Hard to find NON synthetic/synthetic blend at Big Box stores

Joined
Aug 21, 2011
Messages
13
Location
SW Virginia, Blue Ridge Mtns.
Evening all,

Went to do an oil change this weekend on my 5.4l Ford E250 van. Went to Walmart to get my cardboard box of 6qts of Havoline 5w-20. Just plain ole normal motor oil. It was nowhere to be found. After searching and searching this store and a couple other Walmarts in the area for Havoline and a few other brands for NON synthetic or NON synthetic blend, I gave up.

Why is it so hard to find normal non-synthetics? I checked the brands they had on the shelf which included, havoline, Pennzoil, Castrol GTX, Valvoline, Quaker State, whatever else I could see. Between the 20 different flavors each had of Full synthetic, to synthetic blend, to high mileage, to long life, to every color, I could not find just plain oil.

Whats the reason, anyone know? I'd be game to change to another oil type, just not sure if going from normal oil to a blend of synthetic would be good for the motor at 94K miles.

Thank you all for your help.

Have a good week.

Sid
 
It won't hurt the motor at all.

What you're likely seeing is that new specs almost require a certain amount of synthetic to hit the performance targets, if the Manuf. has to add synthetic for that reason, why would you not want to advertise it? So, I think we're witnessing the death of 'plain old motor oil'
 
The era of plain old passenger car motor oil is over. All PCMO multi-grade oils are now either synthetic blend or full synthetic. To get a plain old conventional oil you are either going to have to buy a single grade oil or a diesel oil. And, many of the multi-grade diesel oils are synthetic blends.
 
Yep it sucks. I see you are in southwest Virginia as well. I just left Rural King and they had Pennzoil Yellow Bottle conventional and Valvoline White Bottle conventional as well. I recommend checking there for it. They also had their former brand Harvest King conventional on close out. Their new oils are all labeled blends. I am sure the Pennzoil and Valvoline are both blends as well most likely. They also had a lot of 10W-30, 10W-40 and 20W-50 that was conventional also had some 20W-20 I didn’t look if it was conventional or not but it was the old Harvest King brand that’s been replaced.
 
It is thought that many conventional oils in 5w20 and 5w30 have been a synthetic blend for at least a few years now to meet ever increasing performance specs. You have likely already used a blend without knowing it. Think of the blends as a somewhat purer form than conventional of 10 years ago. Your engine will be just fine on the synthetic blend. No worries and motor on.
 
Yep it sucks. I see you are in southwest Virginia as well. I just left Rural King and they had Pennzoil Yellow Bottle conventional and Valvoline White Bottle conventional as well. I recommend checking there for it. They also had their former brand Harvest King conventional on close out. Their new oils are all labeled blends. I am sure the Pennzoil and Valvoline are both blends as well most likely. They also had a lot of 10W-30, 10W-40 and 20W-50 that was conventional also had some 20W-20 I didn’t look if it was conventional or not but it was the old Harvest King brand that’s been replaced.
I've noticed that most of the oil at the local AAP that is still conventional is either 10w 30, 10w 40 , or 20w 50, as you noticed at Rural King. There is not a Rural King in this area, but we do have the Tractor Supply stores, that I'm guessing are similar to Rural King.
 
Don't worry about it. What is labeled "Synthetic" oil in the USA is mostly made with Group III base stocks which are still refined from regular old crude oil but with extra steps in the refining process to make the hydrocarbon molecules more uniform. Most all "conventional" 0w and 5w type oils have had at least some Group III base stocks in them for a while now to meet the SN and now SP SAE standards.
 
I've noticed that most of the oil at the local AAP that is still conventional is either 10w 30, 10w 40 , or 20w 50, as you noticed at Rural King. There is not a Rural King in this area, but we do have the Tractor Supply stores, that I'm guessing are similar to Rural King.
Similar for sure but Tractor Supply is much smaller we have both here. They have some conventional at my Tractor Supply too in the 10W-30, 10W-40 and 20W-50 in the Traveller brand. I’m not sure who makes the Traveller brand for them. I haven’t paid attention at Advance Auto really their oil prices are way out of my range.
 
You can often get full synthetic on sale or with a discount code on Amazon or Walmart for less than the cost of conventional oil. Under $3 a quart the last time I bought some. Why buy conventional unless it's like $2.25 max.
 
Bought my old cherokee ~6years ago with 157,000mi. History unknown but it did not seem like it likely had synthetic. Now 204,500mi

Have run:
Conventional (Mobil Super 5000, Supertech, Havoline)
High mileage (Pennzoil High Mileage)
Syn blend (Castrol Magnatec)
Syn blend high mileage (Valvoline Maxlife, Quaker State high mileage blend)
Full synthetic (Pennzoil Platinum, Supertech, Quaker State Ultimate Durability)
Full synthetic high mileage (Valvoline Full Synthetic with Maxlife)

Only appreciable differences I've ever noticed is that the slight seeps (does not mark a driveway) dry up a bit with any of the oils labeled "High mileage", whatever the base oil is marketed as.

I wouldn't worry about seeking out an oil marketed as conventional, even in an older vehicle. If you're really determined, you may have to look at grades like 10w-30 from here on out, if it's appropriate to your temperatures. But I don't really see why you'd want to do that.
 
Saw this at at a Walmart in Canada.

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It won't hurt the motor at all.

What you're likely seeing is that new specs almost require a certain amount of synthetic to hit the performance targets, if the Manuf. has to add synthetic for that reason, why would you not want to advertise it? So, I think we're witnessing the death of 'plain old motor oil'
Well at least ST still makes HD30w Non-detergent motor oil for my Craftsman portable electric air compressor
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