Im just wondering what would be best for my car they are running 10w-30 when i bought the car i think because they gave me a bottle of pennzoil 10w-30 in my car that i haven't used and i found a bottle of castrol GTX 5w-30 i would like to use castrol in my car but im not sure what would be better my climate it reaches +40 here in the summer and almost never over -10 in the winter

 

5 w 30 is 5 weight oil with polymers that allow it to behave like 30 weight oil when warm. If it's really cold, then you should use 5w something. If it's always hot, then you could use 20w something


the secret is to avoid "thermal breakdown" That is, when the polymers start to break down.

How is that done? Quite simply really. If you do a majority of highway driving, then changing your oil and filter every 5k miles (not kilometers) will do just dandy.

If you do mostly in city driving, with stop and go, idling and stop lights, then you may need to change it every 1k miles, or 2k or perhaps 3k.

It's really not about the number of miles. It's the number of hours the engine is running in between oil changes.

If I drive 60 miles per hour (100 KPH) for 100 hours then I drove 6,000 miles.

If I drive around town, at an avg speed of 30 mph (50 kph) and drive 3,000 miles, I still have run the engine 100 hours.


That is why I prefer the hour meter on marine engines rather than the odometer on cars. I'll take a high mile vehicle from a commuter any day than a taxi or cop car with less miles.


The next dead horse you may want to consider beating is synthetic vs regular oil. Everyone has opinions on both. If I was racing and running my equipment on the edge all of the time, then I'd be full synthetic. Since I'm just a regular guy, like 99% of all drivers/cars then I simply look at cost benefit.

I have almost 2 million miles I've driven on all of my cars total (no I'm not a truck driver) and I've never spun a bearing, thrown a rod or had any catastrophic failure. On vehicles that i purchsed new, I have gotten over 200k miles from 2 of them without burning oil. I've traded other vehicles earlier. On engines that I've rebuilt, I've always used traditional oil and the same goes with my marine engines.

With my own personal experience I see no justifiable reason to bear the cost uplift.

But, others swear by synthetic because they may see a whopping 5HP more on the dyno (surely not a reason for me to switch)


let the beating of the dead horse begin...............

 

I think the 3000 mile myth is just that.It does depends on you're driving but any decent 10w-30 will be fine and changing it every 5000 miles is more then ok.I have changed mine every 5000-7000 miles and i am going on 178000 miles on the stock 305.If you feel better changing it at 3000 then go for it.

 

thank you guys well I wont be driving till November because that is when I get my L i think i will just go with the convential oil if the car has ran on convential for 23 years now i think it should be fine. I think I will do the 5W-30 option since I wont be on the highway that much. And that little 2.8L is very strong will start under almost any conditions. But once again thank you!

 

If you are not driving it until Nov - even if you are starting and running it every so often, I'd add some Sta-bil to the gas in the tank.

You need to use up all the gas in the tank and refill it about every month minimum to keep the gas from turning to varnish and to keep the empty tank from creating condensation (water) which is bad in a gas tank. If not going to be emptying the tank and refilling like that, definitely pour in a gas stabilizer/water decontaminate such as Stabil to keep your fuel system happy.

And make sure you start the car and run it to operating temps every week or two - with it just sitting, the oil will seep down and upon a restart, you'll be kinda dry-starting until the pump gets oil back up there.

 

I would add the zinc additive ZDDP if you plan want a long life out of your lil 2.8. Flat tappets need some help if you dont want to destroy your cam in the long run. However if you're looking for an excuse to drop a 350 in there forget all of that.

 

i tend to want to start my every week and let it run for about 5 mins then turn it off and i would drop a 350 in it but since the cost of gas went up to 123.9 and continues to rise here i think im going to keep my 2.8l even though i wouldn't mind the extra horsepower. i think my dad has some fuel stabiler in our basement i just hope its not something else

 

I myself have had nothing but good luck with valvoline, thats all I have used from the time I worked in a machine shop up to now (28 years). I used dino oil but have just changed to synth blend. And fwiw I only use wix filters.

 

Nothing against the 2.8 i'm a fiero fan (even though their block is the H.O. version) but it only gets like 5 mpg better than SBCs. Which is kind of sad. What's even worse? The Duke is almost on par with the 2.8 which is defintely sadder. BAHAHAHA

 

If you're going to do this, it would be better to not start it at all.

Running it once a week is fine, but not just for 5 minutes. It takes much longer than that for the engine oil to come up to temperature where it burns off excess acids, moisture, etc.

Start it up, and drive it (or get someone to drive it for you) for at least 15-30 miles on the highway.

Back on Topic:

Brand of oil I use: Pennzoil Platinum
Grade: 5w-30
OCI: 5000 miles or 1 year, which ever occurs first.