For what are you looking in an oil?

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Too bad we can't make polls ourselves! Why not allow that option, mods?
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My personal replies are in bold.


1. must meet carmaker's required specs
2. must meet my personal criteria that maybe based on anything from myth to fact CHECK

Are you looking to achieve primarily

- lowest possible wear
- long emissions components life
- clean engine
- low oil consumption
- best start-up wear protection
- high operating temperature wear protection

or do you look for a decent balance? CHECK -- biased towards low wear, clean engine and high operating temp protection

Does price matter?

- definitely
- somewhat
- I draw the line at $8 a quart CHECK
- no
 
1. must meet carmaker's required specs check Fortunately my car gives enough playground to me. Some Eu manufacturers gives such statements like "thou shalt use Shell Helix". I tend to ignore those. Such manuals are rather a criteria whether to buy the car.

2. must meet my personal criteria that maybe based on anything from myth to fact


Are you looking to achieve primarily

- lowest possible wear
- long emissions components life
- clean engine check +fuel economy. (Engine longevity is more than my needs already and engine is not the major cost riser in maintenances.)
- low oil consumption
- best start-up wear protection
- high operating temperature wear protection


or do you look for a decent balance? I look but can't see. I don't have that much of a wisdom.
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Does price matter?

- definitely
- somewhat check I shouldn't feel stupid, otherwise any oil is affordable.
- I draw the line at $8 a quart
- no
 
1. I believe that almost any oil that meets my specs will meet the manufactures specs. Todays oils are relly excellent compared to the stuff we used 25 years ago.

2. I have 3 vehicles with known sludging engine in them. For these vehicles, I use dino juice at 5W-30 or 10W-30 and an OCI of 3K miles. These engines are not run all that hard, so pretty much any oil with modern chemistry is just fine.

For the Ferrari I use a top brand synthetic and run 10W-40 or 5W-40. I have tried the thicker oils and they ended up running hotter at the race track than the xW-40 oils, but the xW-30 oils have excessive street oil consumption (~1Qt in 1000 miles) so I am left with xW-40 oils. But I do not pick these based on the xW-40 numbers (which I consider not much better than junk). I pick these oils by looking at the material data sheets and pick an oil with a good HTHS number (greater than 3.6 cP when track use is in site, and greater than 3.2 when track use ins not on the table) and an operating viscocity above 11.5 cSt and as low a starting viscocity number as I can find (generally high 50 cSTs and low 60 cSTs.) Finally, when driving the Ferrari, I pay attention to the oil temperature guage and oil pressure guage and use these to determine when to change the oil.
 
I don't care about carmaker's specs as long as it's not SF "Ghetto oil". Got to agree with Mitch Alsup on that.

My moods are very seasonal.

Summer, cutting consumption then fuel economy are my concerns. 15w40 diesel oil works dandy. Less oil burning means less timing retard and better performance. Ironically, the thicker oils give me better economy.

Winter, cold starts demand that I run thin synthetic. More expensive than I'm willing to pay year round: price matters, but cheaper than busting a starter and getting stranded. My price line is $1.50-1.60/qt in the summer and $4.00/qt winter for synthetic.
 
The biggest factors for me are as follows:

For my '00 VW GTI, the oil MUST be, in this order:

1. Recommended for use where VW 502 approval is specified
2. Easily available
3. Moderately inexpensive
In my neck of the woods, that narrows the list down to Castrol, Mobil 1, Valvoline, Amsoil & Havoline

For the '97 Expedition, the oil is chosen in this order:

1. Must be XW-30, & have a minimum API "SJ" rating
2. Must meet condition #1 & be the cheapest available
3. I won't use 5w20, because it's never the cheapest choice.
 
1. HDEO with TBN >= 12
2. Synthetic Group IV PAO formulation
3. No long-drain thickening problems.
4. 0W-30 viscosity
5. Cheap, under US$4/quart.
6. Available in 1L and 4L jugs
7. Good UOA's from participants on this site.

Esso Extra XD-3 0W-30 fits the bill quite nicely.
 
Simple requirement for me. I hate taps in the valve train. And I like the thing to run smooth. For some reason, not sure if it was the filter I've always used (Maybe Mobil 1 overcomes the crappy Frams?), or some peculiarity with the valve train on this thing (1.6 DOHC) Mobil 1 is the only oil I've used that the taps don't happen from cold starts onward. It's been many years since I've tried dino in it.

Now that I've broken the Fram-habit, it's off to Havoline or something else. I suppose dino must have improved a lot the last 7 years, I'm curious to see.
 
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