oil is oil

[heehaw]

while i was standing there, he bought the walmart brand of oil, can't remember what its called right now, but that an a fram filter: he did say he changes oil often: but did not elaborate as i recall. i use that same brand of synthetic oil in my push mower and riding mower occasionally: because of the price, an i change them a lot more often than they probably need. my dad was sold on pennzoil: i used it for a while when i was young, then i got some on my pants, an noticed how it smelled, plus it would turn dark within a quarter mile trip: so i switched to castrol and used it almost exclusively till the last few years an have bounced around a little for the last 10 years or so. luckily have never had a engine malfunction i could blame on oil.
heehaw

 

[Soundguy]

I have never used the same brand of oil. I always bought what was on sell as long as it was a name brand oil like Mobil, Shell, Quaker Stated, Pennzoil, ect. I also use the dreaded Fram filters along with alot of Quaker State filters and never had one single problem. I run a marine business and we change the oil in over 75 boats, plus my tractor, mower, generator, 3 trucks, car, plus some other equipment for a mowing business. Never had one internal engine problem in over 20 years of doing this work. The way I see it all the oils and filters meet or exceed manufactures specs. Yes, there are better products out there but I see no need for them.

Now that being said my New Nissan Titan came with Valvoline Synthetic in it and I plan to keep using it. Its about the cheapest full synthetic on the market.

Chris

I hate to admit it.. but one of my old ford tractors.. a 1955 850 a daily worker, and my hardest worker actually.. it's probably got more hours on it than most of my other fords.. it's engine is a lil tired.. and she smokes some... still got good oil pressure for an old tractor.. though not nearly as high as those 172ci should have.... well.. it gets whatever oil is the cheapest.. and whatever fitler is the cheapest.. that is usually a fram ph8a.. or a motorcraft fl1a.. I can usually get one of those for 3.99 oil can be store brand or whatever.. 20w50 in winter.. or 40w in summer.. probably never gets the same oil brand twice in a row... the rest of them all pretty much get the same brand except for the diesels that get another.. etc..

so far.. runs better than when i got her.. go figure.... probably menas more that's she's getting regular oil changes with clean oil, vs who's name is on the bottle.. ( wouldn't do that with my power stroke diesel.. but... )


soundguy

 

[Sackett2]

I believe it was consumer Reports that did an oil brand and change interval study: end result was no noticeable difference in engine wear from the cheaper oils and the 3000-7000 change times. the end result- change your oil regularly.
I know the material the block is made out of will play more into the wear. I've rebuilt several Ford/Chevy v-8's and with 80000-100000 miles, have had enough cylinder wear to warrant extensive machine work, yet the 78 Toyota Celica with 120000 miles you could see the crosshatching on the cylinder walls

 

[GreenLawnFarm]

maybe mineral oil would work?

 

[Soundguy]

mineral gear oil in the rear end works fine for some..

soundguy

 

[Wayne County Hose]

If you listen long enough and to enough people you will hear exactly what you want to hear at some point.

 

[jfox]

This is an interesting thread.
I know people who said oil is oil, buy the cheapest.
Then they face oil consuption at 75,000 miles.
I know of one car treated this way. They sold the car with 80,000 miles. One of my brothers bought it and asked me to rebuild it. I said lets clean it up first with some good oil.
After 3 changes with Amoco 30 weight, it stopped using oil. He drove it past 250,000 miles and it was still performing well.
I have a 92 dakota with 310,000 on it with mobil 1 and it doesn't use a pint in 5,000. Never even had the timing chain replaced!!!

 

[LD1]

Changing the oil regularly is more important than the type of oil.

To answer the question about way back when, oils no being able to be mixed, is true, although I have no first hand experience. It wasn't because the oil was different, but the additives. Some mfgs additives would react badly with other mfgs and gum up, causing problems. It is not an issue today, as the govt or whoever has mandated that all oils must be compatible with others, so mixing has no adverse effects.

I tend to use the cheapest synthetic oil I can that I feel is of decient quality. Which is typically Valvoline @ like $19 per 5qts @ wal-mart. I also use the fram filters, but the better ones like the TG or XG.

I also thought I would share that I used to work for a Stanley steemer franchise and did all the oil changes on the vans. Two of them were 1995 ford E250's with the 300 I6. I started at about 100,000miles, and the vans had between 180 and 190,000 when I left. They were turds, they weighed 8000lbs, and got ran hard (pedal to the metal) everywhere, I know from experience. They also ran a lot more hours than something of similar mileage due to leaving the van run while doing a job at a customers house. And all I ever used it the vans was good ole wal-mart supertech @ .84 per qt.

 

[Soundguy]

warren is a big name. lotsa store brands under them.

soundguy

 

[20 20]

met a guy once that never changed oil in his car 150,000 + miles. said it was the wrong thing to do. he would just add oil every now and then when it needed it :O