What oil do you guys run???

[mr cribb]

Plus, the extended drain interval helps keep me warm in the 5-6 months we call winter here.

Umm you can't call that winter, not when it lasts for 5-6 months.... I was stationed at Ft. Drum, NY for 4 years..... thats not winter..... IT'S FROZEN HELL!!!

Any place that freezes over for months on end isn't normal.... but then again I'm a southerner so I enjoy a little of all 5 seasons.... spring, tornadoes, HELL, fall, and winter.

I dunno about SD, but NY where I was at got on average of 8 FEET of snow.... The most I'd seen in Oklahoma was foot maybe foot and a half. We usually have ice though.

 

[Roadrunner777]

Yeah I know, I moved to Northern Minnesota in summer. I figured, how bad could winter be?

 

[FIND]

Umm you can't call that winter, not when it lasts for 5-6 months.... I was stationed at Ft. Drum, NY for 4 years..... thats not winter..... IT'S FROZEN HELL!!!

Any place that freezes over for months on end isn't normal.... but then again I'm a southerner so I enjoy a little of all 5 seasons.... spring, tornadoes, HELL, fall, and winter.

I dunno about SD, but NY where I was at got on average of 8 FEET of snow.... The most I'd seen in Oklahoma was foot maybe foot and a half. We usually have ice though.

You guys get that lake effect, so you generally get a little more snow than we do out here, though we have had some wet winters, we see some snowfalls that are a couple feet, but for the most part, I don't think we really get totals as high as you do. Also, you wanna know about frozen hell. Where I am at now, I see it get down to at least -20s every winter, where I lived before in North Dakota, I remember a week of -45 with 17 inches of what used to be snow before it somehow became an even colder version of ice. When you see -50, then you know you are in a frozen hell, I moved here cause I wanted to get to a warmer climate. I know a guy up in Northern Minnesota, he sees it get down to -60 sometimes, but the 108 degree weather we get up to here in the summer where I live, that is what scares him.

But yeah, us Northern plains types enjoy our two seasons, winter and road construction. Thankfully though, I am far enough south to get tornado season too sometimes.

 

[mr cribb]

When you see -50, then you know you are in a frozen hell, I moved here cause I wanted to get to a warmer climate. I know a guy up in Northern Minnesota, he sees it get down to -60 sometimes, but the 108 degree weather we get up to here in the summer where I live, that is what scares him.

But yeah, us Northern plains types enjoy our two seasons, winter and road construction. Thankfully though, I am far enough south to get tornado season too sometimes.

-50... don't remind me. I had to go for a 4 mile run in that crap. When you added the wind chill that day it made it -70. It prob wouldn't have been so bad had I had the appropriate attire (normal cold weather clothing, carhartt etc)

LOL I miss that saying "winter and road construction"

I wasn't a fan of the northern US (we called southern Canada where I was), because when the army plays the cruel joke of taking a southern boy used to certain things and stationing him in "southern Canada" a week before Thanksgiving is just wrong as well.... you know the saying.

 

[Roadrunner777]

Definition of Cold Hell is when it gets sub-zero for a month but no snow on the ground. You know what you get? Frozen septic tank/drain field. Know how to fix that? Can't. You can steam it clear (steaming out a frozen septic tank, how's that for a job?) It will just freeze up again. Hasn't happened to me yet!

 

['93BajaSport]

Maybe synthetic oil would help "cold flow."

 

[Baddecision93]

I may have a lax approach but I use the cheapest possible oil I can find.

This thing has 170,000+ miles on it and marks its territory where'er it's parked. It doesn't use even quite a quart between oil changes.

I change the oil religiously at 3,000. Most vehicle I've ever owned before I would stretch past 5,000 because the oil came out still fairly clean and I'm easy on cars.
This guy is pushing 20 years old though and the oil is black as night come changing time.

My opinion? Save your money, use cheap oil, and don't worry about minor leaks. If you want to try to make it new again be my guest but I think you'll just end up pouring money into it to no avail.
Might as well just keep saving some money using cheap oil too and save it for when something really big and expensive blows, as it inevitably will with an old 4x4.

 

[snoranger]

Oil is oil. Synthetic won't find leaks or make leaks, it can mix just fine with any other oil, and you can switch back and forth between synthetic, conventional, and blends at whim.

I have first hand experience with synthetic "finding" leaks. We switched over one of our customers to synthetic. (fleet of 40+ forklifts) Almost half of the engine started to leak within a month (small seeping, nothing major). I dont blame the synthetic for causing them, but it does find the leaks.

Synthetic oil causing oil leaks is another commonly spread myth. The truth of the matter is that if all your engine seals and gaskets are in good condition, synthetic oil will NOT leak in your engine. The myth started because on occasion, an engine will leak with synthetic oil, but not dino oil. The reason for this is that the smaller molecules of the synthetic are able to get past very small crevices, where the larger molecules of dino oil cannot. But this does not mean that the synthetic oil has caused the leak, it simply has "discovered" an infant leak, and regardless of what oil you are running, this infant leak will eventually grow to a size that will allow dino oil to occupy and pass also. Synthetic oil has not been shown to deteriorate engine seals or gaskets. It is not some evil solvent that will break down sealant, or anything like that. Like was said earlier, it is just a man-made base stock, that is uniform and smaller in molecule size than dino oil. Nothing more, nothing less.

http://www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/articles/synthoil.htm

 

[ExpoXLT]

I use Motorcraft 5W-30 synthetic blend and Motorcraft filter. I change my oil every 5000 miles, but I have a new motor in my 98 explorer and that is what I've always used in it.

 

['93BajaSport]

I change the oil religiously at 3,000. Most vehicle I've ever owned before I would stretch past 5,000 because the oil came out still fairly clean and I'm easy on cars..

The color of the oil has no correlation to how "spent" it is. I would bet money that an oil analysis says you change your oil too frequently, especially if you truly are easy on cars.

 

[FIND]

I have first hand experience with synthetic "finding" leaks. We switched over one of our customers to synthetic. (fleet of 40+ forklifts) Almost half of the engine started to leak within a month (small seeping, nothing major). I dont blame the synthetic for causing them, but it does find the leaks.



http://www.aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/articles/synthoil.htm

They aren't actually smaller molecule chains like that article says. Dino oil generally has hydrocarbon chains ranging from 30-60 long, whereas a good synthetic would have uniform length hydrocarbon chains, generally around 40-45 long. The problem with synthetic finding leaks sometimes is the same problem that people have when they switch from poor quality oil to high quality oil, the detergents and additives stay in suspension better and work better, clearing out the deposits that clog things. That is why I said synthetic doesn't find leaks, you could find them just as easily just switching to a higher quality dino oil.

 

[5spdman]

pennzoil high mileage 10w-30 and filter...been starting to lose a quart about every 8 weeks or so it seems, so i'll add some lucas oil additive every change (and a little with more of the pennzoil (if needed) every time i check the level (every other fill-up...))

 

[Roadrunner777]

pennzoil high mileage 10w-30 and filter...been starting to lose a quart about every 8 weeks or so it seems, so i'll add some lucas oil additive every change (and a little with more of the pennzoil (if needed) every time i check the level (every other fill-up...))

I have hear of that kind of usage being associated with the lower intake gasket problem. Just a head's up. I have about the same usage, but it's not bad enough for me to do the gasket yet.

 

[5spdman]

I have hear of that kind of usage being associated with the lower intake gasket problem. Just a head's up.

thanks for the heads up! i'd feel more inclined to look at it, but this explorer is on it's last leg...and that leg is broken. if i run into the same kind of thing with the next explorer, i'll keep this in mind!

 

[dersch6221992]

i posted back at the beginning of this about my mountaineer with 120k miles.
i drive 100 miles round trip to work 3 to 4 days a week.

i have saved all my gas reciepts for this month.
before switching i ranged between 15.8 and 17.1 mpg (hand calc)
after switching i got 17.2 and 18.68.

I am not saying its a fantastic improvement but it deffiantly seems to be helping with my 100mi high way trip. I also am in need of an air filter change here soon so that may also improve.

i have no seen any leaks or anything yet. im approaching the 3k mi mark and plan on checking the level. im gona change it at 10k miles