SIMPLE QUESTION BUT I WOULD LIKE TO KNOW WHAT YOU THINK.
WHAT ARE THE TOP 3 CHOICES IN MOTOR OIL. I AM ABOUT TO DO MY FIRST OIL CHANGE TO MY CAR . IT HAS BEEN 3000 MILES SINCE I BOUGHT IT. I WANT TO USE THE BEST MOTOR OIL AND FILTER.

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE.

 

since you like all capitals:

<h1>
AMSOIL
MOBIL 1
SCHAEFFER
</H1>

 

AMSOIL
MOBIL 1
PENNZOIL

 

Yeah, but Schaeffer's green. Green oil is kinda neat...

Speaking of which, I was changing oil in the wife's Land Rover and it specifies Castrol Syntec 0W-40...it's green too and smells really weird.

There's good data within the forums at www.bobistheoilguy.com where people have posted UOA (used oil analysis) lab results on various oils in various cars. Summary: Mobil-1 Tri-Synthetic was garbage, but SuperSyn is nearly on par with Amsoil. Amsoil (not the 7500XL stuff) and Schaeffer totally rock. Some of the Castrol Syntec is good, some is not. Royal Purple loses viscosity. Etc.

 

kevinc:
Man that bobistheoilguy site is interesting! I just wasted an hour reading stuff there when I should've been out working. Very cool, and everyone here should read it.

 

.

 

Tri-synthetic is the previous version of Mobil-1, and evidently WalMart just put a bunch of it on the shelf because you're not the only one to see it.

Super-syn is the current Mobil-1 formulation buzzword.

So...if you're buying Mobil-1 read the label carefully.

I use Amsoil 10W-30 in the car, and 5W-30 in the truck, so the Mobil-1 inventory is not an issue.

 

mr. listo, since you're new here nobody expects you to know the difference, but in every one of your posts you've attached the same picture of your car. Every one of those attachments takes up server space and server bandwidth.

If you want to attach that pic in every one of your posts, you need to find a website that will host it, and link to it in your signature file.

 

If oil temps stay below 260*= Valvoline.
If oil temps are above 260*= synthetic, take your pick.. Mobile 1, Amsoil, they're both good oils.


Whats more important than brand= regular oil changes!!

 

as stated by five7kid:

Amsoil or Castrol is what I use

 

Go NAPA store brand

 

I am also a mobil 1 user, and I have experienced no leakage problems after switching over at about 95,000 miles, which was about 6,000 miles ago. Most of the leakages came from years and years ago when mobil first came out. None of those problems exist with the current mobil 1 oil, which like others have stated is probably right up there as one of the top oils. Just whatever you do, don't use dyno oil. Synthetics are far superior!

 

dude....if your oil temp is going above 260 you got a LOT more problems than which oil to use.

I'm not a big fan of that bobtheoilguy website. A lot of that stuff is only a half truth. One thing i saw was some silly rear end gear lube test he did, they put lube in different little gear pumps with a clear mirror to see. Actually it was basically the same as that stupid little display you see at parts stores.

Of course it did the same thing, he put two different oil in. One was like 80w-90 and the other was like 90w-140. Then he says the brand name for the 140 is junk because the 140 dosnt climb the gear as easily as the 90. Well duh...brand dosnt have anything to do with it.

Then i saw some test of oil filters...they basically measured the pressure drop, thats the only basis for this test. Then they said which oil filters were "best" because of the amount of pressure drop. Well fram was way up there...probably because fram dosnt filter well enough to drop the pressure, or maybe it was completly diverting like they're known to do.

 

Here is a good study, which does show very useful information.

http://neptune.spacebears.com/cars/s.../oil-life.html

 

That depends on what kind of engine you have.

The oil in a turbocharged eng will exceed 260* (in normal operation) and thats the only application I would use syn oil in.

IMHO, syn oil is great oil, but it's simply not needed in a typical 3rd gen eng.

If syn oil gives you a warm fuzzy feeling, then go for it.

 

i use valvoline 10W30

dont really need synthetic since the dyno oil gets changed about every 2500 miles.

 

 

That's like saying you don't need radial tires because you buy new ones about every 8000 miles, anyway.

 

hmm, got a point. but still, too many posts about ppl switching then getting all kinds of leaks. the whole underside of the car is dry. dont wanna take a chance.

if i were to put a new motor in, then that's a different story.

 

Castrol 10W/30!!!! All the way here.

 

I just switched over to mobil 1 synthetic in my 84 lesabre, 307 old.

All the seals are basically stock. I replaced the valve cover gaskets, thats all. no leaks at all, its been about a month. And i'm sure all the gaskets arent in that great of shape.

 

If your car burns any oil at all, Mobile-1 has a nasty smell to it. It smells like crap! Your 89 probably has quite a few miles on it, so I would dump a can of slick-50 in and use napa brand. Napa oil is made by Val. for napa and costs less than Val. brand. Using high dollar oil in a high milage engine might make you go faster because your wallet will be lighter!

 

Do not use any additives such as crap-50. If you care about your car at all you will use synthetics. Once you have torn down an engine with dyno oil and one with synthetics you will never go back to the crappy dyno stuff.

 

If cost is no object, run Redline synthetic. At $8 per quart, you get $40 oil changes before the filter. Count on a couple extra hp for your extra expenditure. We use it in our Spitfire unless we are breaking in a motor which happens all too often. When you have an 85 rwhp engine, every .5 hp counts!

 

I use valvoline VR1 Racing oil, haven't had a problem yet.

 

We use Valvoline VR1 50 Wt. on break in.

 

Im an AMSOIL dealer so.....yeah AMSOIL is my choice

 

Buddy of mine is an Amsoil dealer too... probably going to use that with the new 350 after the break-in period. For now though, I've been using Castrol 10w30 and napa gold filters

 

thats a claen lookin 82 you got there..I had an 83 z-28 it had parts from 82-92 and a 74 350 4 bolt with just a hair under 400 HP it went sweeet..heres a pic of it...

 

Definitely AMSOIL..

 

Also, what ever you do, don't ever put any additives in your oil. I've heard oil additives can sometimes counteract the ability to lube your engine, depending on what kind of oil it's mixed with.

 

Hey guys, don't get me wrong here, I'm talking about a car with high milage. Not a new one thats being broken in, or what- ever
$40 for oil is a bunch of money for a guy on a limited budget! Slick 50 is not going to compromise the lubricity of dino oil. Everybody has their own preferance, I've heard syn. claims that their oil goes 100,000 mi with filter change every 3000. YES winston cup cars use syn. oil, but they only go 500 hard mi. at a time, and their engines are new. Slick 50 is only an option for high milage cars and will help reduce bearing friction on start-up extending bearing life on an old motor.

 

Thanks should have seen it when I first picked it up 4 years ago. Paint flaking off, big surface rust spots, seats all sun rotted and an engine on it's last tank of gas. All that has been taken care of and it's getting another fresh power plant soon The 305 will live the rest of it's days in another vehicle if the guy who wants it, buys it lol.

 

Mobil 1 for both my cars. The 86 gets 15/50 the 91 gets 5/30

 

This thread is a really good candidate for the FAQ Board, since it surfaces routinely. Incidentally, there is already a very good (long, but worth reading) lubricant selection thread with good links on the FAQ Board:

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=199502

Notice I wrote "lubricant" instead of "oil", since Except for power steering and brakes, I don't use any oil - engine, gear, transmission, etc. - (unless you consider the polyethylene containers that keep the Mobil 1 from running all over the storage shelf).

Here's a semi-related question for all you AMSOIL distributors, and those who have friends that are distributors (like me) - Where does AMSOIL get its PAO base stocks? See if you can get a straight answer from them. I couldn't. Even the "factory" (the one that reblends and bottles the product) couldn't/wouldn't provide an answer. All I know is that soemone else makes it for them - one of the REALLY big petrochemical companies. Can someone please get me a straight answer?

If you get that far, ask why AMSOIL has 3-5% more additives, and thus, 3-5% less actual lubricant base than some of the other big synthetic brands. I know that some engines can benefit from the extra additives, but many don't. AMSOIL has always chosen and blended their additive packages carefully Does that make it better? You decide. I can't get anyone there to reply once I start talking about molecules.