New Guy Question

[jp11]

I am new to BITOG and all the technical info; but not changing my own oil. My question is:

In 2005 I changed the oil in my 2004 Chevrolet Impala 3.4L, with Mobil 1 and Wix filter. The car only had 40,000 miles on it with NO mechanical problems. Once I changed the oil, I drove it on a 100 mile round trip. Within 20 miles or less of the trip I drove up a small hill doing 55 mph, and the engine began to have a slight rattle, which it had not had before. I promptly removed the Mobil 1 and replaced it with Valvoline MaxLife and have had no problems since. My only reason for this post is to learn. Any help or answers would be appreciated, and I apologize for the long first post.

 

[AuthorEditor]

My guess is that the cleaning ability of the Mobil 1 dislodge some crud which might have partially plugged a passage causing some lifter rattle under load. Synthetics will clean up your engine, but in the process they may also dislodge crud, which will eventually circulate down to the filter and get cleaned out. When I switched my 03 Impala to synthetic I noticed more crud in the filter after the first couple of oil changes, but it has since gone away.

 

[Silver_civic]

I dont think I need to use a synthetic oil myself. I know the pro's and con's of synthetic oil and I honestly dont qualify to use it, and I cannot at all justify the cost of synthetic oil.


thanks for the info


adam vasbinder

 

[chubbs1]

Hey that's what it is all about, finding an oil that works in your vehicle the best, most of it is psychological, as most API rated name brands will keep an engine running OK. I do think there are certain brands that work better for certain cars. I am not stopping 'til I try them all...lol

 

[mechtech2]

That rattle could have been spark knock and thus unrelated to your oil.
Also, a fault in the oil filter may have caused this.
Did you use a very light Mobil 1 oil when you should have used a bit thicker?

 

[charbaby]

It does sound like spark knock to me also!

1)Have you traveled up that same hill since changing to the MaxLife?

2)Did you happen to fill your tank with gas from another gas station before/after the Mobil 1 OCI(oil change interval)?

3)What grade of MaxLife(ML) and Mobil 1(M1) did you use?

4)Did you also change out the filter too?(Not that you needed to)

M1 can/may run a bit thinner on the cST(centistoke) scale than the same grade of ML.

My spelling, acronyms and pronounciations are lacking(Norm Crosby) so, forgive me!

 

[charbaby]

jp, are you there son? Com'ooon back!

 

[Eddie]

+ 1 as I expect knocking and it had nothing to do with the oil. Hope you didn't dump oil and toss-a real waste

 

[jp11]

Sorry everyone, I was away for a while.

Now to answer some of your questions.

Yes I have traveled the same hill

Have used different quality fuels

Used 10w30 with both MaxLife and M1

Filters used were both Wix

I did think about the M1 being thinner than the MaxLife, but have had no knock since, with the MaxLife.

I purchased this car with approx. 40,000 mi. on it and have changed the oil with above mentioned brand every 3,000 to 4,000 mi. Anyway, this vehicle has 107,000 mi. on it now, and I am kind of wondering if changing to a full synthetic is a good idea and which one would be good, if any. Thanks