What synthetic oil you use and why?

CIONIDE · Joined: 04 Nov 2007 Posts: 2668 Location: Napa, CA

wrczx3 wrote: I think I will switch to full synthetic Mobil 1 0/20 or 5/20 at my next oil change to see if I can improve my gas mileage.
If you're going to pay the extra for full synthetic, and mpg is your goal, then definitely go with the 0W-20. I've used 5W-20 on my last couple of oil changes (because it's what Wal-Mart had) and have seen a 1-1.5mpg increase, but a friend of mine who uses 0W-20 has seen a 2-3mpg improvement over his previous synthetic blend usage.

wrczx3 · Posted: 7/30/08 7:46PM Post subject:

CIONIDE wrote: wrczx3 wrote: I think I will switch to full synthetic Mobil 1 0/20 or 5/20 at my next oil change to see if I can improve my gas mileage.
If you're going to pay the extra for full synthetic, and mpg is your goal, then definitely go with the 0W-20. I've used 5W-20 on my last couple of oil changes (because it's what Wal-Mart had) and have seen a 1-1.5mpg increase, but a friend of mine who uses 0W-20 has seen a 2-3mpg improvement over his previous synthetic blend usage.

I am very curious to see if I see a difference between 5/20 full synthetic Mobil 1 and the 5/20 synthetic blend I currently use so I think i'll try that first. I am not expecting any difference in fuel economy. I will then give the 0/20 full synthetic Mobil 1 a try to see if I notice an increase. I work for Mobil so I can get a decent price on Mobil 1.

Carlanga · Posted: 7/30/08 7:59PM Post subject:

bobistheoilguy.com go to the forums area and look at the oil analysis and see 4 ur self which is better

AAG · Joined: 25 May 2007 Posts: 926 Location: Dallas, TX

^ Yes that site is very good. Anyone who cares about their vehicle maintenance should check it out.

Schmohey · Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 220

I use Mobil 1 5/20 because its relatively inexpensive $25 with tax at Walmart. I still change my oil once the maintenance light comes on. No matter what the oil manufacturer claims, I don't want oil in my car for that long.

ShockTherapy · Joined: 22 Oct 2006 Posts: 102 Location: 60417

royal purple, 5W-30, every 5K. it's just what i grew up using.

Invertalon · Joined: 09 Aug 2007 Posts: 552 Location: Cleveland, Ohio

Mobil 1 - 0W20

ae86gts · Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 42 Location: NW burbs chicago

valvoline dura blend is the best stuff out there!
but there full synthetic is alright
I wanna run 0 -20 valvoline and red trans synthetic and see what the mileage is!~

wrczx3 · Posted: 8/2/08 5:44AM Post subject:

ae86gts wrote: valvoline dura blend is the best stuff out there!
but there full synthetic is alright
I wanna run 0 -20 valvoline and red trans synthetic and see what the mileage is!~

Any you base this claim on what?

ae86gts · Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 42 Location: NW burbs chicago

yea there was a huge test like hmm year ago i forget where the list is but tested over 1000 oils! plus i know from use and from using it my self!
dura does not burn up like normal oil and does not find leaks like synthetics but it was in the top 5 well alot of oils like mobile 1 were in the 20's

i'll have to try and find the test and list

wrczx3 · Posted: 8/2/08 8:34AM Post subject:

ae86gts wrote: yea there was a huge test like hmm year ago i forget where the list is but tested over 1000 oils! plus i know from use and from using it my self!
dura does not burn up like normal oil and does not find leaks like synthetics but it was in the top 5 well alot of oils like mobile 1 were in the 20's

i'll have to try and find the test and list

Good, I would like to see that test. Since it is soooo good, what kind of improvements have you seen? An additional 50 horsepower and 10mpg? Seriously, in my 30 years of driving I have noticed one thing. If you change your oil as suggested, I don't care what brand it is, in a "normal" car like ours, you will never see any diference between and oils. Maybe in a high performance car with a turbo or supercharger the benefits of synthetic can be seen such as prevention of coking on the turbo bearings and such.

ae86gts · Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 42 Location: NW burbs chicago

its not about hp or mpg its all about protection under long term use and what it can take as far motor abuse

ae86gts · Joined: 08 Jul 2008 Posts: 42 Location: NW burbs chicago

if i wanted hp and mpg i would run WD40 till the motor locked up!

wrczx3 · Posted: 8/3/08 12:25PM Post subject:

ae86gts wrote: its not about hp or mpg its all about protection under long term use and what it can take as far motor abuse

Have you ever met anyone that blew a motor because they were using inexpensive oil? I was a service wtiter for a Goodyear in Florida and we did 1000's of oil changes with the cheapest crappy oil we could buy and even in that sweltering heat, we never had one customer come back with mechanical problems due to crappy oil.

buickid · Joined: 25 Feb 2008 Posts: 267 Location: Honolulu, Hawaii

Yeah, in reality, unless you plan on driving the car for 500,000 miles, a reputable conventional oil changed every 5k should get you at least half way to that. By the time the engine wears out, you'll probably have had other things to worry about. I would say synthetics are needed if your car is highly modified though. (Forced induction)
That said, once I do my free oil changes, I plan on dropping in either Mobil 1 or Penzoil Platinum, whatever we have in the garage. :)

tijiez · Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 9

I've been using Royal Purple...

PakanaHerruus · Joined: 05 Nov 2006 Posts: 643 Location: Simi Valley, CA

5w30 Royal Purple, cause im a dealer for them cost me less then conventional oil. and besides its good for the motor..

been changing my own oil since like 3,000 miles into driving the vehicle.. let the dealer do the first oil change.. after breaking the motor in, then i ran the Royal Purple.

XVR4667 · Joined: 30 Nov 2007 Posts: 3 Location: Queen Creek, AZ

I've tried Amsoil, drained it around 5k miles, the engine (valve ticking) was noisy.
I got Mobil 1 0-30 right now and it's still pretty quiet @ +5K miles. And gas mileage is a little bit better, even w/ my heavy foot.
I had extended performance in my Ody and had about 10k miles and it was really quiet for that amount of miles. No valve tick. Going to put it in next, probably this weekend. They have a video on their web page about their testing in Vegas' cabs. Pretty interesting. The other good thing is that you don't need any special oil filter.
Penz. Platinum is not that bad for the price.
Castrol Syntec sucks a bad one, I lost HP & Trq., when we were up WA the engine had a harder time on the same hill when running Mobil 1 or Penz.
Q-state Horsepower. was crappy too, had that in the Chevy Suburban only 3k.

DAILYXB-TYPE-R · Joined: 15 Apr 2008 Posts: 844

same stuff i'm using. affordable, reliable, all in all great stuff. getting ready for another oil change and going to use the same thing mobil-1 0-30

Schmohey · Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 220

Is there a big difference between the 0-20 and the 0-30? I understand that it will be thicker when the engine is hot but its also a few bucks cheaper (0-30) at WalMart. =)