A "good" oil recommendation request

[BritGerCarLuvr]

Quote:
So, when you ask for advice, tell us about your car! The more details, the better. Here are the essential points:

1. What kind of vehicle you have
2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well
3. Where you live
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
6. Whether your car has any known problems

If you have any preferences -- synthetic vs. conventional, store-bought vs. ordered online, how long you'd like to go between oil changes, etc. -- or any other info you think might be important, let us know that as well.

Once again, the more details, the better. BITOG loves a good oil recommendation thread, especially when you give us a lot to work with.


OK. So here we go:

VEHICLE 1:
1. 2006, Jaguar Super V8 (Jaguar 4.2L Supercharged AJ-V8 420bhp (SAE), ZF Automatic 6 Speed Gearbox, 0-60 4.9sec

2. Owner's manual: " An oil of 5W30 viscosity to Jaguar specification WSS M2C913-B MUST be used in all vehicles. Where the WSSM2C913-B specification cannot be found, ACEA A3/B3 OR ACEA A1/B1 may be used. The following viscosities may be used: 0W30, 5W30 (preferred), 0W40, 5W40. For maximum fuel economy, 5W30 is recommended." Jaguar recommends 10,000 miles between oil changes.

3. Dallas, Texas, USA.

4. Demanding, but not abusive. Mainly "go with the flow", but a bit agressive on the acceleration in passing, almost always a dounshift, to about 500 RPM BELOW start of Red Line. Occasionally, WOT runs, less than 30 minutes.

5. UNfortunately, I often have "shorter" trips than I would like. About 70% short trips of 15 miless or less, and a bit more idling than most.

6. No known problems. Been a reliable car to date. Runs great to date. FYI I have been running Castrol Edge 5W30 all along, AND I DO change my oil EVERY 5000 miles. I only wish to use synthetics. This is probably going to be one of those, "don't fix it if it aint broke", keep the same Edge oil.

7. My goals, to make this engine LAST as long as possible. Cats tend to mess up. I would like the least wear at cold engine start and the best possible protection in extreeme conditions. . . . will probably have to settle for a bit of both. It seems, that you can't get one with the other.

Here are the candidates:

Mobil 1, Advanced Fuel Economy 0W30
Mobil1 European Formula 0W40
Castrol Edge 5W30
Castrol Syntec 0W30 (GC)
Mobil 1 Extended Engine Protection 5W30
Mobil 1 5W30
Total Quartz Energy 9000 (Elf Excellium Full Tech) 0W30

There you go, have at it. Thank You for your time.
Looks like Jaguar doesn't care whether I use High or Low viscosity oils. Looks like I have been using a low vis oil to date (Edge 5W30 A5/B5)
I would love, if possible and explanation on the VI index and it's role.

 

[addyguy]

Rotella 'T6' 5W-40 all the way.

 

[hate2work]

M1 0W-40 all the way, everyday plus Sunday.

 

[yaris0128]

I woulndt buy anything but the best for that car. So it would come down to either PU or M1EP.

 

[chubbs1]

How bout this, if you really want to take care of it (because those short trips are a murder on oil) I would go with M1 ESP 5w30 or 5w40 any day of the week + a month of Sundays.
Matrix Oils has good prices and they will talk to you if you call, very knowledgeable

 

[CATERHAM]

Since Jaguar is not overly particular then I see no problem in continuing to use Castrol Edge 5W-30.
I presume your car doesn't have an oil pressure gauge which makes oil viscosity selection much more precise.

The reason many vehicle manufacturer like high VI oils is their low start-up viscosity. This is believed to further reduce engine wear, lessens the risk cold start cavitation and improves fuel economy.
A good example of this is M1 AFE 0W-30 (VI 180) vs Edge 5W-30 (VI 167). We don't know the HTHS vis for Edge but for the sake of argument I'm going to assume it's close for both oils in part because they have similar KV100 spec's. M1 is significantly lighter at all start-up temp's; 12% lighter at 20C, 18% at 0C, 22% at -10C and more so as the temp's continue to drop.
So M1 0W-30 would be a good alternative to Edge particularly during the winter months.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

If you want a synthetic I go with the Total. You could run the 5w-40 variant in the Texas Summer. For Winter the Total 0w-30 would be OK. The M1 zero-dubbya would work year round. None of the other U.S of A bought oil are synthetic. (I consider slack wax base oils syn so I keep the M1 European in the top 3). Gary and Pablo would chime in that Amsoil has some synthetics that would work.
*the M1 0w-30 looks good out of the box but I'd love to see what it does (cold flow) with 3K of E10 high sulfur gas on it. Plus I would have to question the stability of it with that VI + the supercharger load (400+HP 4 litre! GUYS!). Let's see what it specs like as an SN GF5 if they offer it as such

Ps: Dont discount Pentosin and Fuchs Silkolene or Motul's 300v or their Bimmer LL oils.

 

[fdcg27]

Here's a thought.
You have an expensive car with an expensive engine.
Why not spring for a Dyson analysis with the GC you show the car currently running?
If I owned a fairly exotic car, and you do, I'd surely spend a hundred bucks to check into how well my oil is doing in my use of my car.
Here, I think, is a case for advice beyond the expertise of most of the members here.
This thing ain't an Accord or an Elantra, nor is it a mere turbo Subie or Chrysler Hemi.
This is an engine that would probably be very costly to tear down.
It would be nice to have the advice of someone who really does know, versus the many here who know a little, but don't have the wide range of experience to provide good guidance.