My Quest for Good Cheap Oil

The 410K Jeep 4L on Supertech does say a lot about Jeep 4L, but also Supertech, IMO. We know it's a good design of engine, but we also know the oil was adequate. Maybe better than adequate.

Perhaps with a better oil it might have gone 500K. We'll never know.
Jeep 4.0L - which really was a American Motors based on General Motors inline 6 - someone posted the history here a while back - was a great engine that would go 400K on whatever ancient slop you find in the back of the garage. So it really doesn't tell you anything special about Supertech - either way.

Nissan VQ40 - 4.0L V6 - also great engine. Mine has 414,000 now on whatever conventional or blend I could find for cheap. I believe I ran Suptertech once because I found some in the clearance section but mostly cheap branded conventional. So some engines just run forever. Here is under the valve covers at 395,000 https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/t...vers-395-000-miles-nissan-xterra-vq40.376175/
 
You've tracked on Kirkland oil? Did you get a UOA?

I also have a sample with 4 track days, that i am yet to ship
 
Jeep 4.0L - which really was a American Motors based on General Motors inline 6 - someone posted the history here a while back - was a great engine that would go 400K on whatever ancient slop you find in the back of the garage. So it really doesn't tell you anything special about Supertech - either way.

Nissan VQ40 - 4.0L V6 - also great engine. Mine has 414,000 now on whatever conventional or blend I could find for cheap. I believe I ran Suptertech once because I found some in the clearance section but mostly cheap branded conventional. So some engines just run forever. Here is under the valve covers at 395,000 https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/t...vers-395-000-miles-nissan-xterra-vq40.376175/
I think after 36 years on crap, this 4.0L now deserves some Super Tech goodness.

Screenshot_20250801_155147_Chrome.webp
 
The oil had nothing to do with pre-existing mechanical issues.
Mobil One 0w40 had something to do with blue exhaust smoke at startup and extra noise at startup. The two 5w30 Maxlife oils I used after that did not have those issues. It's now 60K miles later and those issues have not returned.
 
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I don’t know his car. Why would failing valve seals get better with one oil vs another? I’m not trying to argue here. Earnest question.
I don't know if it was valve seals or something else. I only know it was fine before one OCI of M1 0w40 and fine again after going to 5w30 Maxlife Syn and later Blend.
 
For 03 Honda CRV and 11 Hyundai Elantra, I'm going to use 5w30 VRP for 1-3 OCI then permanently switch to 5w30 QSUPFS. NAPA Gold filters.

For my 97 Buick Park Ave, I'm going to use 5w30 VRP for 1-2 OCI then permanently switch to 5w30 QSUPFS. NAPA Gold filters.
 
I was thinking about “cheap” oil this morning. $28 for ESP vs $18 for Supertech. Then went to Cabelas and spent 5 years worth of oil changes in 10 minutes….pretty much every oil at Wally is cheap.
Wife sends a text - did you spend $1200 at Bass Pro ?
Yes ma’am - whilst they got “our” $35k boat ready …
Gotta have PPE 😷
 
I don't know if it was valve seals or something else. I only know it was fine before one OCI of M1 0w40 and fine again after going to 5w30 Maxlife Syn and later Blend.
Right but my point is that I don’t think valve stem seal issues would get worse or better with a different oil.
 
Right but my point is that I don’t think valve stem seal issues would get worse or better with a different oil.
I don't know. I also don't know why my engine didn't like M1 0w40. Maybe it was somehow related to the engine being designed for 5w30 or 10w30. I don't know.

What I do know is I get good results with Maxlife 5w30. That's why I keep my Buick 3800 using 5w30.

I've been using Maxlife 5w30 for 60K miles and 14 years with good results. At next oil change, I'm going to try VRP 5w30 for 1-2 OCI. Then try QSUPFS 5w30. If QSUPFS works well, I'll stay with it for life.
 
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