YACT: whats the best engine oil to use.

[Aharami]

so, which brand is the best? synthetic or otherwise?

 

[her209]

synthetic. mobil 1

 

If you've been using dino (non-synthetic) oil for a long time and your car's pretty old, then putting synthetic in could (COULD, not WILL) cause oil leaks, since it's much more viscous and lubricating than regular oil. However, the general consensus is this: dino oil is fine, as long as it's changed somewhat regularly (3000-5000 miles). Synthetic oil is also fine, but its change intervals can be much longer (possibly as high as 10000 miles).

Correct me if I'm wrong; I'm no mechanic.

 

[Aharami]

oh...i have a 2000 VW GTI

 

[Insane3D]

I prefer Mobil 1.

 

[amdskip]

I'd personally run amsoil, very impressed with Amsoil products in general. When you can drag race and run low 8's @ 160 without a tranny cooler you know the tranny fluid is doing a super job. We just tore the tranny down and there was hardly any wear at all inside it. I run the oil in my 96 civic and my dad runs it in our truck, accord, and corolla.

 

[Brutuskend]

Castrol GTX 20 50 for me.

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: jumpr
If you've been using dino (non-synthetic) oil for a long time and your car's pretty old, then putting synthetic in could (COULD, not WILL) cause oil leaks, since it's much more viscous and lubricating than regular oil. However, the general consensus is this: dino oil is fine, as long as it's changed somewhat regularly (3000-5000 miles). Synthetic oil is also fine, but its change intervals can be much longer (possibly as high as 10000 miles).

Correct me if I'm wrong; I'm no mechanic.

You are correct that sythetic oil can go for 10k miles, even longer now. Audi and BMW are starting to specifiy 15k intervals on their oil changes. However, I would not reccomend taking a synthetic oil past 10,000 miles without doing a used oil analysis. This will give you the best idea as to how long you ccan use the oil for. Sure the test costs about $30, but, you can save that in the long run by not having to change to oil as often. Another thing is that the oil may last 10k or so, but you may have to change the filter at 5k intervals, unless the filter is specifically designed to handle that interval (Mbz, BMW, Audi/VW design their filters as such)

As to synthetic oil causing leaks on older cars, that is partially true. The leaks are already there, it's just that dino oil isn't as "slippery" as synthetic oil, and therefore doesn't get past the leaks as easily. Dino oil tends to breakdown much faster than synthetic, and builds up more varnish and deposits on engine seals. These deposits may become so large that the seals will not seal properly anymore, and thats why when you switch to synthetic on a high milage engine, you may notice and increase in the amount of oil leaked/consumed. My reccomendation is that if you engine already burns oil (more than half a quart a month) then changing it to synthetic won't help any.

I would reccomend sythetic oil over dino any day. Why? The viscosity on synthetic and its sheer breakdown stability are much better than that of dino. It protects the engine much better than dino could in the same 3000 miles. Probably the best (although not the most availible) synthetic oil out there is from amsoil. There oil is very highly regarded by its users. As for most availible, I'd say the mobil 1 is very good synthetic. For german cars, the new german castrol syntec 0w-30 is very good as well as mobil 1 0w-40.

For dino oil, I'd reccomend Chevron. I read a while back on boboil that it uses a pretty good base compared to others like castrol gtx. Its cheap to boot.

Another thing I reccomend is to NOT use fram oil filters. Pennzoil is fram in yellow, btw. They have been shown to be of very poor quality, ie, cardboard endcaps and fuzzy filter media and poor oil bypass valves. They also cost more than other better filters out there. Good filters are STP, Bosch, Supertech, Mobil. All those filters are made by Champion Labs (not the sparkplug company) and are loads better than fram. Get supertech at your local walmart if you have one, they are like $1.97 and the same things as a bosch or STP, although both STP and supertech usually cost less than fram. Purolator makes good filters as well, although they cost a bit more than the stp, and supertech filters. Motocraft are supposed to be rebadged purolators; motocraft are good filters as well.
EDIT: If you have a german car, I reccomend getting oem filters because they are designed for longer intervals. If you have a honda or anything else, oem is ok i guess, but you can get much better quality than oem for honda by using stp or supertech, for example.

If you want to know anything there is to know about oil, go to Bobishteoilguy There forums are very good.

 

[Rallispec]

synthetic oil so freakin expensive though..

Used to use it in my old civic, but i'm using Quaker State Dyno oil in my nissan now.

 

[flxnimprtmscl]

Originally posted by: Insane3D
I prefer Mobil 1.

 

[Chaotic42]

I use whatever the shops give me. They know more about it than I do.

 

[geno]

As for "common" oils, I swear by Mobil One.

However, I've seen a lot of people say Amsoil is the BEST you can get, but you'll pay for it.

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Brutuskend
Castrol GTX 20 50 for me.

That's what I run in my liquid-cooled P-car. Unless the engine is being highly stressed, it's not going to show benefit from synthetic until very much longer than its expected lifespan. I'll run GTX in my Mark VIII too but the Mark doesn't need oil that thick.

I run Mobil 1 15W50 in my air-cooled P-car because of high oil temps and I run Mobil 1 15W50 in my air-cooled motorcycle too. The superior thermal characteristics of synthetic make it a good idea in those engines.

ZV

EDIT: As far as filters go, WIX/DANA/NAPA Gold (all made by WIX) are my preferred brands. Good price, great performance. Fram used to be good before Allied Signal bought them out.

 

[boyRacer]

Originally posted by: geno
As for "common" oils, I swear by Mobil One.

However, I've seen a lot of people say Amsoil is the BEST you can get, but you'll pay for it.

Agreed... and if you can find Amsoil in the first place.

 

[Vic]

Valvoline Full Synthetic 5W-30 is what I use.

 

[Ns1]

mobil 1 here

expensive as HELL though

23 bucks for oil + 12 for filter every 4-5000 miles

 

[Zenmervolt]

Originally posted by: Vic
Valvoline Full Synthetic 5W-30 is what I use.

Weight varies by engine. Never a good idea to deviate from the recommended weight for the engine, nor to use one weight of oil just because someone else uses it.

Oil weight recommendations for my cars:

Mark VIII: 5w30

924S: 20w50

914: 30w or 15w50

Accord (sold): 10w30

Nighthawk 450 motorcycle: 15w50

ZV

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: Zenmervolt

Originally posted by: Vic
Valvoline Full Synthetic 5W-30 is what I use.

Weight varies by engine. Never a good idea to deviate from the recommended weight for the engine, nor to use one weight of oil just because someone else uses it.

My bad... but that's why I said "is what I use."
I put regular Valvoline dino 10W-30 in my other vehicle, '93 Toyota V6 4x4.

 

[Spencer278]

Originally posted by: NeuroSynapsis
mobil 1 here

expensive as HELL though

23 bucks for oil + 12 for filter every 4-5000 miles

buy the oil in 55 gallon drums and it cost about the same as the cheapest oilyou can find.

 

[Evadman]

Amsoil in the crankcase, royal purple in the gearbox and diff's.

 

[KillaBong]

I know my dad only usees mobil 1 in his benz. What is the price difference between normal oil to synthetic? And is it really worth it if you have to change the oil twice as often?

 

[alkemyst]

if you are changing oil every 3k it really doesn't matter, any of the top names will give equal performance and engine life.

I personally feel the 3k change interval is a waste with good oils and filter for most people.

 

[Vic]

The only real benefit of the 3k interval is that the average person never checks their own oil. Hell, the average person doesn't even wait 10 seconds after cold starting for the oil to circulate through the engine before starting off. And they certainly aren't going to pop the hood at a crowded gas station and check the oil every other fill-up!
So, while ALL cars will consume at least a small amount of oil, it is unlikely that any car in good running condition would ever burn more than 1-2 quarts in 3,000 miles, so the I-don't-check-my-oil crowd will never run dry and blow up their engine as long as they drive through the Jiffy Lube every 3,000 miles.

 

[BillGates]

I use Mobil 1 on my bike and in my Blazer. I tried AMSOil on my bike and it shifted like ass compared to Mobil 1. Went back to Mobil 1500 miles later.

 

[prontospyder]

I use Mobil1 on our Altima and Valvoline on our Intrepid and Voyager. Not sure which oil is actually the best.