Originally Posted By: lighteningbee
Hi guys im new to this forum so first I would like to apologize for possibly posting this in the wrong category. I am the proud owner of a new 2012 Dodge Charger SRT8 Superbee with a 6.4L V8 engine. It is a 392 Hemi engine if that helps with anything. This car is honestly my most prized possession and I want to do everything I can to keep it running properly. I do drive it rather hard at times and I need to know what the best possible 0W-40 synthetic oil is that I can use in this engine. To me price is not an issue because if I just spent over 40k for a car the difference of $20 for better oil seems to be a very small price to pay to keep it running properly. Additionally I would like to know what the best quality oil filter is for this car with performance driving in mind as well as long engine life.
Thanks in advance,
lightning bee
Glad to see yet another Mopar guy here (don't know how I missed this post when it first popped up yesterday).
So let's talk about 392 engines, and get away from the whole warranty rathole this thread has gone down, it now has its own thread anyway.
I also have a 2012 SRT-8 392. When the time came for my first oil change, I jumped through a lot of hoops to get the Pennzoil Ultra 0w40 oil that is the factory fill in these cars (it even has the SRT logo on the bottles, and claims to be "co-engineered" with SOPUS and Chrysler engineers specifically for SRT engine.)
So I paid the $10/quart price, and found that my ONLY choices for getting any of the stuff are the dealership or online. Both work out to within pennies of $10/quart. But its my baby, right?
Out of my inherent engineer/scientist curiosity and never having used Pennzoil Ultra before, I sent in a virgin sample for analysis... and was a bit disappointed. At least for the traditional additives, I would say the additive package is considerably weaker than Mobil 1 0w40- see
this thread . On the other hand, if the same is true for 0w40 as for 5w30, Ultra has better (lower) NOACK volatility and *maybe* better long-term shear stability because it does use a very good base oil (see
this PQIA comparison. ) . But I haven't seen a direct comparison of M1 0w40 vs PU 0w40, and extrapolating from the 5w30 is not really a safe thing to do since the 0w40s (in particular the M1) are distinctly different than the garden-variety xw30 oils under the same brand.
So what am I getting at? I ran Pennz Ultra for my first change, and I know its certainly a very good oil, and the factory uses it. But I'm *probably* going to switch to M1 0w40 next time around because a) its FAR more readily available and cheaper, b) its proven to be one of the best mass-market oils available... period. However, I will do an end-of-interval used analysis on the PU and then do the same with M1 just to see how they are holding up. Given the heat that these 392's put into the oil (have you watched your oil temp in the EVIC? It heads straight for 220+ degrees and parks there, which is great for driving out moisture and contaminants, but does demand viscosity stability) that may be more important than the old-school additive pack of M1, and if PU is better, then I'll stick with it.
As for filter- I'm running the Royal Purple synthetic this time (not
this part number, but the same design ) , but given that these engines have relatively low oil pressure I'd be fine with the thinner-shelled Purolator synthetic or the Fram Ultra. The thick shell of the RP is probably overkill. Tthe highest cold oil pressure I've ever seen on the 392's EVIC is around 75 PSI, compared with nearly 100 when cold on the aftermarket gauge my 4.7L Ram- and that's with 0w20 oil in the Ram! I gather that the 392 has a more sophisticated oil pressure regulation system similar to the 3.6L v6 because of the VCT and MDS systems- although MDS is disabled on mine since its a stick car.
