I need help choosing an oil for my vehicles

[Rockindokken]

I'm new to this forum. I've done a lot of reading on this site, and it has my head spinning. I have two cars that I want to start using synthetic on, and I just need help determining which will be best for both.

I was looking into Mobil 1 high mileage and Royal Purple high mileage. I will also be using MoS2 from liqui moly. I would like OCI of 7000-10,000 miles if possible.

I just purchased some Kreen, so I plan on doing one short oil change to clean out both engines. I am willing to buy oil online or in-store. Here's the breakdown on the vehicles.

1. Vehicle #1: 08 Honda Civic SI 111,000 miles
2. What your owner's manual says 5w-30 with API Seal (latest revision)
3. I live in Chicago, IL
4. I drive mainly in stop and go traffic. I drive conservatively most of the time.
5. My daily drive is 11 miles each way on surface streets. Stop and Go.
6. My car has no issues that I am aware of.

1. Vehicle #2: 2010 Nissan Rogue S 114,000 miles
2. What your owner's manual says 5w-30 with API Seal (latest revision)
3. Chicago, IL
4. My wife is easy on the car.
5. Her daily drive is mixed between Highway and surface streets. 80mph on the highway, and stop and go on the surface streets. Approximately 20 miles each way.
6. Her car has no problems I'm aware of.

I would prefer to use the same oil for both vehicles, but I know that may not be the best course of action. Any input would be great. Thanks in advance for your help. If any other info would be helpful, please let me know.

 

[camrydriver111]

I'd use M1 in both and skip the additives. M1 should slowly clean the engines by itself.

I wouldn't try to clean the engine with additives and short OCIs unless perhaps the oil changes have been neglected.

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Either of your listed choices would be fine. PP 5w30 also a good choice for 7k runs.

 

[Bandito440]

Welcome!

M1 HM 5w-30 will work well for both. The MoS2 is probably unnecessary, as there's moly in that formula already, but it won't hurt anything. A UOA at 7,500 miles will let you know if you can push it further. You can pick up that oil and a Fram Ultra easily enough.

What are you trying to fix with the Kreen? Is one of these vehicles sludged up? If you don't have signs of sludge, return that and let the oil do its job.

 

[Phishin]

If these were my cars, being that you live in Chicago (cold winters)....I'd run either:

1.) Mobil 1 0w30 Advanced Fuel Economy (AFE)
2.) Or a 50/50 mix of Mobil 1 0w40 and 0w20 (either flavor).

Run it with a Napa Gold or Fram Ultra filter. You should be good with either car going 8k OCI's.

I choose the oil I did because it's top tier stuff, readily available, and cheap at Walmart. The filters are TOP quality and price minded as well.

 

[bubbatime]

ANY SN 5W30 synthetic oil will be fine, down to Wal-Mart Supertech oil. Skip the purple non-sense. Expensive oil that you simply don't need.

Quaker State synthetic was (is?) about $22 a jug at Wal-Mart. That would be a good start.

 

[Donald]

Skip the additives. Unless you know the engine is sludged via inspection I would not go the Kreen cleaning route. Quality synthetic oil will do a pretty good job of cleaning on its own.

 

[Oil Changer]

Skip the additives. Skip the RP. M1 HM. 10W-30 for summer, 5W-30 for winter.

 

[bigt61]

I'd run 5W-30 MaxLife Blend in both cars. If the cars were run on synthetic their whole lives (I'm guessing not), then M1 or M1 High Mileage would be fine. But on cars over 100k miles, switching to full synthetic late may cause leaking issues. MaxLife is a safe choice and should be good for 5-6000k OCI in your kind of usage. Keep them topped off.

 

[Donald]

Originally Posted By: bigt61
But on cars over 100k miles, switching to full synthetic late may cause leaking issues.


That is old info that is not really true anymore with modern gasket materials.

 

[FutureDoc]

Any "quality" synthetic will do... and "quality" might extend to many of the house brands like NAPA (which tests out surprisingly similar to Royal Purple for some odd reason) etc for the Rogue. If you are doing short OCI, then go with the less expensive house brands and then go with another brand for the longer OCI. If your are doing city driving and drive like or Si drivers (flogging it between lights... even if you are "conservative" but not all the time), I would keep to a shorter interval.


Skip additives.

As far "best", go with something that is "on sale". The difference in the results with the major brands (and some house brands) is so insignificant, it comes down to price as the only real factor. I personally avoid BP/Castrol products so I would not buy Castrol for a $1... Mobil is good oil but "meh" environmentally as well so I keep to Chevron/Havoline for price (often sub $3-4 per qt for Syn with sales & rebates... it was $25 for the oil-change special with $10 rebate... but it is $5 right now) or SOPUS products. Valvoline is "ok" (Synpower is expensive for what you get) but NAPA (made by Valvoline) is so close to their name-brand counterpart, spending $6+ per qt when NAPA sales make the house brand $3.50 or so is a no-brainer.

 

[19jacobob93]

Although no it isn't exactly necessary, the MoS2 would be a good choice if you chose a dino or semi synthetic. It does help to make higher mileage engines feel new again, and I've had great results in all the engines I've used it in

 

[bigt61]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: bigt61
But on cars over 100k miles, switching to full synthetic late may cause leaking issues.


That is old info that is not really true anymore with modern gasket materials.

Yeah, right.

 

[EdwardC]

If there are no known issues with either car, I'd skip the Kreen. I'd be worried about it breaking something crud loose by cleaning too fast. Also, it's possible the internals are perfectly clean already.

I would probably use M1 0W30 AFE and run it to 7-10k fairly easily. I would personally not use HM oil unless there was a reason. If the 0W30 was in the $25.xx range at Walmart, I'd have no issue using 5W30 of which ever brand was on roll back in the $22.xx range. All good oils.

I've used 0W20 of various brands (M1, QSUD, PP) in all my Hondas, an 07 Element (85k) and 09 Civic (60k), with no problems. I run it out to 0% on the MM, which usually ends up around 6-7k. I had the oils analyzed last time and could easily have run them longer. I'll be bumping the interval up to about 8k this time.



BTW, 11 miles on surface streets in the city during rush hour sounds AWFUL! Occasionally, when 90/94 is especially backed up, I'll take local roads from downtown out to my area (~5mi), and I regret it every time. I don't know how you do it!

 

[Doog]

Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: bigt61
But on cars over 100k miles, switching to full synthetic late may cause leaking issues.


That is old info that is not really true anymore with modern gasket materials.


+2 unless you have a pre-1992 engine. PP 5w30 will do well in both.

 

[Matinicus]

Are both cars garaged at night?

 

[Rockindokken]

Well, I go to work at 4:30 am, so my ride to work has little traffic. I leave work at 3pm, so the traffic isn't horrible.

My car gets it's oil changed regularly, but until I got my hands on her car, my wife's car had suspect OCI. I have run the cars on semi-synthetic for the last two changes, so this weekend they get the full synthetic.

I have little oil consumption, and neither car leaves a drip on the ground. I'll hold off on the Kreen then.

Thanks for all the input. I think I'll have to take a trip to Wally World, and see what the prices look like. That M1 AFE sounds interesting. What's the idea behind it? Are there real world benefits?

I saw some recommend 0w30. Is that just for winter, or all year round? Then I saw 10w30 for summer and 5w30 for winter. If Honda recommends 5w30, why would I ever use 10w30? Does the fact that it's synthetic make a difference in that realm?

 

[Rockindokken]

Originally Posted By: Matinicus
Are both cars garaged at night?


No, my cars have been banished to the outside, as half my kitchen is in the garage.

 

[Bandito440]

Originally Posted By: Rockindokken
Well, I go to work at 4:30 am, so my ride to work has little traffic. I leave work at 3pm, so the traffic isn't horrible.

My car gets it's oil changed regularly, but until I got my hands on her car, my wife's car had suspect OCI. I have run the cars on semi-synthetic for the last two changes, so this weekend they get the full synthetic.

I have little oil consumption, and neither car leaves a drip on the ground. I'll hold off on the Kreen then.

Thanks for all the input. I think I'll have to take a trip to Wally World, and see what the prices look like. That M1 AFE sounds interesting. What's the idea behind it? Are there real world benefits?

I saw some recommend 0w30. Is that just for winter, or all year round? Then I saw 10w30 for summer and 5w30 for winter. If Honda recommends 5w30, why would I ever use 10w30? Does the fact that it's synthetic make a difference in that realm?

You can use the 0w-30 all year. The AFE is a bit lighter and might provide better fuel economy over 5w-30 HM, but it'll be negligible. The better cold start performance would be some benefit in Chicago. Switching to 10w-30 in summer is unnecessary and won't provide any benefit to you.

So, Mobil 1 0w-30 AFE or 5w-30 HM. I'd switch to HM at this point personally. That oil has higher levels of detergents and seal conditioners to help keep everything in good running order.

You don't need any extra additives, so good call with the Kreen. Just return that.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I wouldn't do an engine flush or cleaning cycle with flushing/cleaning additives,ever. Just pick a synth oil in your favorite brand in the weight spec'd in the manual and you'll be good to go.