Kicking a dead horse - Oils

[Bonkers]

Okay guys. I was just cruising through the archives, looking for some quick and nifty info about what motor oil to use and it seems as though the club goes through mood shifts regarding this subject. One minute Mobile One gets praise the next its Syntec.

Here's the deal. After my little low oil incident during the Carlisle caravan I have a slight distrust for Mobile One now. I'll use it if I must, but I want to be sure I'm getting the best milk for my baby.

Given the three options (Considering long highspeed travel and a rare occation at the track) which of the Four would you suggest: Mobile One, Red Line Syn, Royal Purple, or Amsoil?

I have experience with M1 and Red Line but they both rank tops now because everything else is worse (Don't get me wrong my SS still gets M1 and my Z28 lasted 40k on Red without complaint, I just feel as though a smoother motor is possible.) I've heard good things about Amsoil..a little too good if you catch my drift, and have been told that RP is best left to the track.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 

[Dave's Big Brakes]

I've had the best luck with Castrol Syntec, used running A-Sedan in SCCA, plus I use it in all my other cars. Used M1 in my 99 brand X car, and in the Viper.

 

[Fast Freddy]

i used 2 have a sponsorship from unocal otherwise known as union 76. i used their leaded 110 octane race gas (winston cup spec fuel) in my road race car and drag boat. anyway, i spoke to one of their fuel and oil designers (pretty much a petroleum chemist) about oils. this is what he said: "the most important thing when chosing an oil to use is not the brand but the weight". in other words a 0-30W is designed for cold weather and a 15-50W is designed for hot weather. the first # in a muti-viscosity oil denotes the oils abiltiy to flow quickly at start up (especailly when cold), the second # denotes the oils ability 2 resist thermal breakdown (heat from hard use). so as u can c theoretically a 5-50W oil is the best of both worlds. that does not mean it is the best though. it depends on how hot or cold it is outside. people in alaska should use mobil 0-30W in the winter. a winston-cup team should use valvoline 5-40W for qualifying and mobil 15-50W for the race.

 

[Bob Woodhouse]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bonkers:

Given the three options (Considering long highspeed travel and a rare occation at the track) which of the Four would you suggest: Mobile One, Red Line Syn, Royal Purple, or Amsoil? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

The D/C boys have invested many man hours by engineers in both engine development and oil development to tell us in our owners manual and on our valve covers that Mobil 1 is the best product for our babies. No reason to doubt or mistrust as they have huge reputations to lose. This oil works at the track as well. We ran Mobil 1 10W30 weight in my race car for two years, (well actually we changed it after each race!). The reasoning behind the lighter weight was to reduce engine friction losses, however that is debatable. Each bearing inspection revealed beautiful bearings including one race at 260 degrees engine temp. On the other hand, all the oils you mentioned are semi or full synthetics with good API ratings. We have no hard experience to offer for them.

 

[joe117]

I'd use what the automaker says to use and I'm betting there isn't any measurable difference between the ones you list.

By the way, as for going by the book, a buddy of mine bought a 3 series BMW a few months ago. The his owners manual says to do the regular oil changes at an interval of something like 12k miles. I can't remember exactly but I'm fairly sure that was the number. I know that BMW has done major research into oils, they must know what they are talking about. So what's up with that high interval? Anybody know?

 

[Bonkers]

Well, the 12k oil change interval is true with Bimmers but from my understanding (when I worked at the dealership attached to the BMW Dealership) that was a testimate to engineering, not oil. In fact the new Volkswagons and Hondas coming off the line have 7500 mile intervals on good old fashion jiffy lubes.

On the mobil note, I heard there was issues with burning. I know my SS is sucking oil away and no one can explain why. Compression is good and there are no leaks (considering the amount of oil loss.) My only assumption is that its burning through normal means only at accelerated rates.

 

[Achilles99]

This debate has come up multiple times on other lists, too. I'll try and offer a recap with my own personal commentary

Mobil 1 was king, until a recent statement released by some legal proceeding announced that it was not TRULY a full synthetic by definition. Now, without being a scientist, I don't know the logistics of that. If someone wants a more specific answer, I'm sure they could find one. My personal experience was fine with Mobil 1... I ran it on my 600+ HP Supra. I've also used the Mobil 1 filter, but upon inspection of the filter element I wasn't impressed. So, for the Supra, I switched to a *** spec filter with a better crystalline medium. I've also used Mobil 1 on my Jeep. No problems there.

Redline is great in general, especially their Water Wetter product. I steer clear of their oils because of cost, as well as something that went awry with their tranny oil. Turns out the synthetic tranny oil they make caused some swelling of parts, ultimately creating leaks (this is now a documented problem for Supras). The official word from Redline stated that some ingredient they used caused some bushings/gaskets to be adversely affected. They could offer no remedy. So, the general Supra community went back to using regular V160 oil. I left with a bad taste in my mouth, and decided to switch motor oils along with tranny oil.

Amsoil is currently my choice... I've used it on my Viper, and it works great. I have a buddy who uses it on his Viper, as well as at least a dozen Supras that use it. No adverse side effects so far.

However, like Joe117 and Bob Woodhouse mentioned, I'm sure you couldn't go wrong with Mobil 1, and their might not be a measurable difference between the oils.

For those of us who are anal, we can't help but try out products that give us even a POSSIBLE gain from usage

 

[Tomcat]

Wife just bought an S Type R Jag. The manual has changes every 10 thousand miles and does not use synthetic. I think we will change at every 3,000 miles. The type of oil and the interval seems odd since the engine is a supercharged 4.2L with 400hp.

At the 3,000 mile mark on my Viper I am changing to Royal Purple and will report on the results.

Tom

 

[Nasty 10]

<FONT COLOR="red">Ams</FONT c><FONT COLOR="blue">oil</FONT c>

 

[joe117]

All that being said.... BMW is a big corporation with a long history of scientific testing of motor oils. They have released reports over the years documenting their testing of oils for not only their lubricating properties but detergent qualities and residue. These guys know what they are talking about. Why would BMW recommend these long intervals between changes? there must be an answer. There must be some science behind it.

 

[Mike Brunton]

Joe,

I don't know when it started, but when I bought my 2002 325i it came with free service (including oil changes) for something like 3 years. When I start the car, the computer tells me how many miles until my next scheduled service. So, BMW is obviously weighing the life of the engine and their reputation against the costs of giving everyone free oil changes for 3 years. I would say the former outweighs the latter (how much does oil and a filter cost them? very little I bet). On the other hand, if they make a mistake and engines fail early due to oil change infrequency, would anyone ever buy BMW's again? It would kill them. So, I think they did the research and I think they know what they're talking about. My car has 11k miles on it, and I believe it still has something like 7k miles until the computer says I need to change oil. Then again, I drive it very easily.

Synthetic oil's big selling points are resistance to breakdown and extended change intervals (like 12k miles). The people spouting about 3k mile changes are the oil companies and moreso the service stations. I think Jiffy Lube's slogan still says something about "every 3000 miles".