Is there any oil that's not good for 3K or 4K?

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Why pay $1.50 a quart or more for name brand oil when you can get the cheap stuff for $.89 that meets all the same specs? I don't recall seeing any bad UOA's on any oil, even the cheap stuff, with less than 3K-4K miles. Sure, some of the name brand oils have shown good UOA numbers out to 5K-6K, but couldn't the same results be achieved by using the cheap stuff with slightly shorter change intervals? Besides, aren't all store brand oils made by the name brand companies anyway?
 
quote:

bottgers:

Why pay $1.50 a quart or more for name brand oil when you can get the cheap stuff for $.89 that meets all the same specs? I don't recall seeing any bad UOA's on any oil, even the cheap stuff, with less than 3K-4K miles. Sure, some of the name brand oils have shown good UOA numbers out to 5K-6K, but couldn't the same results be achieved by using the cheap stuff with slightly shorter change intervals? Besides, aren't all store brand oils made by the name brand companies anyway?

I guess it depends on what you're driving.

If you just took delivery of your Maybach or Ferrari, a piddling dollar or two more per quart isn't going to mean much.

If you're feeding your '87 Hyundai or '51 Henry J, $.89 a quart might be splurging.
 
You'd probably be fine, but why bother? You can get name-brand oils on sale for less than the regular price of the no-name oils. I just picked up a case of Havoline 5W-30 for $0.69/quart (with mail-in rebate).
 
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Again its a matter of choice and a little logic. Lets say it cost you (ballpark)$8 per change for Wallmart oil and their filter. You change it every 3000 for say 12000 or 1 year.Now lets say you use 5 qts of AMSOIL or M1 and a Purolator Premium PLUS oil filter for a year.The price is pretty close to the same the protection would be better with M1 or AMSOIL because they run cooler and stuff like that.Now if their are extream conditions riding in the mud hill climbing then you would have to dump earlier.
grin.gif
 
"Why pay $1.50 a quart...when you can get the cheap stuff for $.89 that meets all the same specs? I don't recall seeing any bad UOA's on any oil, even the cheap stuff, with less than 3K-4K miles."

Yes, yes, and...YES!

Being the cheap bast*rd that I am, I prefer oil that costs all of 18 cents/qt: two oil changes worth of Valvoline MaxLife for free via their promotion, and two oil changes worth of Citgo for only 36 cents/qt after promotions. That averages to 18 cents/qt.

At the 25,000 mile point on my 2002 Mopar, not a spec of valvetrain sludge or varnish is visible through the filler cap, with changes at 5K mi intervals. As clean as the day it was assembled. And I won't bother doing a UOA either based on the same UOAs you saw, Bottgers: I'd bet my mortgage its iron wear is
18 cent/qt oil rocks! Can't get enough of the stuff...

[ July 15, 2004, 08:27 PM: Message edited by: TC ]
 
quote:

Originally posted by sjlee:
You'd probably be fine, but why bother? You can get name-brand oils on sale for less than the regular price of the no-name oils. I just picked up a case of Havoline 5W-30 for $0.69/quart (with mail-in rebate).

Obviously it would be silly not to buy the name brand stuff if it happens to be available at a lower price than the no name stuff. That hasn't been the case in my case. My Tercel calls for 10W-30, and I wouldn't hesitate to use a no name oil in it as long as it meets the SL spec. The one I'm leary about is my wife's MPV. It calls for 5W-20 and I don't know how good the no name oils are in this weight.
 
quote:

Originally posted by dropitby:
rolleyes.gif
Again its a matter of choice and a little logic. Lets say it cost you (ballpark)$8 per change for Wallmart oil and their filter. You change it every 3000 for say 12000 or 1 year.Now lets say you use 5 qts of AMSOIL or M1 and a Purolator Premium PLUS oil filter for a year.The price is pretty close to the same the protection would be better with M1 or AMSOIL because they run cooler and stuff like that.Now if their are extream conditions riding in the mud hill climbing then you would have to dump earlier.
grin.gif


I know this has been discussed before, but in order to end up spending the same amount of money on oil changes using Amzoil or M1 as you would using the no name stuff, you have to run change intervals so long that the syn oil is going to be jet black by the time it gets changed, and usually that's about 10K-12K. I also know it's been discussed that how dark your oil is isn't a good indication that it needs to be changed, but I can't stand running jet black oil in my engines......even if it's Amzoil or M1. I'd rather run no name oil and dump it every 3K before it turns black. I'll always use a good filter regardless of what type of oil I use. I use PureOne filters. I just get my warm fuzzy by changing my oil before it turns completely black.
 
Any dino oil will do fine and give the protection a vehicle needs. With tech oil is better today than before. There so many different choices we can choice from it gets silly. I think with all the choices we can evaluate....It's got to come down to how you value your vehicle.

It's a personal pride what oil one wants to use and how it performs...case sensitive....I got a $35,000 vehicle...I want the best protection so I go with synthetic oil and feel comfortable with my OCI....

If you feel comfortable with cheap dino and it will give the protection a vehicle wants by all means use it!!! It is how many feel by what brand, oil weight, and driving conditions...We all got our FAVORITE oil...
 
"Being the cheap bast*rd that I am, I prefer oil that costs all of 18 cents/qt: two oil changes worth of Valvoline MaxLife for free via their promotion, and two oil changes worth of Citgo for only 36 cents/qt after promotions."

----------------------------------------------------

TC, you're a magnificent bast@rd!
 
I value my time too! If I change synth at 6 months or 6000 miles it will cost me $100 with Mobil1 per year 2 vehicles. If a person makes $35 an hour and the changes take 1.0 hours including time to pick up the filter, etc.. Thats 4 hours per year at a total of $140. $140+$100=$240 per year.

Total $240

A 3 month, 3000 mile routine will cost me $104 per year using Castrol GTX and a Wix filter. Thats 8 changes at $13 since I do both vehicles. Add 8 hours labor is $280. $280+$104=$384

Total $384

You say wouldn't it be better to have it done and earn the $35 an hour? No! I do not let anyone work on my vehicles unless I absolutely don't have a choice!

You say I can use cheaper oil and filters and it will cost less for the dino. No! I am comfortable with GTX and used it over 20 years!

The choice is yours.

Daily Drives:
-2003 Toyota Tacoma PreRunner XtraCab, 2.7 Liter , Mobil1 Synthetic SS 5W-30.
ODO 9400 Miles.
-1995 Toyota 4-Runner 3.0 V6, Mobil1 Synthetic SS 10W-30.
ODO 91400 Miles.
http://community.webshots.com/user/amkeer
 
Well, I've said this before. But I imagine you could go down to your local recycle center with the 200 gallon tank two thirds full, siphon out from the one third full level five gallons of oil (water and solids sink to the bottom, lighter to the top) and run it in your car and I seriously doubt you'd ever know the difference.
 
quote:

Originally posted by 05corollaLE:
But won't M1 or Amsoil give better protection with 5k miles OCI than premium dinos with 3k mile OCI?

I think it will, but the question is how much better and is it enough of a difference in protection to justify the difference in price. I think the answer to that question is no. IMPO, I think the only tangible benefit provided by using full syn is extended oil change intervals. I've seen plenty of engines run 200K-300K on dino.
 
I believe there is a converse issue here. A lot of people argue about the economics of synth vs dino, extended drains, etc. What may be of even more importance is peice of mind. My trooper is not incredibly hard on oil, but it does use some. I use some form of Mobil 1 in it (am planning on other synths too) and change at about the 3500 - 4000 mark. The oil can go longer I am sure, BUT I feel better if it is changed. Dino would work well, BUT synthetics make me feel better about driving 80mph through the mountains of WV. A new engine costs in the $4000 range (low side) and if a $4 a qt motor oil protects marginally better at least and makes me feel more at ease then the economics and psychology of the synthetic outweighs the closed-end economics of dino. Just my 2 cents worth
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You say you havn't seen any Bad UOAs with 3k oil changes, but I think you can certainly find better ones. No SL is going to destroy your engine with a 3k OCI, that's what standards are for.(Of course there's some that ocasionally fail standards) But that's not really what most are looking for.

-T
 
quote:

Originally posted by T-Keith:
You say you havn't seen any Bad UOAs with 3k oil changes, but I think you can certainly find better ones. No SL is going to destroy your engine with a 3k OCI, that's what standards are for.(Of course there's some that ocasionally fail standards) But that's not really what most are looking for.

-T


You're absolutely right. I have seen better UOA's from the more expensive name brand dinos and syns, question is, how much better? Are you going to see a difference in engine life by using the brand name stuff as compared to the no name stuff? It's not uncommon to see testimony from people getting 200K-300K out of their engines using nothing but store brand oils. This leads me to ask why pay 2 to 5 times more for oil if it isn't 2 to 5 times better?
 
If I was looking at a used vehicle with 150,000 miles, I would consider 5000 mile OCI/store brand oil (of current spec) to be a plus for the vehicle.

I've seen many used vehicles with little or no preventive maintenance at all.

I've even bought a few neglect buckets, just because they were so cheap and dirty. Clean em up, drive them 30-50,000 miles and sell them for what you paid. My last one was a Toyota Corolla with 2 dino oil changes in 78,000 miles. Used that as leverage to severely discount the value of the engine. It did have good compression, but was varnished and leaked a little out of the main seals. I put it on 10K mobil one changes and drove it another 40,000 miles, selling it for what I paid.

[ July 17, 2004, 10:09 AM: Message edited by: tpi ]
 
I am comfortable that any API certifed oil at 3 to 5 K intervals will keep a car running good longer than most of us care to look at it (assuming the other maintenence items are followed). You would even be giving the next owner a really good car if it was under 150K.
 
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