil after the same driving manner/and mileage) , when con. oil was used in these engines and worn thin , these cars shifted way frequently(Auto Trans.) , these is especially true on Saturn and 4 cy. Accords , like I said ,I can't tell the difference on 8cy. Regal and Cuts, since these cars were borned "dull" and "numb".
I think she was looking for some type of empirical data to prove or disprove the benefits of either type.
Well, I tried a more informal approach. I went out into our twenty or so technician shop and, one by one asked the guys what they thought.
As it turned out, about half of them used synthetics. The ones that didn't felt that regular oil, if changed often, was more than good enough. They felt that synthetics were a waste of money.
One guy asked me " How long do you plan to keep your car, anyway?" He felt that a well maintanied Honda engine was good for 250,000 or more miles.
So, who knows? I sure don't!
- Easier starting in the winter
- Better protection in hot weather
The long-term benefits were that, after 90,000 miles in 3 years, with an automatic transmission, a 1.5L 92 HP engine and going 75 MPH on the highway, the engine still sounded just like new when I traded the car in.
I never had an engine problem with that car, either, AND I did substitute non-synthetic oil in 1 oil change to see if it did any harm (it did NOT).
My preferred synthetic oil is Mobil 1 Tri-synthetic formula.
As always YMMV, but at 9000 miles, I'm putting Mobil 1 into my new car.
Synthetic oil costs approx $4/qt, so an oil change will probably cost you $24 extra (if you have a 6 qt oil capacity) with full synthetic.
Compare this to a blend. You'd pay $3+$12 = $15 extra (same oil capacity), plus your time in doing the blending.
If I were you, I'd spend the $9 extra per oil change to go full synthetic to get the full benefits.