Oil

[Bolt_Crank]

for the most part, if you NEVER move any heavy loads, or do a lot of stop and go traffic, and never accell. too hard, and generally baby the car, synthetic will last that long (my brother went to 6k over his oil change time.... and he beats on his car -.-)

 

i am foot to the floor everywhere i go. synthetic doesnt break down like regular oil so as long as you keep it clean, you shouldnt have a problem. like i said, i change filters regularly and the oil still looks brand new comin out of the engine. besides, at $5.00 a quart sometimes, it gets costly, plus i drive way to much, i have been known to put 1000 miles on my car in 4 days fo around town driving... lolz...

 

- Justin

 

You are like me, young one!

 

my dad, uses synthetic in the Suburban, and when he doesn't pull the trailer on that particular oil run (like pulling it once every week type thing) then he goes 5k or so, when he pulls, though, he changes it at the end of summer....

[gp90se]

Keeping mind i work at a valvoline and get my fluids free (there was another post about every oil in there ive tryed), i like the durablend which is 25% syn and heat blended together to round of the molicules, so ive been told.

 

im back on maxlife for right now because my oil pan gasket is gettin wet around the edges, the car doesnt idle anywhere near as nice as it does on durablend/synthetic.

 

with the 3.4 going in, its going to get 10w-30 durablend till I get home from ohio then goto 10w-40 synthetic and see how everthing goes.

 

the first time I used full synthetic in the GP was at 92k and the o-ring let go, but it was leaking to start with.

 

best bang for ya buck is either durablend or the mobil driveclean stuff IMO

 

-Jeff

[Dannymik]

I used Pennzoil full synthetic then switched to Halvoline full synthetic to save $1.00 per quart. I wasn't really happy with Halvoline. I just put in Castrol Semi Synthetic and feel it runs more cooler for the most part. I have always ran 5w-30 and after reading this post I would consider running 10W-30 in the summer. 5W-30 is a must here in Buffalo during the winter.

[GnatGoSplat]

Heheh, Castrol Syntec "full synthetic" is not even really a synthetic oil.

[SmokesGTP]

It used to be synthetic a few years ago. My mom runs durablend in her Galant and it seems to be good stuff. She goes over on her changes a lot which is not good on a 4 banger but it still keeps on tickin.

[GnatGoSplat]

It used to be synthetic a few years ago. My mom runs durablend in her Galant and it seems to be good stuff. She goes over on her changes a lot which is not good on a 4 banger but it still keeps on tickin.

 

Yep, from Dec. 97 on, Syntec has not been real synthetic.

[Bolt_Crank]

I used Pennzoil full synthetic then switched to Halvoline full synthetic to save $1.00 per quart. I wasn't really happy with Halvoline. I just put in Castrol Semi Synthetic and feel it runs more cooler for the most part. I have always ran 5w-30 and after reading this post I would consider running 10W-30 in the summer. 5W-30 is a must here in Buffalo during the winter.

 

 

a must during the winter? pffffft!

 

10W - 30 year round, and it gets a lot colder here than it does in buffalo

 

then again.... we have this thing called a 'block heater' ....

[kheider]

Mine is at 222,604 today at work, and runs like a champ. Has had mobil 1 synthetic since day 1. never burn oil. i can go about 9000K before an oil change as long as i keep up on filter changes regularly. I could probly go more, but i choose not to, although when i drain it, it looks like it just came out of the bottle, even after 9000 miles.

 

just a thought

 

- Justin

 

Sissy! (j/k) I change my oil every 1 year or 25k/mi.

 

But:

 

1) I only do this on my Naturally Aspirated engines.

2) I change the filter every 6k miles, and thus when I change the filter I have to add a quart to fill it back up.

3) I run Amsoil fully synthetic 0-30 at $8/quart

4) The oil in my 90 GP LE 3.1 comes out cleaner than my Olds Ciera 3300. (But in the Ciera's defense:

I bought the GP in 1994 with 57k miles and I bought the Ciera in 2001 with 100k miles on her.)

 

Amsoil claims that I can change the filter every 12k and the oil every 1yr/28k miles,

but I'm not that confident in a *perfect world*.

[SmokesGTP]

 

Sissy! (j/k) I change my oil every 1 year or 25k/mi.

 

But:

 

1) I only do this on my Naturally Aspirated engines.

2) I change the filter every 6k miles, and thus when I change the filter I have to add a quart to fill it back up.

3) I run Amsoil fully synthetic 0-30 at $8/quart

4) The oil in my 90 GP LE 3.1 comes out cleaner than my Olds Ciera 3300. (But in the Ciera's defense:

I bought the GP in 1994 with 57k miles and I bought the Ciera in 2001 with 100k miles on her.)

 

Amsoil claims that I can change the filter every 12k and the oil every 1yr/28k miles,

but I'm not that confident in a *perfect world*.

 

 

Wow is all I can say to that. A guy at jiffy lube suggested my friend switch over to Mobil 1 on a 94' accord he just bought with 150k! I laughed at him and told my friend to run the regular 10w-30 high mileage. He said it was good stuff and might help the neglected engine and I say yeah if helping means having it leak out of crevaces I didn't even know it had.

[gp90se]

god bless jiffy, my buddy works there, they truely are morons, but they mean well.

 

-Jeff

[pitzel]

we have Presidents Choice oil, for like 69 cents a quart.... and that's Canadian! I don't use it

 

"President's Choice" oil is actually a very high quality dino oil known as XD-3, manufactured by Esso.

 

I wouldn't be so quick to diss the stuff. Its probably the single best bargain going in Canada for non-synthetic oil today.

[Bolt_Crank]

I didn't diss it... only said I don't use it, lol

I run synthetic in my Z

[Bolt_Crank]

I didn't diss it... only said I don't use it, lol

I run synthetic in my Z

 

 

 

{dammit! stupid internet... and I only clicked the button once! lol}

[bartonmd]

gp90se wrote:

I use 1 quart of synthetic in my oil durring an oilchange and have yet to have an issue with leaking, clogging or oil pressure.

 

gp90se, you have to watch which oils you put together like that. Different oils have different additive packages, and some of those additive packages actually work against each other and accelorate wear! Same goes for mixing different brands of any oil, synthetic or not. For that matter, you should actually not switch back and forth with different oils for different oil changes (not that I'm saying you do, just good advice).

_______________________

 

The reason synthetic oil will 'cause leaks' is because it cleans up the crap that was plugging a leak that was already there.

_________________________

 

As said, ATF has been used to clean engines for a long time. It does work and is not REALLY harmful as long as you don't drive long and/or hard while it's in the engine. It works because ATF is just 10W oil with a BUNCH of additives in it, some of which are detergents. The detergents in ATF are actually what cleans your engine. It is much the same as "marvel mystery oil" and "Rislone"

___________________________

 

With synthetic oil change intervals: Depends on your driving obvoiusly, but... service interval for the average trip of 5 miles or more has been 7500 miles for GM cars since the early 80's. I usually don't let dyno oil go that long... usually only about 5k as I drive 70 miles round trip to work every day, highway. Synthetic oils have the advantage of lasting very well under the same conditions as dyno oils. None of the synthetic oil people wanted to advertise that their oils would last 20k miles with no problem (although Amsoil now has) because the average car uses some amount of oil, be it very small. They knew they'd get sued by people who just let it go 20k and didn't ever even check it, let alone add another quart when it got low. How many people do you know who don't ever check their oil?? just take it to Jiffy Lube every 3000 miles? Also, what mainly kills an oil with in-town driving is the acids created by running rich (heavy in the throttle causes an ECM to run the engine rich in order to advance the timing and make more power). Not a problem on the highway, but in the city, with stop and go driving it is. Oils are made basic (like the opposite of acidic, not 'simple') in order to turn neutral when mixed with the acid from the unburnt fuel. The better quality synthetics will be very basic so they can last a long time without becoming overly acidic. So there may actually be something to Penzoil's "formulated for stop and go driving"

___________________________

 

Oil threads are funny! Everybody uses whatever kind of oil they think is best. You get a lot of "I have used X-brand oil for 5000 miles and my engine hasn't blown up yet, so X-brand is the best oil made!!" Fact of the matter is: every oil made today and readily commercially avaliable is a TON better than any of the oils when most of our cars were made, let alone 20 years ago. There is really not any basis for any comparison as there are SO many things that have a bigger impact on how long an engine lasts than what kind of oil used.

____________________________

 

That being said... Amsoil is the only company I know of that actually posts it's independent lab test results along with all of the ASTM tests that they came from. It says alot that they actually post the results for tests that nobody else posts. It also says alot to me that they actually have published papers saying that even dyno oil does not need to be changed every 3k any more because of better engines (fuel injection, not running as rich as much) and better oil now days.

 

With all of that being said... On my euro and my wife's Neon, I use Mobil 1 synthetic and change the filter every 5-6k miles (AC Delco or Pure 1) and the oil every 11-12k miles. I use Mobil 1 because it's more readily avaliable at about any store than Amsoil is and is probably close to as good. I do however use Amsoil on my motorcycles as I probably only ride 10k miles a year any more and don't have to worry about changing the oil as much.

_____________________

 

About the only bad thing you can get these says is an oil filter. I didn't know much about them and thought "a filter is a filter" until I had to tear into the top end of one of my motorcycles and replace two tappets (like lifters, only they're stationary). I found a piece of cardboard in each one of them. No more Fram filters for me (cardboard end caps instead of stamped steel).

_________________________

 

Well, now that I've sufficiently beaten this dead horse, I should probably get back to my test fixture...

 

Mike

[CPSMonteZ34]

From material I've read from a variety of technical submissions in reputable magazines, and the 'good' shops I get some work done at:

 

Oil? - These days, as said, what ever brand you are comfortable with. They all must meet specific standards. That said, they all do the main purpose well. You can get the same results from an inexpensive no-name brand as you would from a national advertised name-brand - so long as you make good with the oil changes. An average for excellent maintenance would be every 5k kms (3k miles) with a good new oil filter (such as the specified model for your engine from AC Delco - keep in mind you can also install another model that is about an inch longer to give you a slightly larger internal cleaning surface)

 

What did I use? Valvoline at first. I switched to Mobil 1 synthetic a little later than most people. At 60k kms (37k miles). If an excellent regular oil change plan has been maintained, one should not experience leaks (I didn't have any); however, synthetic is normally switched to at around 15-20k kms (10-12k miles).

 

Should people switch to synthetic? These days, a car is used under a wide variety of conditions. There's a lot more stop-and-go traffic everywhere; speeds have increased with city express routes; rural highways see higher speeds as well; more cars on the road means there's always going to be higher RPM passing; loads will increase when filling with cargo, etc.; so there are good reasons to switch, if not, for simply added peace of mind. Still, an engine can benefit with the use of synthetic to reduce the stress caused by such variables in order to prevent long-term wear caused by particles and heat; however, all of its advantages go right out the window if a good maintenance plan isn't followed, and a good oil filter isn't used.

 

Anyone can get away with using regular oil and changing it regularly. I switched mine at 5k kms (3k miles) when I used Valvoline. The synthetic was switched at 8k kms (5k miles). I did a lot of short rural trips on a 90 km/h road (3 km to work every day); therefore, I had a good reason to change earlier.

 

So, use what you feel comfortable with. You can always use a no-name-brand with no shame. You can always buy name-brand in gallons when it's on sale. What ever you decide, try to pick one, and stay with it in the long-term. It isn't really good to switch brands as if using what ever is on sale at the time. Just stick to a good maintenance schedule and you should be fine.

 

Of course, it's just my opinion as well.