$11 for a case of oil is a great deal
Current top 0w-20’s?
- Thread starter 02s4audi
- Start date
You're right. My poor language skills. I should have said per quart.
I do see the argument that if you’re taking the time to get under the car and get dirty, might as well use a top of the line oil. Hard to get that dirty and put in bottom shelf stuff.
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2025
- Messages
- 68
Your Ram has the 3.6?
I'd say just get the VW508 specced 0w20s if you do need to run a 0w20. Rather more robust than run of the mill 0w20s.
With a 0w20 and its lower HTHS, especially with a torquey and/or large engine rather than a soccer mom small sedan, you are going to rely very heavily on additive chemistry compensating for the laws of physics. So top of the line oil with better additive chemistry doesn't sound like a bad deal for this - and even then, early and frequent OCIs will make sense.
With a 0w20 and its lower HTHS, especially with a torquey and/or large engine rather than a soccer mom small sedan, you are going to rely very heavily on additive chemistry compensating for the laws of physics. So top of the line oil with better additive chemistry doesn't sound like a bad deal for this - and even then, early and frequent OCIs will make sense.
A good reason to use a 504 00 oil instead.
Sheesh, close to 4x what I pay per quart. What interval you running?
I guess it depends on the car and your working quarters, but I don't get dirty at all from doing an oil change. I just throw a yoga mat on the garage floor and put on a pair of nitrile gloves. I usually don't even get changed from whatever I happen to be wearing that day.
I hope you're sitting down for this:
Every 3,000 miles whether it needs oil or not. With a new OEM filter.
I hope you're sitting down for this:
Every 3,000 miles whether it needs oil or not. With a new OEM filter.
You only go by mileage? What about time?
I hope you're sitting down for this:
Every 3,000 miles whether it needs oil or not. With a new OEM filter.
The local fleet of school buses running reclaimed oil owe you a debt of gratitude. Never before has the base stock been so pure!
I'm in California. We drive. The time interval is 3-4 months.
Have you ever taken the oil filter off a Toyota 5VZ?
Guy is paying for his dealer's kids' college.I hope you're sitting down for this:
Every 3,000 miles whether it needs oil or not. With a new OEM filter.
In all seriousness though, have you sent a UOA? I'm betting you can extend that a bit...
Guy is paying for his dealer's kids' college.
In all seriousness though, have you sent a UOA? I'm betting you can extend that a bit...
I do the oil and filter change myself. I haven't been to the dealer for any service.
I haven't done the UOA on this car. I may indeed be overdoing it, but I don't mind spending my money on this stuff. Others judge the quality of their car care by the amount of money they saved. I get that.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Keep in mind that mileage is a very poor proxy for oil degradation, it's used because it's simple, and easy to communicate, but of the common metrics (distance/time (hours)/fuel volume burned) it is the most poorly correlated. It accounts for neither of the other two factors, and this is why most OEM's have moved away from mileage counters to iOLM's that take operating conditions into account.
1) I drive a lot of stop-and-go.
2) I examine the condition of the oil on the dipstick.
^^Not perfect diagnostics, but more than just milage.
I get what you're saying. Short of lab testing my oil at every fill up, I'm working within a broad range. What I'm doing may be wasteful and unnecessary. But, you know, there's oil condition, additive condition, oil contamination, fuel dilution . . . lots of things that I'm hedging against.
Maintenance Minder? The app. is written to assure owners that they don't have to spend money, isn't it? My car says don't worry about valve adjustments until 100,000 mi. There used to be a BMW or Mercedes that said, "Your oil is good for 100,000 mi." Because this is what people want to hear.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Looking at the oil on the dipstick tells you pretty much nothing unfortunately. Some oil additives are reactive to temperature and can dramatically change the colour of the oil in a short period of time, even though the serviceability of the lubricant hasn't changed at all.
These are all things that can be tested for with a UOA, so you'd actually know the condition of your oil though. You don't have to do it every oil change, you do a few of them, to determine where your safe range is, and then work within that, maybe doing the odd spot check here or there to make sure nothing has changed.
I don't recall BMW or Mercedes ever saying 100,000 miles, maybe 20,000 miles at one point? While Toyota's OLM is actually just a dumb mileage counter, most of the rest of them are algorithms written to optimize the oil change interval, with a considerable safety margin, based on the actual operating conditions the engine experiences, which is reflected in the amount of fuel burned, number of short trips, time at temperature, time below temperature, number of idle hours...etc. The parameters are myriad.
Somebody who short trips with an average speed of 15mph is going to put considerably more hours on the oil, and burn considerably more fuel; is going to degrade the oil considerably more while changing it at 3,000 miles for example, than somebody who highway commutes with an average speed of 55mph with the same change interval.
My JL Wrangler with that engine has had 105k miles with probably 20 of its 22 oil changes on Mobil 1 EP 0w20. It seems to love it and I will continue with it.
But there are many good ow20's and this engine is easy on them. You can worry about the cam failures or whatever while that engine winds up giving you 500,000 miles of service, especially if you shut off the ESS. I wouldn't personally lose any sleep over it.
Amsoil dealer. Not car dealer. You buy it through an Amsoil dealer.
Similar threads
