Are WalMart SuperTech oils worth it?

[goeduck]

I believe diesels used direct injection long before gasoline engines. I don't have an issue extending oil drains in my diesel or my gasoline engine.
Having said that. I do UAO's from time to time too

I do not know when diesels started with direct injection, may earliest is a mid 90s design. Runs great to this day.

 

[ch1ch2]

As I read it, new direct injection engines are harder on old than older ones were and they are more prone to diluting oil with gas washing down the cylinder walls.
As such, doing extended oil changes or using cheap oil is not recommended and can cause problems

Aaron Z

Thanks

 

[drizler]

Those DGI car engines are a whole different beast when it comes to valve gunk and oil dilution. The older ones as expected are far worse than the newer models from what I gather as manufacturers seek to make them work better. If you don’t own one and change your own oil and keep up with your model through web forums ect. It’s a real thing that exists. Remember, the other types of induction have the valves getting a steady blast of solvent as fuel goes in while this does not so impurities do cook on. Catch cans with some stainless Brillo pad inside do a fair bit to trap the oil and water spooge that the valves have cooked on but isn’t a real answer . Regular cleanings with CRC and some other in house specialty sprays help too but according to one wall some write Up by a mechanic it really doesn’t do so very much either. So that brings you back to the walnut shell blasting. Some guys just bypass the PCV and make it an overboard dump like a pre 1968 car had.
Long story short with those is you want an oil with as low a NOAK value as possible and not get lulled into those extended OCIs . You could before but it’s not advisable with these critters particularly the earlier models. Most guys dealing with this ( like ��me with my rolling recall Hyundai). Are advocating nothing but full synthetic and dumping that EPA mandated 5-20 for 5-30. Even our local dealership dumped in 5-30 on the last �� recall.
Sorry about the extensive history lesson away from Wally-oil. I just wanted to toss it out there for those who may be looking for a new and especially used car as something to be aware of. between CVT transmissions and DI the used market a dangerous place these days. Oh and by the way Wally Synthetic does have really good NOAK numbers��.

 

[daugen]

by the way Wally Synthetic does have really good NOAK numbers��.

Bingo.
This is the chemistry issue I don't understand. Would love to have someone do a chemistry comparison of say the top 10 ingredients/additive packs in each oil. I have read Bob The Oil Guy, and you can learn a lot there.

Bottom line is I still believe for most of our usage, meeting minimum standards, which apparently are set fairly high, is good enough.
I only put 100-150 hours a year on anything I own (non auto) so if I change my oil once a year, I think these engines will be running long after I'm gone. Except for the newer "300" hour engines. We seem to have 300 hour engines, and 1000 hour gas engines per the manufacturer, as if 1000 hours is supposed to be good. If I only got 1000 hours out of a Kawasaki zero turn, I'd be pretty upset. I guess 1000 hours means they are built the way they are supposed to be built, and the 300's are just disposable engines which can't even be rebuilt.

I want the oil that will make my 300 hour engine last 1000 hours.

Remember Slick 50 and all the other stuff we used to pour in oil trying to make it "better"??

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Don't have a clue what you said.
Also confused in general about what you are trying to say.
Is the engine the problem or the oil?

The direct gas injected engine prevents the gas detergents from washing the back side of the intake valve hence the chance for the blow by of the rings to cook on the back side of the intake valve. These engines have to be managed different. It is a stop gap measure until the all electric cars and trunks become mainstream.

 

[sixdogs]

Long story short with those is you want an oil with as low a NOAK value as possible and not get lulled into those extended OCIs . You could before but it痴 not advisable with these critters particularly the earlier models. Most guys dealing with this ( like ��me with my rolling recall Hyundai). Are advocating nothing but full synthetic and dumping that EPA mandated 5-20 for 5-30. Even our local dealership dumped in 5-30 on the last �� recall.

.

Why the oil switch?

Second question would be to ask if you think EPA mandate is behind the 0W20 oil requirement for newer vehicles like most Toyotas? That is, as opposed to their free choice of oil for that engine. Maybe they would normally use something like 5W30.

 

[daugen]

I have more weird oil weight cans on the shelf thanks to manufacturers jumping all around with this. Almost always buy a quart as a topoff spare, and never had to use it. Most of the time I'm changing oil before it gets more than half a quart down anyway.
I think my truck takes 0-20, which makes me wonder why I needed two new roller tappets, thankfully under warranty on my hemi.
Has the race for gas mileage been at the expense of reliability?

If you don't put in what the mfg calls for during the warranty period, good luck with any engine damage for something totally unrelated, they will blame it on the oil I bet. Bad a/c pump? Yeah, it's because of your oil sir...

 

[kenmac]

Has the race for gas mileage been at the expense of reliability?

I don't know about race. It's more likely trying to stay ahead of a government mandate.

But to answer the question. Yes. Just like the reliability of HVAC systems. They too have suffered because of the efficiency mandates

 

[Fallon]

I have more weird oil weight cans on the shelf thanks to manufacturers jumping all around with this. Almost always buy a quart as a topoff spare, and never had to use it. Most of the time I'm changing oil before it gets more than half a quart down anyway.
I think my truck takes 0-20, which makes me wonder why I needed two new roller tappets, thankfully under warranty on my hemi.
Has the race for gas mileage been at the expense of reliability?

If you don't put in what the mfg calls for during the warranty period, good luck with any engine damage for something totally unrelated, they will blame it on the oil I bet. Bad a/c pump? Yeah, it's because of your oil sir...

The Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act - Wikipedia means its incumbent on the warranty provider to prove any replacement parts or service items caused problems as long as they meet OEM specifications, not the owner to prove it wasn't. They would have a good case to deny engine related warranty claims if you put in something thicker or tinner than what was specified in the owners manual. They would loose very fast if they tried to deny a claim for something outside of the engine because of that. Most any dealer will cave very quickly on anything like that if you mention the Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act specifically.

I'm sure we could have more reliable engines & that fuel efficiency is partially to blame. But engineers are fighting dozens of often conflicting goals. Durability, fuel economy, price, weight, noise, ease of maintnance, etc. Rebuilds at under 50k miles use to be the norm. Now it's well north of 100k & making 300k isnt that surprising. North of 200k most vehicles are getting pretty ragged anyway unless they were well maintained.

Tighter tolerances driving lower viscosity oils also help drive increased reliability too.

 

[dieselcrawler]

I often see cases of 0w20 going down the line at work, looks like water coming out of the fillers, have splashing issues simular to when bottling ATF... can't help but wonder how it can be thick enough at operating temp, having seen 15w40 diesel oil come out looking that thin when at 150º+ when draining from a warm motor. I remember the days of running 10w40 in dad's old truck, 10w30 if it was fall or winter... 0w20 seems too thin for anything! Guess I'll just leave that up to the vehicle engineering dept, and do my job, keep the bottling lines running!