Interesting long road trip observation

[AngryScientist]

Just returned from a cross country road trip with my oldest son from my home here in NJ out to Yosemite and back, hitting many national parks. Fun times!

My truck is an 18 Colorado with the V6. It normally gets 5k OCI's with Penzoil Plat 5w-30.

As a prep for this trip, I knew I would not be home in under 5k, so (probably unnecessarily, but made me feel better) I chose to go with Castrol's Extended Performance oil which boats 25k OCI's possible.

I have a Gold Plug oil plug on the truck with the magnetic tip. Normal oil changes see a bit of metal wear material on the magnet, a bit of a grey paste look to it, very normal with every vehicle I have ever owned.

To my surprise, after almost 8k miles with the road trip, dang if that magnet was clean as a whistle. Zero sign of any wear material!

I know a lot of wear happens on start-up, and those were very minimal over this OCI. The truck went over many mountain passes, 11k+ feet, and spent between 6 and 12 hours a day running at 80mph, so working quite hard. I expected to see at least the normal wear material on the magnet, but did not. Oil was visibly quite clean/clear too.

I think I'm sticking with the Castrol product from here on.

 

[JavierH19]

Can't argue with that, I too would get the same impression. Is it the api sp 20k or sq 25k variant. Some say they're the exact same minus a label change since the "old" oil was good enough to do 25k in the first place and I think I could believe that.

 

[altaylar]

I wonder of that was the oil doing its job great, or the way you drove on that interval. Probably that would be a good idea sticking with this oil for one more interval to see the results over your regular use pattern

 

[Zee09]

All things considered it's really inexpensive too...

 

[AngryScientist]

All things considered it's really inexpensive too...

Agree. I buy all of my oil on Amazon generally these days. This is the stuff I bought, by the 3-pack

https://www.amazon.com/Castrol-Exte...8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

 

[Cujet]

Sounds like a great result and a good trip.

I've switched all my vehicles to M1 5W-30 EP, and get similar results. The oil drains out clean and clear, with an unusual reddish tint, no metal on my drain plugs and zero debris or carbon in the oil filters. Just solid performance.

 

[tired]

Just returned from a cross country road trip with my oldest son from my home here in NJ out to Yosemite and back, hitting many national parks. Fun times!

My truck is an 18 Colorado with the V6. It normally gets 5k OCI's with Penzoil Plat 5w-30.

As a prep for this trip, I knew I would not be home in under 5k, so (probably unnecessarily, but made me feel better) I chose to go with Castrol's Extended Performance oil which boats 25k OCI's possible.

I have a Gold Plug oil plug on the truck with the magnetic tip. Normal oil changes see a bit of metal wear material on the magnet, a bit of a grey paste look to it, very normal with every vehicle I have ever owned.

To my surprise, after almost 8k miles with the road trip, dang if that magnet was clean as a whistle. Zero sign of any wear material!

I know a lot of wear happens on start-up, and those were very minimal over this OCI. The truck went over many mountain passes, 11k+ feet, and spent between 6 and 12 hours a day running at 80mph, so working quite hard. I expected to see at least the normal wear material on the magnet, but did not. Oil was visibly quite clean/clear too.

I think I'm sticking with the Castrol product from here on.

Sounds like a great result and a good trip.

I've switched all my vehicles to M1 5W-30 EP, and get similar results. The oil drains out clean and clear, with an unusual reddish tint, no metal on my drain plugs and zero debris or carbon in the oil filters. Just solid performance.

Could also mean that there is no or negligible cleaning going on too, whereas the previous oil was doing some cleaning. There's usually some wear metals caught up in the deposits.

 

[Javed]

OP, why don't you try Pennzoil's best, the Ultra Platinum next? 3 jugs for $79 on Amazon. It says it offers extreme protection.

 

[Carlostrece]

Just returned from a cross country road trip with my oldest son from my home here in NJ out to Yosemite and back, hitting many national parks. Fun times!

My truck is an 18 Colorado with the V6. It normally gets 5k OCI's with Penzoil Plat 5w-30.

As a prep for this trip, I knew I would not be home in under 5k, so (probably unnecessarily, but made me feel better) I chose to go with Castrol's Extended Performance oil which boats 25k OCI's possible.

I have a Gold Plug oil plug on the truck with the magnetic tip. Normal oil changes see a bit of metal wear material on the magnet, a bit of a grey paste look to it, very normal with every vehicle I have ever owned.

To my surprise, after almost 8k miles with the road trip, dang if that magnet was clean as a whistle. Zero sign of any wear material!

I know a lot of wear happens on start-up, and those were very minimal over this OCI. The truck went over many mountain passes, 11k+ feet, and spent between 6 and 12 hours a day running at 80mph, so working quite hard. I expected to see at least the normal wear material on the magnet, but did not. Oil was visibly quite clean/clear too.

I think I'm sticking with the Castrol product from here on.

You'd have to repeat the same roadtrip at same time of year with your usual oil to make a completely valid comparison between oils. Highway miles are much easier on engines. However, I do agree that Castrol Edge Extended Protection (EP) is superior to Pennzoil Platinum (PP).

Pennzoil Ultra Platinum (PUP) has a great reputation and lubricates well (in spite of being thin per grade). Pennzoil Platinum (PP) is bad in wear tests I've seen. Castrol Edge Extended Performance (EP) is a much better oil than PP. There are also a few other brands of excellent EP oils you should consider (which others will recommend). I recommend Quaker State Ultimate Protection Full Syn (QSUPFS), which is an EP type oil.

QSUPFS has several advantages (IMO) including: It's a mostly GTL Shell oil, which makes it similar to PUP, except that QSUPFS is thicker viscosity per grade (than PUP or Castrol Edge EP), QSUPFS is a 20K oil a good price at Walmart. I think (IMO) that QSUPFS is superior to PUP & Edge EP, and QSUPFS costs less.

Though to be fair, Castrol Edge EP and Castrol Edge HM EP are also good prices at Walmart.

The main thing is to stop using PP. It's not a good oil, IMO. Certainly not good for the price. There are many good oils that are better than PP, including ones that cost less.

If you want to catch fine metal wear particles that your oil filter can't, buy a pair/set of filter magnets and put then on your oil filter. https://www.shopfiltermag.com sells them in pairs/sets.

I also suggest upgrading your filter to a NAPA Gold, Oreilly Microgard Select, or any other autostore housebrand premium line of filter made by Premium Guard, or get Premium Guard EX, or Pentius filter. They filter finer particles, have thicker cans (especially NAPA Gold), and have pink silicon valve seal and gasket for extended OCI.

 

[nickaluch]

Let's see some pictures of this great road trip

 

[buster]

Just returned from a cross country road trip with my oldest son from my home here in NJ out to Yosemite and back, hitting many national parks. Fun times!

My truck is an 18 Colorado with the V6. It normally gets 5k OCI's with Penzoil Plat 5w-30.

As a prep for this trip, I knew I would not be home in under 5k, so (probably unnecessarily, but made me feel better) I chose to go with Castrol's Extended Performance oil which boats 25k OCI's possible.

I have a Gold Plug oil plug on the truck with the magnetic tip. Normal oil changes see a bit of metal wear material on the magnet, a bit of a grey paste look to it, very normal with every vehicle I have ever owned.

To my surprise, after almost 8k miles with the road trip, dang if that magnet was clean as a whistle. Zero sign of any wear material!

I know a lot of wear happens on start-up, and those were very minimal over this OCI. The truck went over many mountain passes, 11k+ feet, and spent between 6 and 12 hours a day running at 80mph, so working quite hard. I expected to see at least the normal wear material on the magnet, but did not. Oil was visibly quite clean/clear too.

I think I'm sticking with the Castrol product from here on.

I made a similar trip in a 22 Colorado (V6) from NJ to South Dakota. I do 5k OCIs. I don't have a magnetic drain plug but now I'm thinking about it just for fun.

I think the EDGE EP is a very good oil.

 

[willbur]

Sounds like a great result and a good trip.

I've switched all my vehicles to M1 5W-30 EP, and get similar results. The oil drains out clean and clear, with an unusual reddish tint, no metal on my drain plugs and zero debris or carbon in the oil filters. Just solid performance.

It has been alleged here that the "red tint" is dissolved varnish. That EP is doing its job...IMO

 

[tmorris1]

It has been alleged here that the "red tint" is dissolved varnish. That EP is doing its job...IMO

I use M1 EP 5w30 and 0w20 and both look a little reddish when drained as well. How would the red tint be varnish if there is no varnish in the engine to begin with? I have had the valve cover off of my 2006 Ford Focus 2.0l that gets 0w20 and it looks like new with 299k miles. My 5.0 Coyote gets the 5w30 and looks clean as new through the fill cap.

I would keep using what seemed to work well. Whether or not it was the drive or the oil it worked well.

 

[willbur]

I use M1 EP 5w30 and 0w20 and both look a little reddish when drained as well. How would the red tint be varnish if there is no varnish in the engine to begin with? I have had the valve cover off of my 2006 Ford Focus 2.0l that gets 0w20 and it looks like new with 299k miles. My 5.0 Coyote gets the 5w30 and looks clean as new through the fill cap.

I would keep using what seemed to work well. Whether or not it was the drive or the oil it worked well.

its "been alleged" I dunno what it is with your engine. Do a search