Hello All!! Starting a new addiction?

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cp3

Joined
Jul 26, 2006
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2,645
Location
Kitchener, Ontario, Canada
First off I have to thank everyone here for the great info, however I think maybe I was thinking about this too much before I found this site...LOL. I do have to wonder about those who say that they changed or made up their minds after reading info on here...I think I'm more confused now with the varied opinions on brands, OCIs, syn vs dino, HM or now...etc, etc. But after a lot of reading over the last few weeks some things do seem to keep coming to the front.

Okay, here we go. I was hoping to get some input on a couple of things;
I'm in Southern Ontario so temps down to -20s C in winter and 30s C in summer.

Vehicle 1 - '96 Astro 4.3 / 300000km, owned since 95000km, lots of hwy / 50km each way to work, neglected over the last few years, now seeing mostly city/short trips, couple of 50km x 2 a week, fairly easy driving although my wife drives it 70% of the time and she tends to have a heavier foot than me. Been using 10W30 for a while, when I did change the oil
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and it uses less that a litre for 5000km.

Vehicle 2 - '94 Saturn SC1 1.9 SOHC / 300000km, just picked up for $700, buddy owned it and had it serviced at dealer since new mostly hwy km, now seeing those hwy 50km each way to work trips 5 times a week, some short trip city use but not much, again fairly easy driving as this is no sports car at 85hp and fuel mileage is now my bigest performance concern..lol. My wife won't drive this one (stick). Takes 5W30 and it too seems to use a little less than 1L for 5000km.

Reading up on the Saturn I've found that they are known to be very good if you look after the oil.....ya, I know sort of a stupid statement but looking at the Astro and knowing how may oil changes it has had over the last 200000km it caught my attention. Maybe a better way to say it is not keeping a good level and clean oil in a Saturn will kill it quickly. So I figure might as well get back to looking after the Astro too.....it's earned it!!

Right now I'm using Valvoline (Got a great buy, 3 5L cases at $11.96 then another 3 at $8!) and NAPA Gold for both. Always used it before, not sure about the dissing it gets here. As far as the comments about better oils for the price, around her Valvoline, Pennzoil, Quaker State, Castrol etc are all the same price at Canadian Tire and Walmart, $3.78 - $3.99 / litre.

Anyway, I was going to go with straight 5000km OCI on both with Valvoline and the NAPA Golds. After reading here I'm wondering if I could go a bit longer, at least with the Saturn. I've also decided that (I think
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) that I'll go with what ever I can get at a good price, not just Valvolne. I had ruled out synthetic until tonight. I found Syntec at $34.99/6L case at Costco, what kind of OCI would I be looking at with that? 8000-10000km, or is that pushing it? They also have Formula Shell at $21.99/12L case which seems to have gotten some thumbs up around here.

Both will probably get a couple of short OCIs this summer to help clean them up althought the Saturn doen't look to bad. May run some Seafoam through them if I can get it around here.

Well thanx for the help and I apologize for the long windedness
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. Any other info that would help, let me know.

Thanx,
CP
 
I have never used Auto RX but it appears to have a staunch following here...it would probably clean both engines nicely. Then if it were me I'd go with Castrol Syntec in whatever weight you desire. Syntec gets dissed a lot here but I have switched from M1 to Syntec with no regrets...it works fine in my cars.
 
I think for Canada, that Formula Shell from Costco is an amazing buy - works out to $1.83/litre for a high-quality dino, that has shown some good UOA's on this site. You could probably easily go 8,000km OCI's on it, and save yourself quite a bit of money over $3.70-3.99/litre for other dino oils. And because you're servicing two vehicles, buying by the case makes sense.

just my 2 cents..........
 
So what kind of OCI do you use witht the Syntec? I would only use that if it makes sense ($) and the extra cost of the sythetics vs. dino at shorter OCIs just doesn't make sense to me at Canadian prices.

That 8000km OCI with the Formula Shell, would that be good for the Astro as well? Is the more city vs Hwy not as big of a factor as I am thinking? Is it safe to assume that any name brand dino will go the 8000km without much problem?
 
Don't go over 5000km on the saturn, you have a rare bird, one that doesn't burn much oil. Don't ruin a good thing.
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The motorcraft FL-400s/ purolator 20195/ generic 3600 filter is twice as long and fits the saturn fine... some would say better, b/c you can find/grab it more easily.

Price is a fine way to buy oil. You might also want to try synthetic esso XD3 0w30 in the winter, it is
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available where you live and 1/2 the price of mobil 1.
 
If you're changing at 5000km is there really a need for a larger filter? What makes the Saturn 1.9 so different that you can't extend the OCI? And I can't see spending the money on synthetic for a 5000km OCI.

Any ideas on the Astro?

CP
 
Auto-Rx that Saturn ASAP. Change the PCV valve every 10K.

I suggest using a more robust oil in your Satty than the Valvo or those cheaper ones. Dittos to what eljefino said!
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