I live in California and have a 1988 Chevy Camaro 5.7 tpi iroc z28 with a reconstructed motor, and want to know which oil is best for my car?

 

it depends on your application, if your engine has less than 2500 miles or so you can benefit from full synthetic oil. they help with heat mainly.but also give better MPGs . I prefer Castrol lubricants,personally as far as conventional oil is concerned.

 

whatever it says on the cap is what i use, never synthetic. 5w30 is what our cars call for if i remember correctly. oil is oil in my opinion, they all have to meet the same SAE standards so you are really paying for a brand.

royal purple and the like are in a different ball park... lets put it this way, if you have to ask what conventional oil to use, you DONT need royal purple

 

i base my opinion. on my expieriences of the last 38 years of owning and building cars.but ,hey .i could be wrong.

 

!

 

rusty, i wasnt responding to you, sorry if it was taken the wrong. merely stating my opinion/experiences.

my father has been my mentor and hasnt put anything synthetic or funky into any other motors/vehicles we have built, so far so good. hes been around just as long as you and has been working at the same GM dealership for that whole amount of time.

 

I use synthetics in all of my cars. I prefer Valvoline. Been using it for 10+ years in all of my vehicles. My motorcycle and 98 Riviera require I use synthetic. I also use lucas additive in my oils as well. I've heard the royal purple is good too. My dad likes to use Castrol. For my 80 camaro with a newly built motor. I use Valvoline full syntheitic, lucas oil additive. Then Comp cam additive (which has zinc in it I believe) I get from Summit racing.

 

I use Bullseye Automotive 10w30

 

the cap on these motors say 5W30, my engine with 178,000 miles so when iput in 5W30, it smokes a bit from the valve seals, 10W30 stops that mostly which is why ip ut it in, cuz my motor is so worn out

 

OMG (and I never use OMG).

I knew I heard of this oil someplace.....

http://www.pqiamerica.com/bullseyest...medium=archive

 

I went to autozone check on sum oils and I ask the employee what does he recommend for my car and he told go with castrol gtx 20w50 but I was going to wait and see what u guys say first.

 

maybe that was a terrible joke on his part like "sounds like you need new muffler bearings," but 20W50 is diesel engine oil lol. unless someone dumped a Duramax under the hood, i'd try out what the valve cover cap says first lol

 

20W50 lol. In all truth and honesty, I would recommend synthetic Mobil 1 10W30 or Valvoline synthetic 10W30. I pay about $30 an oil change on either of those on my rebuilt L98.

 

I would use synthetics in a roller cam engine, but for a flat tappet cam I prefer an oil fortified with zinc and phosphorus. The additives help protect the metal of the cam and the lifters.

Just my .02.

 

I think a 20w-50 grade is a bit thick for soCal.

I would stick with a 5w-30 or a 10w-30. Any name brand, conventional or synthetic will work.

If I could find a diesel spec'ed oil (that is also spec'ed for spark ignition engines, Chevron Delo, Shell Rotella, Mobil Delvac) in a 5w-30 or 10w-30 that is readily available, I'd have no problems with running it.

I run Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30.

 

Isn't the Shell Rotella used for initial engine start after a build for break in? I could be wrong. It's been a few years since I did my engine build on my 80 Z.

 

Autozone was your first problem. all parts there are junk, and their advice is worse. they'll tell you how much professional experience they have working on their 93 civic, but in reality they're all morons. stick to a local parts store with good reputation. usually mom and pops places are good. they wont recommend you try to get 500,000 HP out of your car like the folks at autozone, but they know their stuff cuz they've been doing it for decades!

 

I use rotella t6 5-40w. Its synthetic. It works pretty good for me. Haven't had any problems to speak of other then higher then usual oil pressure. The real question is do you start your car for a minute or 2 before you actually move it? Or do you start it while shifting to go? Makes a difference.

 

Thanks a lot for the information I'll try 10 w 30 mobile then, I warm up the car for about 5 min before I move it

 

Time to throw in my 2 cents..

Based on the little I know about your engine and that you are in California
- I most likely would be running 10w30
- If it's really cold I would consider 5w30
- Summertime I would consider 20w50 if the oil consumption was high

PQIAmerica? Went through their site to read about them. I do not consider them to be a credible source of information

20w50 is not "diesel" oil... 15w40 generally would be.

Valvoline VR1 (racing) oil has a higher zinc content than their All Climate variety- Castrol GTX has a higher zinc content too.

Synthetics
Type IV such as Royal Purple would most likely be a waste of money.
Type III such as most of the $5 qt (valvoline etc) is what I run in most vehicles
Blends are a ripoff; usually running at most 20% synthetic and charging 80% of the price difference

I wouldn't be buying at Autozone either... they seem to gouge the prices a bit; Walmart sells the 5 qt jugs of synthetic at about the same price A/Z sells conventional oil

My thoughts are based on my 10 years working in the petroleum industry with 2 major oil companies and having several relatives that were professional mechanics.