Have You Used One Oil for the Life of a Vehicle?

[BlueOvalFitter]

I hate that, when a reply is made and it stretches the screen so wide that my laptop can't cover it.
I have a cousin that has used ONLY Pennzoil in his vehicles. He believes if he uses ANY other name brand oil that his engines will blow up, freeze, of fall out of the vehicle. He thinks that the internal parts get "USED TO" an oil and won't work well with another brand.

 

[spasm3]

I have only had pennzoil in the hyundai, it has about 68k on it. But this go round it is getting valvoline synpower, as i still have a bit left from the walmart special days.

 

[SilverFusion2010]

Originally Posted By: BlueOvalFitter
I hate that, when a reply is made and it stretches the screen so wide that my laptop can't cover it.
I have a cousin that has used ONLY Pennzoil in his vehicles. He believes if he uses ANY other name brand oil that his engines will blow up, freeze, of fall out of the vehicle. He thinks that the internal parts get "USED TO" an oil and won't work well with another brand.

Oils are reformulated constantly and there is batch to batch variation. I guess he didn’t get the memo

 

[Patman]

Originally Posted By: 4WD
Before the drag runs?


I probably won't make it out to the dragstrip until after I've switched it over to ESP.

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Our family had a 1962 Volvo PV544 ran on S.A.E. 30 Valvoline all the time we had it. In 1985 it passed out of the family with 330K miles on it. Brakes, Batteries, Tires and one water pump were the total of work on the car other than tune ups and oil changes. So I'm going to say sticking with that cheap conventional same brand oil just doesn't work. I think when I was young and changing the oil in it Valvoline was about .59 a quart.

 

[PimTac]

I believe there is some benefit of running the same oil. In my first two vehicles I ran Havoline. After those cars, Havoline became scarce so I used Castrol GTX on our first Mitsubishi and M1 on the second. Now it’s Valvoline.

A convoluted answer but for the most part each vehicle ran the same oil during its lifetime.

 

[SilverFusion2010]

You can stick with one brand but it’s not the same oil over time. Oils are reformulated as needed to meet specs and cost and/or to take advantage of new technologies.

 

[gogogo]

Originally Posted By: SilverFusion2010
You can stick with one brand but it’s not the same oil over time. Oils are reformulated as needed to meet specs and cost and/or to take advantage of new technologies.


easy solution then, buy lifetime supply upon vehicle purchase and stock up.

 

[RitcheyRch]

Used to only use Castrol GTX in everything. Switched to Mobil 1 or Valvoline Synthetic many years ago.

 

[john_pifer]

Originally Posted By: Propflux01
Since the truck uses no oil, I see no reason to use a thicker viscosity oil. There is no reason to. Stick with the 5w-30 and keep doing what your doing. You have found your sweet spot on oils.


That's sort of the logic I've been going by, so-far. If it ain't broke, why fix it? But, then, I got the elevated wear metals in that last UOA, so, that's what got me thinking if maybe there's something that could offer even better protection.

I'm very interested in where those wear metals came from.

 

[john_pifer]

Originally Posted By: 4WD
Originally Posted By: john_pifer
Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: john_pifer

What do you guys think? Experiment, or stick with what has worked?


IMHO (YMMV) ..... with almost 200,000 miles,
I'd run a 5W-40 or 15W-40 HDEO from this point forward.


It's at 201K now. Last oil change was at 198K.

I'd be resistant to going to a 40W. If I went up in viscosity I might try a 10W-30. At most, M1 0W-40, which, I understand, is pretty thin for a 40.

But, these days, I do like the idea of low NOACK % and fewer VM. So, a 10W-30 is attractive. Again, also, I'm now idling for 60-90 min. per week, and I drive pretty fast on my commute. So, maybe a 10W-30 with a bit higher HTHS than the current M1 EP 5W-30.


Another thought is watch for Delvac 1 5w40 to come on sale … it has similar HTHS to 0w40 but 5w40 is a spread I like … blend of GIII/GIV … stellar in the Blackstone summation … once in a while Walmart.com runs it for $23

Or…
https://www.exxonmobil.com/Xomfl/Core/Handlers/PDFHandler.ashx?component=PDS&downloadUrl=https://www.mobil.com/English-US/Commercial-Vehicle-Lube/pds/GLXXMobil-Delvac-1-LE-5W30?p=1


My only concerns with going the HDEO route would be, 1, the extra ZDDP possibly fouling the catalytic converters, and, 2, this truck has VVT-i. And I've never had a CEL pop...ever.

 

[john_pifer]

Originally Posted By: Patman
I have used only one oil for the life of my Corvette so far

(but it's the end of the road for that, as I'm going with M1 5w30 ESP formula next)


Intriguing oil. Higher HTHS for better timing chain shear protection, and low NOACK as well. And not too much ZDDP to worry about fouling cats.

What's the VOA look like? Good doses of moly & boron?

If only it wasn't so pricey.

 

[Patman]

Unfortunately there isn't a recent VOA that I can find on M1 5w30 ESP so I'm not sure what the boron and moly levels look like. I hear you on the price! It's not very reasonable at all. ($16.79 per liter here)

 

[BrocLuno]

ESP stands for "extra special pricing"

 

[ArcherDriver]

Most farmers I know buy 15W-40 by the 55 gallon drum and put it in every single 4-stroke engine on the place.

Yeah, long live 15W-40. The heart of America.

 

[JFAllen]

Aside from running close to the line with regards to TBN and possibly investing in a new air filter a little more often. Id say:

DON'T MESS WITH A WORKING SYSTEM

Pop the cam covers off and replace the gasket as well you slacker . (And if you've been using M1 since day 1. I'd say you'll find very few deposits clinging to the underside.)

Jordan

 

[Jetronic]

I bought a lifetime supply of Total quartz 9000 Energy 0w-30 for my car, but it only went in from the third oil change onwards. Hasn't had any other oil since. Still have a good amount left so won't be seeing any other oil soon.

 

[demarpaint]

I've tried, then the oil company messes with the formula and it's discovered here on Bitog, and I move on if I agree with the findings. One example was the case with PU when it first came out, on paper it was great! It didn't take long for them to ruin it, at least imo and the opinion of some very well respected members, so I moved on. It happens with filters too, auto parts, etc. I used to be loyal to a brand, not anymore.

 

[doublebase]

I've tried, then the oil company messes with the formula and it's discovered here on Bitog, and I move on if I agree with the findings. One example was the case with PU when it first came out, on paper it was great! It didn't take long for them to ruin it, at least imo and the opinion of some very well respected members, so I moved on. It happens with filters too, auto parts, etc. I used to be loyal to a brand, not anymore.

You bring up a great point, that these manufacturers change their formulas quite frequently...sometimes just a little, sometimes a lot. Valvoline comes to mind - it wasn’t that long ago that they were one of the few major brands that didn’t adhere to the moly formula, instead relying on sodium. They weren’t the only ones, but they were the biggest name I could think of...Super Tech was doing it as well. House brand NAPA and Carquest...a few others.

They‘ve all since changed and now run similar additives as the rest of them with moly hovering around 70 and sodium dropping down into the negligible amounts.

TGMO had a big change in their moly count too at one point, and probably at several points - where they once where the moly kings of automotive land, they since have dropped those counts down (although depending on who you believe it’s because they now use a “higher quality” tri-nuclear or something, moly). And let’s not forget that direct injection has changed the game for some oils as well, as they fight to get those NOACK numbers down on thinner oils.

But years ago I stuck with 3,000 mile intervals on Super tech conventional - but this was 20 years ago when conventional oil and shorter intervals were the norm. And most likely Super Tech changed multiple times while I used it and didn’t notice (or care).

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I almost used Supertech for my entire tenure with the Forester.