Oil used based on marketing, before BITOG

[Bror Jace]

I started as a Castrol GTX fan buying their hype about "Maximum protection against viscosity and thermal breakdown" which sounds nice but is just a bunch of B.S. mumbo jumbo. I used that from the mid-eighties up until some time in the early nineties when I began using their Syntec and occasionally Mobil 1 in my '90 Acura Integra.

Sometime before I got rid of the Integra and bought the '95 Civic, I figured that Valvoline was the best dino available and used that to break the car in. I figured that Ashland was the refinery which made all the Valvoline products and I always assumed that a refiner would be better than a mere blender. Couple this with Valvoline's impeccable reputation … albeit among people fairly ignorant about oil.

Along the way, Mobil 1 fed me some internet hype about Castrol Syntec being not-quite-as-good as M1 and I switched. In fact 90% of the miles I put on the Civic were with Mobil 1; “regular” and “Tri-Synthetic.” Worked OK most of the time but the piston-slap racket in the cold was becoming unbearable.

I tried Valvoline Synpower when it came out as it was supposedly a PAO and supposedly had more ZDDP than Mobil 1 Tri-Syn SJ. But, Valvoline was a disappointment as the engine which had not needed top-off oil all its life began consuming nearly 1 quart in 5,000 miles.

The first batches of Max-Life were pretty good. Lots of moly but the base oil was not as good as their techs claimed.

I’ve pretty much had it with Valvoline.

I tried Red Line and results were pretty good. Wear was OK after extended use … but testing showed the beginning of a coolant leak. On the bright side, consumption returned to zero after even 7,000+ miles.

This is the time I discovered BITOG. Now it’s Schaeffer, Chevron, Red Line & Pennzoil and for me.

--- Bror Jace

 

[jsharp]

I used to use whatever I could buy the cheapest by the case since most of the early cars I owned were beaters and used plenty of it.

I got better cars and started owning nice motorcycles and since Castrol was the brand of choice for 2 wheelers, I'd run it in my good cars too. The beaters still got whatever was on sale.

When synthetics appeared, I started using assorted varieties of them in anything I owned that was good. The old stuff would still get cheap oil or sythetic I drained out of a good vehicle.

I guess I'm not much for marketing and fashion on these things...

 

[1maniac]

I used Wolfs Head because that's what my dad, uncle, grandfather all used. Then switched to Mobil-1 when they mailed me their info on their test with the BMW and Cutlass Supreme being run for a million miles or some super high number on M1 and the engine was "like new" inside. Now I'm on an Amsoil kick

 

[mrdctaylor]

I used nothing but Valvoline for years. Why? My father-in-law swore by it and he is a mechanic (albeit not an automotive mechanic). I didn't know any better at the time. His advice was all based on hearsay.

I've got him using Mobil 1 now.

 

[Starbreaker666]

From when I started messing around with cars I used QS.. I had a 76' Old Cutlass with a transplanted 455 Rocket Block. Some how I equated Old with QS and never ran anythig else. now I run Valv All Climate 5W-30 in my truck and Valv DB 5w-30 in wifes car.

 

[razel]

The only marketing I got was from my father who is a car mechanic to all the cars in my immediate family. I remember him always using Castrol GTX with STP oil treatment and FRAM oil filters every 6 months or 3-5k miles based on freeway mileage.

After doing oil changes myself and learning from BITOG, I still change 6 months or 3,333 or 5k miles (easier to remember 3333, 6666, 0000 or 5k, 10k, 15k) based on freeway mileage and use Chevron Supreme (just as good as Castrol GTX at half the price of 69 cents) with maintainence doze of AutoRX, and either Champion (STP, Supertech) or Purolator (Pro-Line) based oil filters that I can easily find for around $2.

I also now am about to begin using Fuel Power in addition to Techron which was added 2 tankfulls before an before oil change. I like FP's idea of constant cleaning plus maximizing energy from gasoline for more of everything at only an additional 5 cents per gallon of gas.

[ November 06, 2003, 12:44 AM: Message edited by: razel ]

 

[Mystic]

Before I discovered this web site, I had very little in the way of reliable information about motor oil. I had been using Pennzoil mostly and switched to Valvoline when I heard a lot of negative stuff about Pennzoil from people that I thought had some true knowledge. Why did I switch to Valvoline? Well, I knew a Toyota dealership that had switched from Pennzoil to Valvoline. And I knew that Valvoline had been used successfully in auto racing and that Valvoline was 'the choice of top mechaincs.'

Before I discovered this web site, I searched the internet and could not find much in the way of reliable information. It was like information about motor oil was classified.

 

[pepper32]

Pennzoil and Mobil1.

 

[Flimflam]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Mystic:


.......Before I discovered this web site, I searched the internet and could not find........reliable information. It was like information about motor oil was classified.

---

Too darn right, Brother!!!!! Indeed, it was all "seat of the pants" when picking out a motor oil, there was no empirical testing, no real solid numbers to go on back in the old days.

For 90 percent of my 20+ years of motorcycle riding and automobile driving, I picked Castrol GTX on basis of "word of mouth." This "Selection by Hearsay" gradually grew to hands-on experience with GTX and its companion products, HD-30 and HD-40. After a couple of times when I ran engines after catastrophic cooling system failure 'till I vaporized all the sump contents away, and still got away from the incidents unscathed, I came to accept Castrol as "The One."

Now, thanks to this site, I know that there are other good oils beside Castrol, and I hope to try Chevron Supreme dino and Schaeffer Supreme 7000 series blend pretty soon. The Schaeffer will have to wait until my Auto-Rx cycle is done!

[P.S.:-- Looking back on my early years, I think I must have been a genius to reject that awful M*1 P.O.S.{Piece of S**t} without even giving it a tryout in my engine. And today, the high wear numbers for M*1 confirm to me that I was correct all along. So, I guess seat-of-the-pants does work. Sometimes.]