does it really matter?

[pd1340]

I am a auto tech who works in a very busy shop
that does 15-30 oil changes per day,and we use
bulk oil(that's supposed to be 5w30 but who knows,and who knows what brand it is!)and champ
oil filters. We have many regular customers
who drive 200,000+ on this combo and never have
any oil related engine problems,as long as they
change the oil/filter every 3,000-5,000 miles.
My dad drives a 97 Crown Vic with over 275,000
miles that he has had since nearly new(18,000 miles) and he changes his oil/filter every 3000
miles and uses super tech 5w30 and fram(orange
can!)filters.The car still burns no oil and runs
like a top!I am paranoid and use only motorcraft
oil(5w20)and filters in my 2002 F-250 Superduty
6.8 V-10,but often wonder if I am wasting my money.As far as synthetic oil I only notice a difference I my harley because it is air cooled
and gets very hot in the summer.I don't think
normally used liquid cooled engines need synthetic,because the almost always run at or near the same temp.Anyway just my opinion!

 

[wavinwayne]

You're not "wasting" your money on Motorcraft. You obviously care about your vehicle & if you used anything that you perceived to be lesser quality than Motorcarft, you wouldn't sleep well at night.

Admit it.

Oh, yeah..

to the forum!

 

[ruking77]

I would say that given your parameters just continue what you are doing. Truly there is nothing wrong with bulk oil and 3-5k oil changes. Your customers track record/s is probably real world proof.

For me as to why I use synthetic; would you get the same results on your customers' cars and YOUR own personal vehicle with a 15,000 mile OCI? Or would you even consider a 15,000 mile OCI with bulk oil or Motorcraft? So for me it serves the utility of 15,000 mie OCI's.

[ March 20, 2005, 04:43 PM: Message edited by: ruking77 ]

 

[John_E]

I would not object at all to cheap bulk 5w30 oil for my Dodge Stratus, but the VW 1.8T engine is another story entirely!

 

[wavinwayne]

quote:

---

Originally posted by John_E:
I would not object at all to cheap bulk 5w30 oil for my Dodge Stratus, but the VW 1.8T engine is another story entirely!

---

I'll second that last part.

 

[MADMIKE]

For 3,000 mile OCI's you can use Crisco oil and a coffee filter and the engine will last for 300,000 miles! You only need to be more selective with the oil if you're going with extended OCI's. I use the cheapest oil and filters I can find (Supertech @ Wal-mart) and got 274,000 miles out of my 1992 Mazda 323 and the engine still ran fine and passed emissions. I've read innumerable similar stories. If you're changing oil every 3,000 miles it doesn't matter what you use, the engine is going to outlast the rest of the car every time so buy on price.

 

[andrews]

So, do I have to buy Crisco brand, or can I just get a generic shortening?

 

[Drew99GT]

Hey PD, have you opened a few of those engines? Were they clean inside? Just wonderin.

 

[haley10]

Just because your shop pumps bulk oil does not mean it is not a high quality product. The two cheapest shops here, one pumps a Mobil synthetic blend and the other Pennzoil.

True at 3K it probably doesn't matter, but some of the "good" lube centers usually see customers at 9 or 10K, so .....they all don't use junk oil. It wouldn't be cheaper necessarily anyway.

Even in a liquid cooled engine like vette(4718M) or Viper, synthetic is spec'd, so I'd run syn when spec's regardless of oci. It is still temp related.

I drive enough that I just grew weary of 3K oci's, an I'm convinced that even a good blend can double that with no ill effects.

3K dino absolutely works, maybe 6K Blend and 10K syn works just as well. It just depends on whether labor, time, etc. means anything to you.

 

[pd1340]

Yes,I have opened many of these engines for various types of work and found them to be very
clean.