Edmunds dealer partner, Bayway Leasing, is now offering transparent lease deals via these forums. Click here to see the latest vehicles!
Motor Oil
This discussion has been closed.
Popular New Cars
Popular Used Sedans
Popular Used SUVs
Popular Used Pickup Trucks
Popular Used Hatchbacks
Popular Used Minivans
Popular Used Coupes
Popular Used Wagons
Comments
Not bad karma to use Castrol Syntec, an excellent synthetic oil. But you should instead choose 5W-30 Syntec. It is not thinner, the synthetic polymer base stock for both is 5W oil. The difference is the additive blend, or viscosity thickeners. Remember a multi-viscosity like 5W-50 is never as "thick" as a 50W single grade except at extreme temperatures. The 5W-30 oils have high temperature protection (vaporization point) that is just as good or better than 10W-40. Where the synthetics really exceed is cold start pump-ability. Many say this is where the most engine wear occurs. So the ideal oil is the thinnest one that maintains shear strength to prevent metal to metal contact. This type of oil flows quickly to lubricate parts that start dry. Note that the 5W-50 does not have the API "starburst," symbol, meaning it is not a fuel saving oil, whereas the 5W-30 is.
Use what your owner manual says!! If you don't like 5W-30, look through the manual, sometimes they list other choices you can use in certain conditions ie, 10W-30, 30W...
the wider the range of the synthetic, the more polymers there are to break down. 10W-50 has more polymers 10W30. I read some student research internet site about testing on multiweights, and it said that the wider range oils performed worse than lower range oils, long term.
No, I didn't mix the 20/50 and 10/30. What I've done is to purchase oil in volume. I've got a lot of SAE 30W left from the '92. I have a local dealer that is always sending something in the mail. (Win a new Expedition or the like.) It seems that until lately, the booby prize was an oil change for your Ford vehicle. After the second free oil change, the rules are now "Except Diesels". So, slowly but surely I'm using the old stock of 30W. When it's gone, I'll probably try some of the WalMart stuff. You can't go too far wrong with V Q or P oil.
The only things that I've really noticed is that 12 quarts fills the crank case according to the stick and 30W seems to get "used" quicker than 10W30. The 30W is down a quart at about 5K miles and the 10W30 isn't. The 20W50 never goes down. But that may be because the dealer puts 14 quarts into the crank case, I don't know.
Rich
I have a new '98 Explorer with the SOHC 4.0 (4,000 mi), and a '92 Accord 2.2 ltr 4cyl (100,000 mi).
I have always used 10W30 Valvoline, but noticed that both owner's manuals say to use 5W30. I switched the Accord over a couple of changes ago and have already changed the Explorer once to 5W30 Quaker State.
My questions: 1) Is 5W30 the way to go, and is it as good as 10W30 in the heat of the summer?
2) Should I have switched the Accord over to Quaker State after 100,000 miles with Valvoline?
3) Is Quaker State as good as Valvoline? It seems to be priced slightly less.
Note: I definatlely change oil and filter every 3,000 miles whether it's overkill or not. I figure as long as I change that often, any quality brand ought to be equal for long engine life.
Thanks
The truck manufacturers specify 5W-30 because its range of temperatures covers the entire US climate range, from Michigan to Texas. 10W-30 isn't rated to protect in the low temperatures that our Yankee friends get every year. So the manufacturer's cover their "warranty" loop holes by specifying an oil that "techincally" should work everywhere. they don't have to take into account that stretch of 4 days it was 105° in the shade, and your oil was boiling...
I'm very ignorant about car. Could you please explain about "the rings did not seat"?
To all, I am considering using full synthetic on my new truck. Would that cause any problems? Please advise.
I put synthetic in my new truck at 1404 miles. I am still able to sleep at night. Synthetic fills are still how some BMW's, Corvettes and others are delivered from the factory. If they don't worry, why should you? If after 300,000 miles, the rings still have not seated, you can worry then.
Thank you, and I'll use synth on my new truck.
I would still like to know what it means "the rings get seated".
Tung
Some experts say synthetic oil is more slippery, and thus the parts do not wear-in, or shed metal. Others argue that synthetics are not actually more slippery, they just have a higher shear strength. Slippery additives, called friction modifiers, like dithiophosphate (I'm not a chemist) are the ingredient of STP (tm). In STP's old ads, the mechanic was unable to hold the small end of a screwdriver dipped in STP held between his fingers under its own weight. Not to say it doesn't work..it's still around. But I think too much of it wrecks catalytic converters, so enough said.
But the amount of friction modifier additives are not really different in synthetic oils. Other experts, including car manufacturers, supply synthetic oil as the factory fill.
I'll switch to synthetic before next winter since it is superior in cold weather and the coldest I experienced at my house was a -43 deg. F a couple of years ago!
Thanks for all the really great info! Even though it wasn't I who asked the question, I still enjoyed learning the answer.
Thank you. I heard your Ram came in the other day. I'm very happy for you. Keep us posted what you are doing!
Davydd,
Hard to say if it is necessary for the rings to seat, but G.M. and others are shipping new engines with synthetics in the crankcase. Some engine technologies use microscopic thin hard coatings on the cylinder wall, or hard ceramic coatings, or ion implantation to make a real hard surface only molecules thick. Obviously, any scuffing at all on a hard thin coating wrecks it. So there is no seating of the rings on such a design. They have to fit right from the start. But most new engines still use cnc bored, cast iron liners that have been honed.
1) change oil at 1,000 miles
2) replace filter with a Mobil 1 M1-206 and replace oil with Castrol's Syntec Blend 10W30
3) Change oil every 3,000 miles and use Mobil 1 filter and Mobil 1 10W30 synthetic.
I think castrol make good products and I use castrol's gtx 10w30 in wife's 4runner. Mobil does not make a blend and I wanted to "season" my engine a litte bit longer than quadrunner500 did. So I thought this would be a compromise before I went straight synthetic. I have read comments in "Truck Trend" magazine where users of synthetic oil have switched to conventional oil and began to have oil problems. "Truck Trend" recommends when you switch to synthetic do not go back. So, if I use castrol's syntec blend and notice oil leaks, I will switch to castrol gtx and hope for the best.
I would plan to have the first oil change at 700 mi with regular oil. Next oil change between 2K-3K will use full synthetic. Still no truck yet!
if you want to change your oil early for peace of mind, i guess you can, but you are not going to harm it NOT changing your oil. your filter protects you from the damaging particles. These vehicles also, were not designed to break in like that. Most new trucks (that i'm aware of) are shipped with a special oil blend in the crankcase designed for the break in period. by draining that out before the period is over, you could be altering the desired break in patterns.
Not going to debate this, just my opinion from info i've gathered from several sources.
with my dealer on it. By the way, you know if they
put that special blend in the '99 GMC Sierra?
Thanks.
suggested oil change. True?
Here is a site that gets into some good detail on Chevy's oil minder system.
http://www.oilanalysis.com
That article is under the Jan/Feb magazine link.
I am an engineer, and I have taken the class that they teach. I think that it is interesting that with this monitoring, GM figures the oil can potentially last quite a bit longer under decent conditions.
I do have some information on a study that identifies how much longer an engine will last with a better oil filter. It is suprising how much it can affect the life of an engine. I will try to remember to look it up and pass it on. This and other things I learned in this class indicates that the cleanliness of the oil is the number one factor in shortening the life of an engine. I have also been looking into some filtering efficiencies of some different filters. It seems the filter manufacturers are finally starting to put out some more efficient filters.
More later.
I might then just follow the GM oil minder recommendations but would probably go no more than 7,500 miles between changes.
This test data I believe was done by GM and SAE. Most oil filters are about 40 micron, and this data uses that as the comparison point. It identifies the additional life of the engine compared to the 40 micron filter.
30 micron filter = 2 times
15 micron filter = 3.3 times
10 micron filter = 4.5 times
5 micron filter = 8 times
The best rated filter that I have found is the Purolator PureONE. Here is the web address for it.
http://www.pureoil.com/pureone/purehom.html
If you go to the PureONE FAQ link, they give more test data, and it is pretty much a 10 micron filter. If anyone finds others, I would like to know about them.
From everything I have learned so far, dirty oil will wear out your engine a lot faster than any other factor. The first thing oil analysis programs at companies concentrate on is the oil cleanliness. Then if they can manage the additional testing for the additives, they do that too.
the new V8 4.8L and they don't even know if Purolator has made one for the new engines yet.
Anybody who knows the part number for pureOne filter, please pass it on! Thanks.
"That application uses a PL20123 oil filter in the PureONE product line."
GM went online today with www.gmbuypower.com
I just browsed all of the dealership lots in AZ for Silverados. Found a couple of 99's I liked. Will call them direct. The heck with this waiting and dealing with local guys.
I suspect that 1/2 of all new vehicle salesmen at every dealership will be out a job in the next 5 years .......