Oil to avoid?? May be a quick reference?

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Hi folks, i have been checking ad reading the messages. Ppl have been comparing all different brands of oil and have different opinions. I guess we can sum it by a quick refernce table. One table for dino and one table for syn oil. Any thoughts? Secondly, any opinions on brands to aviod?
 
Oil to avoid?? Don't know of any.
But I bet there are motor oils that would like to avoid vehicle owners
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quote:

Originally posted by unDummy:
...But I bet there are motor oils that would like to avoid vehicle owners
grin.gif


A little anthropomorphizing there?
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I usually avoid buying supermarket brand oil (although I have looked at the packaging).
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[ May 17, 2003, 06:31 PM: Message edited by: Rick in PA ]
 
The only oil I'd avoid is Castrol.

Not because it would ruin an engine but because Castrol's marketing strategy is intended to decieve the consumer. Their regular Syntec line is group III hydrocracked base stock but they price it like real synthetic. Other manufacturers have since followed Castrol's scheme but Castrol was the first. Unfortunaly Mobil's lawsuit wasn't successful and the term synthetic has become nearly meaningless. If you read about Pennzoil's Pure Base it sounds very similar to Group III hydrocracked but it's only a tad over $1.00/qt.

(It's like the way Sear's came up with the phony way to inflate power tool HP. They spec based locked rotor amps vs running amps which is meaningless and only intended to decieve the consumer.)


quote:

Originally posted by My SaAb:
Hi folks, i have been checking ad reading the messages. Ppl have been comparing all different brands of oil and have different opinions. I guess we can sum it by a quick refernce table. One table for dino and one table for syn oil. Any thoughts? Secondly, any opinions on brands to aviod?

 
But if there was some brand or some brands of motor oil that are truly bad and could ruin a person's engine, it would be nice to know. For example, maybe there are some people still trying to sell SA or SB oil to people to use in their cars. This was going on, in fact, not so many years ago. SA or SB oil would probably be acceptable only in a Model T, and even then you would probably be better off with a modern oil, assuming the engine was clean.

I do get the impression that some motor oils probably are good for only about 2000 miles, and others that are better in quality will last 4000-5000 miles (talking about conventional oils). Several years ago, I heard of a synthetic oil that allegedly was destroying engines, but I can't remember the name.
 
Maybe this stuff. SynLube™ Lube-4-Life ®

Uses graphite and teflon. It's 5W-50 so they reccomend it for all engines in all seasons. Claims last for the life of the engine which I would guess to be fairly short with this stuff.

Otherwise, most oils on the shelf should at least be passable given API certification. I think The fake synths (Valvoline, Pennzoil, Syntec non-German) are not worth the price. The real cheap dino oils are ok for easy driven non-turbo engines if they are changed in under 3000mi.

[ May 27, 2003, 10:23 PM: Message edited by: rugerman1 ]
 
Based on sentiments I have read here, I would postulate that Valvoline dino and Castrol Syntec have UOA's that are subpar. Castrol GTX dino seems to be a good dino oil, and I think Valvoline synthetic has posted a good UOA.
 
I heard corn oil was bad for you, I try to stick with olive oil... My dad likes frying things in cotton seed oil but he can't get it anymore... anyone know where I could get cotton seed oil?
 
I think in the civilized world you can read the labels and look for the API symbols. I've got analisis (and studies) that eliminates 99% of all oils produced in Latin America.
ie: 1. A construction company using a Bolivian oil with changes every 250 hours, CAT engines being rebuilt every 8,000 to 12,500 hours
2. Another construction company using the world's larges oil company's oil made in Argentina changing every 200 hours and CAT engines lasting between 8,000 and 9,000 hours.
3. Another similar company using a USA made (group I) with changes at 400 hours and CAT engines lasting 24,000 to 25,000 hours.
 
Here, Here!

Widman has a great point. We take API certification for granted, or accuse it of being an industry scam tactic - but it does ensure some reasonable level of quality and performance!
 
quote:

Originally posted by Mystic:
...if there was some brand or some brands of motor oil that are truly bad and could ruin a person's engine, it would be nice to know...

Simple - avoid ANY brand that is not at least API SJ/GF-2, or preferably, SL/GF-3 certified, unless even more stringent specs. are called for by the engine manufacturer. And quit obsessing over the dilusion that some brands are "gotchas" just lieing in wait to ruin your engine.
 
Gee Patman, you had me worried for a while! In your earlier post, I thought maybe you were referring to Schaeffer's Oil. My Schaeffer's Oil has just arrived, and I was thinking, oh no!

I am happy that you were referring to some other strange colored oil!
 
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