Let's talk oil ........................

[RSRXION]

I have been pondering the complexity of oil lately and I'm curious what your thoughts are. I've noticed that on occasion our local parts stores run "specials" on different brands of oil and it is tempting to change brands to take advantage of the cost savings. I use Valvoline products almost exclusively but I will stray to Castrol on occasion. I used Kendall for many years but it is getting increasingly hard to come by.

I use Valvoline 20-50 in my 66 Corvette 327 and my 73 Mach 1 351-C. The Corvette is about to get a fresh 468 inch big block and I'll probably use 20-50 in it too. It's a full roller motor that is awaiting an affordable set of manifolds before I bolt it in.

I use 10-30 Valvoline in my wife's supercharged 91 Thunderbird SC.

I use Valvoline 5-30 in my wife's 02 Tahoe with a 5.3 and my 04 GMC with an 8.1 big block.

I use WIX filters exclusively.

They all get changed at the 3,000 mile mark in spite of what the owners manual recommends at 5,000.

So now to my point and my questions... Do you alternate between brands based on cost savings? I sometimes see Pennzoil, Havoline and Quaker State as much as 40% cheaper than Valvoline or Castrol.

Do you alternate viscosities based on seasons and operating temperatures ?

Do you change your oil after a given period of time even if you haven't reached the mileage mark ?

Let's hear it folks. I'm curious to hear your thoughts and THANKS !

Dean

[squirrel]

Walmart's house brand is always less expensive than the name brands they sell.

But I'm allergic to marketing BS, so ymmv

[Bamfster]

All the DDs get Car Quest bulk 10/30 (year round) and their blue filters. The hot rod get Valvoline VR1 20/50 and CQ blue filter.

I go 5k between changes, and I add Lucas oil stabilizer to all of them.

[Barry Donovan]

Walmart's house brand is always less expensive than the name brands they sell.

But I'm allergic to marketing BS, so ymmv

I went napa oil, or carquest.
plain old oil.

one thing that has held true (I was trained at a quicklube), if the engine predates synthetic, don't torture it with some man made guru declaring himself an oil God (synthetic).

I destroyed one even after learning, I thought I could experiment.

The biggest win for old engines, is getting pcv correct, no open ended two sides of the engine.
A gentle flow can be created, and filtered, even helps the carbs.

[phitter67]

I've used Valvoline for years, usually 10W-40, Sometimes 10W-30. 3000 miles or each spring whichever comes first. Lucas oil stab. also.

[Scott Liggett]

I use cheap store brands in the Impala. It's a roller motor with 80,000 miles. Who cares. I use Valvoline VR1 in the Caprice's 454 cause it's got a flat tappet cam.

[tardis454]

I use Mobil Super 5000, it's cheap & keeps good oil pressure after 3000 miles.
Castrol is good, Rotella is probably the best conventional oil.
Lucas oil stabilizer works very well on older motors.

I learned about oil/filters from a buddy who works at NAPA. NAPA oil is rebranded Valvoline, their filters are made by Wix.
There are a few major oil filter companies, Baldwin/Hastings, Champion, Dana/Wix, Donaldson, Honeywell(Fram) & Puralator.

Here's some really good oil filter comparisons, you won't buy Fram after reading this!

This ones pretty in depth..

http://www.minimopar.net/oilfilters/

http://dcfiats.org/tech/filter-B.pdf

http://www.300cforums.com/forums/373286-post1.html

[dand38s]

Only use Valvoline in all 5 of my vehicles. Change it every 3000 miles. The lowest mileage vehicle is my 2004 Sunfire that I drive to work every day with 146,000. The high mileage is my 95 GMC truck with 323,000 miles. All vehicles have the original motors with no problem. Have a hard time changing anything with that kind of track record.

[TheSilverBuick]

I run Valvoline VR1 oil in the Skylark with a quart of Lucas. The Centurion and T-bird get off the shelf stuff, usually NAPA. The truck gets Mobil synthetic. All of them get Napa gold filters.

[cstmwgn]

I use Valvoline VR1 20w50 and 8oz of CompCams breakin lube in every change at 3,000 miles. I am a cheap ass so I never change it early which means I almost always end up changing my oil somewhere on tour when the clocks hits 3,000. I keep my eyes open for special sales and buy big when they happen. As an example, I picked up 16 quarts of VR1 for at Yates lunch stop on Thursday this year for $3 a quart.

[Scott Liggett]

Only use Valvoline in all 5 of my vehicles. Change it every 3000 miles. The lowest mileage vehicle is my 2004 Sunfire that I drive to work every day with 146,000. The high mileage is my 95 GMC truck with 323,000 miles. All vehicles have the original motors with no problem. Have a hard time changing anything with that kind of track record.

If it ain't broke........

[NewEnglandRaceFan]

[oldschoolcamaro]

i've used nothing but Valvoline VR1 since the 70's !!

[BigBlockMopar]

Why would you want to put 20w50 into a freshly built engine (if it's not a race-engine)?
You're only wasting HP by putting unneccesary friction in the engine.

The oil weight I'm using in my engines depends on what oilpressure I'm reading.

Only the well worn engines in my stable get 20w50.
The freshly built performance engines get 10w40.
My dailydriven '73 Dart with a bonestock 318 still seems very happy with a 5w20 synthetic oil.

All flattappet engines get oil upto an API-rating of 'SF'.
The roller cam (performance stuff) get any kind of oil.

[TheSilverBuick]

The oil weight I'm using in my engines depends on what oilpressure I'm reading.

Likewise, except I don't go below 10w-30 on my old stuff even when fresh.