help me pick an oil

[lpass]

Car: 1990 Saab 900 200,000 miles non-turbo I guess I'm still a bit confused. I've been searching through the boards and Castrol GTX high Mileage and Penzoil High mileage seem to get good reviews. Should I use one of these 10w-30 year round? I live in Southwestern Connecticut (near New York City), it doesn't really get to cold or too hot. Is there any advantage to going to the Delvac 1300 for Spring, Summer and fall or should I just stick with a high mileage 10w-30 oil year round. Like I stated earlier, I currently use Valvoline which seems to take a beating around here. Unfortunately, I have nothing to compare the Valvoline against. I changed the oil the same day I got the car so cannot compare its efficiency against anything else. I just want to be sure I'm doing all I can to extend the life of the vehicle. I'm not particulary interested in extended drains as I plan to change the oil every 3k and I'm not cost conscience either, although I don't plan on springing for Redline or anything like that. I also don't plan on switching to a synthetic. What do you guys think. I want to change asap so I can get that fram oil filter out of there!

 

[ZiTS]

If you've used Valvoline on other cars in the past and it's worked out for you, why switch? 200,000 miles on a car isn't too shabby, either. I guess the point I'm coming to is "If it isn't broke, don't fix it." The single most important thing you can do is maintain consistent oil changes. If that is done, the brand of oil used becomes secondary. Oils nowadays are quite good, even Valvoline. Your efforts would be much better spent on keeping up on regular oil changes than selecting one brand over another. Just make sure it meets the specs of the cars engine. If you've had good luck with Valvoline in the past, keep using it. From what I've seen on this board, the Valvoline MaxLife High Mileage is supposed to be pretty good, so why not give that a shot. Your car definately sounds like a good candidate. Z- [ January 07, 2004, 12:49 AM: Message edited by: ZiTS ]

 

[deepsquat]

If you want to go with Penzzoil ...go with the Long Life formula....has very very good specs...either in the 15w-40 or in the staight 30 weight

 

[TSoA]

Nothing higher than a 10w, imo. How about ACEA A3-rated Syntec Blend 10w-40? Nice and heavy, great UOAs and a 10w cranking to 20 below zero. GTX HM would be awesome, I think a 10w is ok for winter. 10w-30 M1 is a cantidate, but costly. 3000 mi oci might be overkill for an old car. One short change for cleaning but a 6 month oci up to 6000 miles or more with a synth is fine. Forget 3000 miles unless you are using generic SL oil.