Jeep oil and SuperTech

[Shel_B]

I wouldn’t do it just because I couldn’t sleep at night but that’s up to you. I’d use Valvoline or Castrol or Pennzoil conventional if it was me. In my opinion it’s important to use better oils as the vehicle ages.

Why do you feel these conventional oils are better than ST?

 

[AutoMechanic]

Why do you feel these conventional oils are better than ST?

They are known names and I have had great luck with the oils. Also they appear just a tad bit thicker than the ST which I like a thicker oil. I know the ST is blended by Warren and BITOG has convinced me it’s good but it’s just too many people have told me store brand oil is a no no.

 

[celicaxx]

They are known names and I have had great luck with the oils. Also they appear just a tad bit thicker than the ST which I like a thicker oil. I know the ST is blended by Warren and BITOG has convinced me it’s good but it’s just too many people have told me store brand oil is a no no.

One thing I feel about Supertech in particular, though it could just be voodoo or my imagination, is it is smooth and quiet running oil. On the flip side, in all my cars I could tell more sluggishness if I went past 4000 or so, with the conventional. I'd not use it for long drains, but I don't like long drains anyway.

The only oil I have outright terrible luck with oddly is Shell Rotella T5 synthetic blend. After a lot of years of no issues with Supertech conventional in my Galant, I did one or two oil changes with it and sprung a giant front main seal leak. I don't know if it was because of being more synthetic or having too much detergent, or what happened (maybe sheer bad luck) but with ST conventional it barely used any oil between changes and suddenly it sprung a giant leak that would be like a quart every 5-10 miles.

Another Shell oil I have terrible luck with, but it was more owner negligence, was when I pulled my Sentra's valve cover it was full of sludge, and the lady who owned it ran Formula Shell 10w40 its whole life, but the PCV was pretty clogged. Still, that was the most sludged up car I've seen in real life at that point, so if there's any brand I'd avoid it's probably Shell.

That said, in pretty much everything else in life I'm not much of a brand person. I try to just buy products as objectively as possible as long as they fit my needs, and ignore the brand. I even buy a lot of generic stuff, or unbranded Chinese stuff off ebay. It's just not in my personality to chase brands. Of course I have preferences and bad experience with some (as I wrote above) but often I think compared to average I will take more risks with unknown or even "bad" brands. I'm not the type to save $1-2 (I have Valvoline Maxlife in my own car at $18 a jug vs Supertech) just for the hell of it, but to me it's not about just the name.

Admittedly with oil my prejudices come mostly from my father's 1970s impressions, which I don't think applies to now much at all. I'd actually like to try Castrol but never have, as my father told me it sucked in the 1970s, and I read some confirmation bias stuff that Castrol leaves varnish here.

 

[srfdude]

Wow, all over the place here. There seem to be two things Bitogs don't agree on at all, and that is ST, and the Jeep 4.0. So not sure, I went to my local Wallyworld, and wouldn't you know it, they didn't have some of the particular oils I mentioned, either in the one quart or 5-qt. jug. I ended up with Maxlife HM 10W-30 semi-syn. I will do an analysis after this to see how the engine is doing. For sure it will be an improvement from the Econocrap thats in it, now to figure out what to put in the auto tranny.
Thanks for all the advice, guys, I appreciate it.

 

[dlundblad]

Whatever you use, I’d use a 10w40 PCMO.

I’m using up some Castrol Edge HM 10w40 A3/B4 then I plan on going to either Rotella T5 10w30 or Rotella T6 5w40.

 

[celicaxx]

Wow, all over the place here. There seem to be two things Bitogs don't agree on at all, and that is ST, and the Jeep 4.0. So not sure, I went to my local Wallyworld, and wouldn't you know it, they didn't have some of the particular oils I mentioned, either in the one quart or 5-qt. jug. I ended up with Maxlife HM 10W-30 semi-syn. I will do an analysis after this to see how the engine is doing. For sure it will be an improvement from the Econocrap thats in it, now to figure out what to put in the auto tranny.
Thanks for all the advice, guys, I appreciate it.

Valvoline Maxlife red bottle ATF in the transmission. It made my pretty worn auto Sentra shift WAY better, both compared to old fluid, and new Supertech ATF. At Wal-Mart if they have it, it's cheap, too, but that stuff works miracles.



I got the idea from this guy, apparently in BMW land it's a very popular fluid.

 

[4WD]

I did the opposite and it went really well for me. I'd used Motorcraft 5w20 every oil change on my mom's car and it started leaking about a quart every 1500 miles. I decided to switch it to Supertech conventional high mileage, and not only did it leak less, but I feel it actually runs smoother overall with Supertech conventional compared to Motorcraft. That's not very scientific, but less leaks (2700 miles last change, seems even better this change...) and a feeling of it running smoother and quieter for a lot less money is pretty good. The only downside on my butt dyno is it seems to be "tired" after 4000 or so miles, whereas Motorcraft felt less tired at 5000. I'm really happy it runs quieter and overall smoother, though. Don't know why or what, but it was an upgrade.

On my father's Kia Sportage with the GDI motor I did an oil change with ST synthetic and he said it was OK, but with Valvoline Maxlife he said a lifter tick went away.

I ran my old Galant on Supertech conventional for about 40K miles and had no problems with it at all, and when I pulled the head it was pretty clean and just had light varnish and no sludge.


This guy says it pretty well, imo.

Give it a try sometime, it's not bad oil.

Wow, that guy likes to repeat himself (and curse allot) but did I hear him say 3k and then 5k … ?

 

[Gene K]

I used to know a fair number of guys that ran Supertech 15W-40 in the 258 and 4.0 Jeep Engines.

 

[Chris142]

They are known names and I have had great luck with the oils. Also they appear just a tad bit thicker than the ST which I like a thicker oil. I know the ST is blended by Warren and BITOG has convinced me it’s good but it’s just too many people have told me store brand oil is a no no.

Too many people voice opinions with no facts. Warren makes a good oil.

 

[jayjr1105]

They are known names and I have had great luck with the oils. Also they appear just a tad bit thicker than the ST which I like a thicker oil. I know the ST is blended by Warren and BITOG has convinced me it’s good but it’s just too many people have told me store brand oil is a no no.

Numbers don't lie. Take a look at the UOA section with several dozen UOA samples from ST/Warren oils. Name brand is fine but you don't have to show up in every single Supertech mentioned thread with your subtle jabs. We get it. Move along.

@srfdude I would run ST 10w30 FS HM and sleep like a baby. Here is my V6 Honda Van with 6300miles on Supertech 5w30 and a Supertech Filter...

 

[AutoMechanic]

One thing I feel about Supertech in particular, though it could just be voodoo or my imagination, is it is smooth and quiet running oil. On the flip side, in all my cars I could tell more sluggishness if I went past 4000 or so, with the conventional. I'd not use it for long drains, but I don't like long drains anyway.

The only oil I have outright terrible luck with oddly is Shell Rotella T5 synthetic blend. After a lot of years of no issues with Supertech conventional in my Galant, I did one or two oil changes with it and sprung a giant front main seal leak. I don't know if it was because of being more synthetic or having too much detergent, or what happened (maybe sheer bad luck) but with ST conventional it barely used any oil between changes and suddenly it sprung a giant leak that would be like a quart every 5-10 miles.

Another Shell oil I have terrible luck with, but it was more owner negligence, was when I pulled my Sentra's valve cover it was full of sludge, and the lady who owned it ran Formula Shell 10w40 its whole life, but the PCV was pretty clogged. Still, that was the most sludged up car I've seen in real life at that point, so if there's any brand I'd avoid it's probably Shell.

That said, in pretty much everything else in life I'm not much of a brand person. I try to just buy products as objectively as possible as long as they fit my needs, and ignore the brand. I even buy a lot of generic stuff, or unbranded Chinese stuff off ebay. It's just not in my personality to chase brands. Of course I have preferences and bad experience with some (as I wrote above) but often I think compared to average I will take more risks with unknown or even "bad" brands. I'm not the type to save $1-2 (I have Valvoline Maxlife in my own car at $18 a jug vs Supertech) just for the hell of it, but to me it's not about just the name.

Admittedly with oil my prejudices come mostly from my father's 1970s impressions, which I don't think applies to now much at all. I'd actually like to try Castrol but never have, as my father told me it sucked in the 1970s, and I read some confirmation bias stuff that Castrol leaves varnish here.

Sorry about your bad Rotella experience. It doesn’t give my dads truck any issues but it is also made to run on the 15W-40 Rotella. I haven’t noticed the Castrol leaving behind any varnish in my engine.

 

[kschachn]

Numbers don't lie. Take a look at the UOA section with several dozen UOA samples from ST/Warren oils. Name brand is fine but you don't have to show up in every single Supertech mentioned thread with your subtle jabs. We get it. Move along.

@srfdude I would run ST 10w30 FS HM and sleep like a baby. Here is my V6 Honda Van with 6300miles on Supertech 5w30 and a Supertech Filter...
View attachment 47721

Which might make a difference if the objection was based on reasoning but it is not. It's based on no technical reason whatsoever so that makes it impossible for someone to learn from the facts.

 

[celicaxx]

Sorry about your bad Rotella experience. It doesn’t give my dads truck any issues but it is also made to run on the 15W-40 Rotella. I haven’t noticed the Castrol leaving behind any varnish in my engine.

If I try Castrol next oil change will you try Supertech?

 

[AutoMechanic]

If I try Castrol next oil change will you try Supertech?

I don’t know man I don’t know.