Oil recommendation - 96 Prizm LSi

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I have a 96 Geo Prizm LSi that I teach kids to drive in (driver education). It has 211,200 miles. I give it 4,000 miles OCI's which are what my company requires. The car has the dohc engine and doesnt use much oil between oil changes *maybe* a pint between 4,000 miles but that might be because it has a valve cover leak...btw, this engine is truly a diehard! Lots and lots and extreme amounts of stop and go. Lots of goosing the gas, lots of me holding down the brake on my side while the kid is giving it WOT. This car is put to extreme limits in many many ways.

Last oil change I used Quaker State 5w30 and a Supertech Oil filter.

I was wondering, since the prizm has such high miles, if maybe 10w30 would be better for the hot summer months?

Also, whats the best for the price, robust packaged oil that I can buy?

Please dont tell me to buy any SM rated oil, thats not why I come here. How about a good hearted opiniated based suggestion? TIA!
 
With 211K miles, I would use the least expensive oil you can find especially since it uses such little oil between oil changes.
 
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Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
With 211K miles, I would use the least expensive oil you can find especially since it uses such little oil between oil changes.


Come on, dont be shy. Give me a brand name, do you think 10w30 would give better protection?

These engines are WELL known for getting 300,000 miles and over.
 
Why spend the extra $$$ on HM oil if your Prizm is running great with little consumption ?

OK, my vote is for 10w30 HDEO if you want a robust oil.
 
Originally Posted By: LT4 Vette
Why spend the extra $$$ on HM oil if your Prizm is running great with little consumption ?

OK, my vote is for 10w30 HDEO if you want a robust oil.


Errr.....HDEO= heavy duty engine oil? If thats the correct acronym definition, which brand do you personally recommend?
 
Originally Posted By: Triple_Se7en
The Murrays at Masonic (13-1/2 Mile Rd) and Gratiot/Little Mack has Motorcraft HDEO 10w30 in stock.


Nice. I have a great rapport with the employees there. So is this motorcraft semi-synthetic like the stuff they sell at Walmart?
 
Just use the 5w30 year round. The 10w30 isn't going to be thicker during the summer, if that's what you're looking for. As for what kind of oil to use, I have no real brand loyalty but I'd be confident with Valvoline, Havoline, Pennzoil, Quaker State, Castrol GTX, Mobil Clean 5000, Formula Shell or any name brand conventional. I'd just buy what you can find on sale, Murray's has some great deals from time to time, I just got a case of Castrol GTX for $1.00/quart and Formula Shell for $.50/quart. I think your car would be a good candidate for using Valvoline MaxLife as well, if you're willing to spend a couple more dollars. I've used it with great results.
 
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Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
I'd be confident with Valvoline, Havoline, Pennzoil, Quaker State, Castrol GTX, Mobil Clean 5000, Formula Shell.


Its my dime so I want the one with the most comprehensive add package. Pick one from the list you made!
 
Pennzoil has a great additive package, and I've always been partial to Valvoline and Havoline. I'd narrow it down to Pennzoil 5w30 or Valvoline MaxLife 5w30. However, if you can find any of the others on sale, I wouldn't hesitate to use them.
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The MaxLife might help with your leaky valve cover gasket as well, but I wouldn't use it for that reason really, as valve cover gaskets are so easy to replace.
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If it was me (and I've been there) I'd do the following;

Use what you have been for as long as you have.

You don't need anything with more garbage in it. Just use 5w30 oil and change it.

211k with no burning issues in a car used for teaching people how to drive on conventional oil.

I'm sure that service would be considered being real easy on the engine since we have people here who say the only way you will make 200k with conventional oil is if you are real easy on the engine.
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Again, do not change anything! Any good NORMAL oil changing it every 4k will get your engine down the road well protected.
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As far as the valve cover leak, simple.

Change the gasket. Do NOT use a oil to fix a simple problem. With that engine, its a simple fix.

Also, proves my point about supertech filters being a excellent filter.

Love all these folks who go Mobil 1 filters and Mobil 1 oil every 3k to get long life...

$$$$$$$$$$$$ wasted.
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Take care, bill
 
I would try an SAE 30. Any of the name brand stuff like Havoline,Pensoil,Rotella,Valvoline, should work great in that engine. They will have in general a more robust additive package then most 5W30 or 10W30 dino oils and will suffer less from shearing and consuption etc.... It is warm enough now in Michigan where it should not pose a problem with cold starts especialy Valvolines Premium SAE30. A solid 15W40 would work well as well. I have a road trip comeing up soon and will run either SAE 30 or 15W40 if I decide to do an Auto-Rx treatment. If not then I will run some 5W30 Synthetic from my stock pile of oils!
 
Modern Group II based SM motor oils are so good, they can run 5k miles or more in pretty severe conditions and still holdout very well. They are head-and-shoulders better than the Group I based oils we were using 15 years ago for 3k mile oil changes.

The problem is, not many people are running these SM conventionals much past 5k miles. So we don't have a lot of data points (UOA's) to distinguish the really good SM conventionals from the good ones (all the latest oils are considered "good" as the SM spec. is a pretty stringent specification to pass). If just about everyone was pushing these conventional out to 10k miles or more, we might be able to find some of the really top notch ones that could hold out better. As it is, if your oil change is only 4k miles, any SM oil will run that so easily, there is no way to distinguish which ones will perform better.

That being said, I did see one UOA on Pennzoil out to 10k miles -- and the oil performed fine. SOPUS (Shell oil products US) is the parent company that makes both Pennzoil and Quaker State. So, if you are currently using Quaker State, stick with it -- it's probably one of the better oils out there.

The other suggestion -- a brand name HDEO like Delo 400 10w30, they will have a more robust add pack than the regular oils.
 
If it was my car, and my job.....I'd use Valvoline 5w30 conventional with a purolator filter.

Thats what I'd do.
Other opinions vary.
I've been a die hard Valvoline guy for years. Never ever a bit of trouble. Ashland oils keep your internals well lubed and very clean.
 
i would say like bill and others already stated, keep what you have been using. *if* you were to find some oil on sale or clearance i would go ahead and get that or maxlife but probably not needed. Syn would be a waste as well
 
Ok just to update my thread...

I went to Wal mart tonite. A 5 quart jug of Mobil 5000 5w30 was $8.97!! What a deal. It was cheaper that pennzoil, quaker state, and just a few cents above the SuperTech brand. So I ended up going with Mobil 5000.

Also, they have downsized their super tech oil filter selection down to NOTHINGness and were clear out of the oil filter I needed so I had to buy a Fram oil filter. Oh well.

The cheap Mobil 5000 oil will make my company, who reimburses me for oil changes, happy.
 
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