My Quest for Good Cheap Oil

[SC Maintenance]

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/

 

[altaylar]

You've tracked on Kirkland oil? Did you get a UOA?

G

Thread 'Kirkland FS 5w-30, 3000 hard miles, 2019 Honda Civic Type-R'

Jan 21, 2022

Hello All..

Long time lurker here and finally did my first UOA

3000 miles on this 5w-30 kirkland oil. Honda spec'ed this car for 0w-20

I had a few people mention this oil isnt impressive because it sheared to a high 20 weight despite the results being excellent. Shearing didnt result in more wear metals and even blackstone mentioned its harmless.

What do you all think?

Here is how the oil was used:
3 track days. 2 at Thunder hill west(about 95-100 degrees both days) and 1 at Laguna Seca(65 degrees that day)
Lots of short trips where the oil doesnt get to full operating temperature
A...

• gtical
• Replies: 25
• Forum: Used Oil Analysis - Gasoline

• 

I also have a sample with 4 track days, that i am yet to ship

 

[Javed]

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.

 

[Carlostrece]

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.

 

[Carlostrece]

Which mechanical issues did he have that started when he used Mobil 1 and went away with a different oil?

See my posts 174 & 184.

 

[tired]

You tell me, likely failing valve stem seals, like I said the oil had nothing to do with it.

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.

 

[tired]

See my posts 174 & 184.

I’m aware of those posts. He seems to be ascribing this to a mechanical issue not the oil. And I’m asking what mechanical issue would change so drastically with a different oil.

 

[Carlostrece]

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.

 

[Carlostrece]

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.

 

[4WD]

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

 

[tired]

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.

 

[Carlostrece]

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.

 

[tired]

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.

I've yet to see a compelling argument for why you shouldn't use VRP if you only need an API spec oil.

 

[Carlostrece]

I've yet to see a compelling argument for why you shouldn't use VRP if you only need an API spec oil.

I agree. Did anyone say otherwise?

 

[53' Stude]

FWIW, years ago I did try Mobil One 0w40 in my 97 Buick Park Ave. It did not like M1 0w40. It had slight blue exhaust smoke at startup and sounded noisy at startup. It never has issues using Maxlife Syn or Blend 5w30.

Well my Buick had one issue with all oils. It had a leaky valve cover gasket, but it had that issue with all oils. Maxlife Blend leaked the least. I recently had my valve covers gaskets replaced. No more oil leak. It doesn't burn a drop of oil.

Ya don’t say. No oil will forever stop external leaks FYI.

 

[97prizm]

"Bad" oil is as scarce as hen's teeth on the US market. Just buy anything on the shelf at Walmart and change it regularly and you and your engine will be great.

The only "bad oil" that I could think of is the cheapo Accel oil at Walmart. I think it's rated SA or a way out of date oil spec.

 

[trd1zz]

I've yet to see a compelling argument for why you shouldn't use VRP if you only need an API spec oil.

Costs?

If you run a Toyota and want to use 5w30, Toyota Genuine Motor Oil purchased online from local Toyota dealer for in store pickup is ~$24 for a 6 quart case (Southeast usa region). And you can stock up on it for less than $20/case during a 25% off sale which this dealer group region runs multiple times per year. So a little over $3 per quart. I don't think I've found a consistently better deal / bang for buck.