Oil question

[stubborn1]

Asking which oil is best is like asking what your favorite flavor of ice cream is . You are going to here different answers from anyone.

If you change your oil on a regular basis (every 3-4K) and don't want extended drain intervals, stick with any SL grade motor oil and you should be fine.

As far as the tranny fluild, check your Owner's manual because its critical. I need to use Merc type V which is semi-synthetic. Not sure which tranny you have.

 

[PotHoleExpress]

Call me conservative but I personally would never do that. Also I doubt your owner's manual calls for 0W-30. I would not trust any filter to last 20,000 miles. Yikes. That's four times the factory recommended drain interval for my engine. I suppose you could just change the filter and pour in another quart. That seems like a waste of time since you're under the rig anyway so why not also get clean oil? Plus how much sense does it make - nice clean filter, fire up the motor and pump oil with 10,000 or maybe 15,000 miles worth of contaminants through it? Seems a waste of money.

 

[jgilbs]

so its been about 3k since my last oil change. i am driving home from school so when i get home, according to my windshield sticker, i will be due for an oil change. my question is, since i am running mobil 1, how neccasary is it? yesterday the CHECK OIL light came on, so i stopped and checked it. level was fine, but it was dark brown. is it time for a change, or is this just because synthetics hold contaminants in suspension better? everyone else seems to be saying that the main advantage of synthetics is extended change intervals. what mileage does everyone else change their synthetics(i dont know if i would be comfortable going a year without an oil change, esp on my 92!)

 

[aldive]

Call me conservative but I personally would never do that. Also I doubt your owner's manual calls for 0W-30. I would not trust any filter to last 20,000 miles. Yikes. That's four times the factory recommended drain interval for my engine. I suppose you could just change the filter and pour in another quart. That seems like a waste of time since you're under the rig anyway so why not also get clean oil? Plus how much sense does it make - nice clean filter, fire up the motor and pump oil with 10,000 or maybe 15,000 miles worth of contaminants through it? Seems a waste of money.

I doubt any owner’s manual call for any of the mods that we do to our trucks. nevertheless, most of the mods we do make a better ( than factory ) truck. How many Explorers roll off the line getting 30 MPG?

The filter did not go 20k miles. I change filter and add 1 quart of new oil ( synthetic Amsoil ) at 7.5k intervals.

Clean oil? I could care less what the oil looks like; I base my changes of lab analyses. My truck has 95k miles on it and has never used a single drop of oil.

What seems like a waste of money, as well as precious resources, is dumping oil that is perfectly good for its intended purpose.

The system works well for me and I hope that yours works for you; just don’t say it can’t be done.

 

[PotHoleExpress]

The man asked if he should, I told him I would not. As I indicated in my posts, this is just what I do based on my research and personal experience, and 102,000 miles with no oil-related problems.

I have always wondered how a vehicle would perform on Hi-Tech oil. WalMart carries this and it is 99 cents/quart. It has the current SAE info on it. I wonder if it would hold up? I paid $6.88 for the 5-quart jug of Pennzoil 5W-30. That's $1.37/quart. We'll see what the recent jump in oil prices does to that!

Anyway - on a more important note than conventional vs. synthetic, etc., I bring my used oil to a recycling center. I was surprised how many there are in my area. Here is the link to find a used oil drop-off site in your area if folks are interested:

http://www.recycleoil.org/

I doubt any owner’s manual call for any of the mods that we do to our trucks. nevertheless, most of the mods we do make a better ( than factory ) truck. How many Explorers roll off the line getting 30 MPG?

The filter did not go 20k miles. I change filter and add 1 quart of new oil ( synthetic Amsoil ) at 7.5k intervals.

Clean oil? I could care less what the oil looks like; I base my changes of lab analyses. My truck has 95k miles on it and has never used a single drop of oil.

What seems like a waste of money, as well as precious resources, is dumping oil that is perfectly good for its intended purpose.

The system works well for me and I hope that yours works for you; just don’t say it can’t be done.

 

[jgilbs]

http://www.recycleoil.org
nice - that site even has a pic of an explorer on its front page!

 

[Ford_Racing_Guy]

i can't believe that some people still use pennzoil

 

[PotHoleExpress]

Yep - 9 cars and 26 years and I've used nothing but Pennzoil! Half those cars were kept over 100,000 miles.

i can't believe that some people still use pennzoil

 

[cfkane]

One of the purposes of modern motor oils is to reduce the detrimental effects of combustion by products. In a gas fueled engine approximately 10% of the combustion byproduct is water. Some of this in turn makes its way past the rings in the form of blowby. This and other corrosive chemicals from combustion will accumulate in the oil until a saturation level is reached for the additive package. At this point the internal components will begin to suffer chemical erosion even if the oil viscosity is constant. .

A good example of this is the rod bearings in higher mileage vehicles. Typically they will show pitting and erosion from engines that have run extended oil change intervals. In fact this is a much more common form of wear in a modern engine than viscosity breakdown.

So how does one know when it is time to change the oil? Extended service engines will have the oil analyzed on a periodic basis to determine the appropriate interval. Unfortunately since this is a costly procedure it is not terribly practical for passenger vehicles on a wide spread basis, thus the conservative interval recommendations given by the OEM.

Synthetics can run for over 25,000 as long as the additive package is still working, the question is when to change. If the desire is to run the synthetic oil for extended intervals, have the tests run for the first cycle then base you interval of future changes on this information. A simple rule is that the oil needs to be heated past the boiling point of water on a regular basis for best service life. Stop and go driving or short trips are the killer.

 

[N7XME]

I have always wondered how a vehicle would perform on Hi-Tech oil. WalMart carries this and it is 99 cents/quart. It has the current SAE info on it. I wonder if it would hold up? http://www.recycleoil.org/

I have been using the WalMart Hi-Tech oil and filter for about 5 years now in 4 different vehicles. I have never noticed a difference between it and the more pricey brands as long as the change interval is followed.

 

[X~FACTOR]

I always wondered about that also. But more pricey brands aren't that pricey if you really think about it. Add to that that you only change oil every 3-4 months. The difference is no more than 5-6 bucks. I'm willing to pay for that for a little piece of mind.

 

[N7XME]

Also something to think about. If the oil and filter have the SAE info on it then they by law the manufacturer has to meet at least the minimum standard listed on the packaging. I know that that means some manufacturers will push the bottom limit to the max, but not everyone is that way. I look at it this way. I change the oil and filter at approxiamately every 2000 miles, which is 3 months of driving for me, so I am actually changing it at a shorter interval than specified by Ford. At that rate a $5 oil change works out pretty good on the wallet and I have had no ill effects from it. Either way, do what works best for your vehicle.