O'Reilly Store Brand 5W-40 A3/B4

[Jim Rogers]

In my continuing study of Euro oils, I see that O'Reilly has a store brand of 5W-40 A3/B4 and I'm not seeing any mention of it here on BITOG.

The pic of the back of the bottle shows all the approvals present and accounted for:

However, the linked product brochure shows the MB specs to be 229.3 and 226.5 (not the usual 229.5).

Searching around a bit, I see that there does exist a 226.5 standard; it's for shared engines with Nissan/Renault vehicles, and it seems to be at least similar to 229.5 (e.g., same 3.5 min HTHS).

I understand that the price of this oil is high compared to premium brands carried at WM, but I buy a fair number of parts at O'Reilly and am often searching for something to which I could apply my rewards points and wondered if this might be a good option.

So, any thoughts on this oil in general?

And, more specifically, given that the bottle (or at least the pic of it on the website) shows 229.5, you think the 226.5 is a typo? Or maybe the pic is out of date and it really is 226.5? Or is it that 226.5 vs 229.5 is not important?

Appreciate anyone's thoughts!

 

[kschachn]

Typos or not, those are recommendations only on the approvals. The oil has no real manufacturer approvals.

Hard to get excited about that when other oils are available for less that have actual approvals.

 

[Jim Rogers]

Typos or not, those are recommendations only on the approvals. The oil has no real manufacturer approvals.

Hard to get excited about that when other oils are available for less that have actual approvals.

Oh, I'm definitely not excited-- only curious!

As I said, no way would I pay that list price, but recently I had $20 in rewards after buying parts for my truck and had trouble coming up with something to buy with it. This seems to happen to me a couple of times a year.

$20 off that oil might make it a bit more interesting to me... but only if it's acceptable as a well-spec'ed A3/B4 oil.

Note that they also sell a "Syntec" Euro oil (that is apparently not related to the old Castrol name), and the only approvals are "A3/B4 and SP." No other manufacturer specs are even claimed!

I don't think I want that even at $20 off.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

If it's a GDI / TGDI I'm driving, I prefer the SP 5w40 over the SN 5w40.

 

[kschachn]

Oh, I'm definitely not excited-- only curious!

As I said, no way would I pay that list price, but recently I had $20 in rewards after buying parts for my truck and had trouble coming up with something to buy with it. This seems to happen to me a couple of times a year.

$20 off that oil might make it a bit more interesting to me... but only if it's acceptable as a well-spec'ed A3/B4 oil.

Note that they also sell a "Syntec" Euro oil (that is apparently not related to the old Castrol name), and the only approvals are "A3/B4 and SP." No other manufacturer specs are even claimed!

I don't think I want that even at $20 off.

Well having said that I’d buy it at $20 off. I doubt they are lying about the suitability thing, but if I’m paying more money then I’m going to get one with actual approvals.

 

[Ayrton]

I'd use it out of warranty for a normal OCI, maybe not for manufacturers 10k intervals. It looks like typical Euro oil.

It's hard to go against price of M1 0w40 from Walmart (free delivery or curbside pickup).

 

[Jim Rogers]

Well having said that I’d buy it at $20 off. I doubt they are lying about the suitability thing, but if I’m paying more money then I’m going to get one with actual approvals.

How do you know when there are actual approvals? Are you looking them up in the databases I've heard you mention before?

Looking at the language on the bottle or on the PDS's, it all seems to be the same. QS 5W-40, Euro L 5W-30, and this O'Reilly oil all say: "meets or exceeds the requirements of... " (or something very close to that).

I'm not seeing any language on the bottles that I can recognize as "we have the actual approval" vs. "we can perform at the spec, but we don't have the approval."

I'd be very interested in being able to determine that difference on my own-- especially if it's possible to do by just looking at the bottle.

I'd use it out of warranty for a normal OCI, maybe not for manufacturers 10k intervals. It looks like typical Euro oil.

It's hard to go against price of M1 0w40 from Walmart (free delivery or curbside pickup).

Everything I have is waaaaaay out of the warranty stage!

I'm looking at Euro oils with the goal of doing 10K or 2yr oci's on older, simple, non-fancy, non-turbo, port injected vehicles, (1985, 2002, 2009, 2017).

So, just want basic (and cheap) Euro oil.

 

[f355spider]

Google says its made by Omni Specialty Packaging.
Their website is down, but I found some other links to trade shows with their literature:
https://www.aapexshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PG-2022-Product-Catalog-Simple-1.pdf

https://www.aapexshow.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/PG-Motor-Oil-Comparison-01.jpg

Found some photos posted on Instagram from a few years ago of their bottling plant:

 

[f355spider]

Here is a past thread about Omni Specialty Packaging and the Chinese source for their additives:

B

Thread 'Chinese Add Packs - Omni Specialty Packaging'

Aug 16, 2010

I have access to all US ocean imports into North America for the pasty 5 years. Its interesting to note the only US blender I can find using Chinese components in motor oil is Omni (O'Rileys maker, Super Tech too?). From TANEE Chamicals. See below.

http://www.taneechem.com/en/

• BBDartCA
• Replies: 6
• Forum: Oil Industry and Related News

 

[Popsy]

With a Noack volatility over 10% it can't get the MB 229.5 approval. Hard pass
Not sure about LL-01 and A40.

 

[JavierH19]

I see why it's not talked about on here. It's way overpriced.

 

[Jim Rogers]

I was out running errands today, and stopped by O'Reilly to look at an actual bottle of their house Euro so as to determine if the pic of the bottle on the website might be incorrect. As you can see from my pic, it is not:

So, in order to determine why the PDS does not include 229.5, I "asked a question" on the product page of the website, and got a pretty quick answer (relevant portion highlighted):

So, this oil does "meet" the MB 229.5 spec.

In addition, I was able to find the answer to my own question above about determining the "official status" of a spec from this helpful post by @edyvw (at least for MB approvals). The O'Reilly doesn't have official MB approval, it's just claimed to meet the spec.

Apparently, there is no way to know for sure about official LL approval from the label, but I would guess there is no official approval for that one either.

So, how much can the claims of meeting the specs be trusted? See below about Omni:

Google says its made by Omni Specialty Packaging.
Their website is down, but I found some other links to trade shows with their literature:

I did some searching about Omni, and they appear to be ok. @Foxtrot08 has mentioned them several times as being a member of ILMA, and they appear to be just another independent blender like Warren.

Didn't find any other info on Chinese additives, and it seems that there are no issues with the O'Reilly oil they blend having any kind of Triax-like reputation.

Who knows for sure, but I'm leaning toward having trust that a big retailer like O'Reilly isn't going to conspire with a reasonably well-known blender like Omni and lie about the specs it meets.

So, my best guess it that this oil, while not officially approved, does meet the manufacturer specs listed. But to repeat-- without the official approval, it's not impossible that something could be off.

With a Noack volatility over 10% it can't get the MB 229.5 approval. Hard pass
Not sure about LL-01 and A40.

Per above, that Noack number is out of date, and they claim to meet 229.5, so it must be 10 or less.

I see why it's not talked about on here. It's way overpriced.

The price is competitive with WM when you get the package sale (which runs pretty regularly). It will generally be a dollar added to the price of the oil and a Microgard filter is included for free (add $2 for a Microgard select). So:

The cheapest WM 5W-40 (QS) is $22.97 + a ST white can for $3.85 = $26.82

The O'Reilly 5W-40 + Microgard filter (free in package) = $29.99



If we go for a higher-quality silicone ADBV, it gets even better. Cheapest silicone ADBV at WM is the Fram TG, so:

The cheapest WM 5W-40 (QS) is $22.97 + a Fram TG at $7.17 = $30.14

The O'Reilly 5W-40 + Microgard Select filter ($2 upgrade in package) = $31.99


The price at O'Reilly's is even better if you buy things there regularly since they have a points program for all purchases (which would reduce the $31.99 price I quoted above to $30.93) and they often offer in house rebates.



So, taking all that into account, the price paid for an O'Reilly oil+filter deal is about the same as WM, so which is the better deal? The QS oil from WM does have official approvals, but I'm thinking that the approvals on the O'Reilly oil are real-- so only a small demerit on the O'Reilly oil component of the package.

However, the Microgard Select is (in my opinion) a far better filter than the Fram. The Microgard Select is a current darling of BITOG, while Fram's reputation has been pretty shaky around here of late. So, a large plus for O'Reilly on the filter component of the package.

Final verdict (at least for me): If you're getting a 5W-40 Euro oil and a filter and you are able to bide your time until a proper sale comes up (which is pretty often), the O'Reilly pkg deal is very competitive with WM (and in my opinion, probably a slightly better deal).

Of course, WM can have sales too, as can AMZN, etc. And I'm not necessarily saying I would buy the O'Reilly (I currently have plenty of good Euro oil), just making the point that if you look at the larger picture, it may not be such a bad price (and might even be considered a good price).



Thanks to all for your input. I think we can now say that the O'Reilly house brand Euro oil has now been fully discussed on BITOG!

 

[Shel_B]

Typos or not, those are recommendations only on the approvals. The oil has no real manufacturer approvals.

Hard to get excited about that when other oils are available for less that have actual approvals.

 

[f355spider]

I was out running errands today, and stopped by O'Reilly to look at an actual bottle of their house Euro so as to determine if the pic of the bottle on the website might be incorrect. As you can see from my pic, it is not:



View attachment 250938


So, in order to determine why the PDS does not include 229.5, I "asked a question" on the product page of the website, and got a pretty quick answer (relevant portion highlighted):

View attachment 250942

So, this oil does "meet" the MB 229.5 spec.

In addition, I was able to find the answer to my own question above about determining the "official status" of a spec from this helpful post by @edyvw (at least for MB approvals). The O'Reilly doesn't have official MB approval, it's just claimed to meet the spec.

Apparently, there is no way to know for sure about official LL approval from the label, but I would guess there is no official approval for that one either.

So, how much can the claims of meeting the specs be trusted? See below about Omni:




I did some searching about Omni, and they appear to be ok. @Foxtrot08 has mentioned them several times as being a member of ILMA, and they appear to be just another independent blender like Warren.

Didn't find any other info on Chinese additives, and it seems that there are no issues with the O'Reilly oil they blend having any kind of Triax-like reputation.

Who knows for sure, but I'm leaning toward having trust that a big retailer like O'Reilly isn't going to conspire with a reasonably well-known blender like Omni and lie about the specs it meets.

So, my best guess it that this oil, while not officially approved, does meet the manufacturer specs listed. But to repeat-- without the official approval, it's not impossible that something could be off.




Per above, that Noack number is out of date, and they claim to meet 229.5, so it must be 10 or less.






The price is competitive with WM when you get the package sale (which runs pretty regularly). It will generally be a dollar added to the price of the oil and a Microgard filter is included for free (add $2 for a Microgard select). So:

The cheapest WM 5W-40 (QS) is $22.97 + a ST white can for $3.85 = $26.82

The O'Reilly 5W-40 + Microgard filter (free in package) = $29.99



If we go for a higher-quality silicone ADBV, it gets even better. Cheapest silicone ADBV at WM is the Fram TG, so:

The cheapest WM 5W-40 (QS) is $22.97 + a Fram TG at $7.17 = $30.14

The O'Reilly 5W-40 + Microgard Select filter ($2 upgrade in package) = $31.99


The price at O'Reilly's is even better if you buy things there regularly since they have a points program for all purchases (which would reduce the $31.99 price I quoted above to $30.93) and they often offer in house rebates.



So, taking all that into account, the price paid for an O'Reilly oil+filter deal is about the same as WM, so which is the better deal? The QS oil from WM does have official approvals, but I'm thinking that the approvals on the O'Reilly oil are real-- so only a small demerit on the O'Reilly oil component of the package.

However, the Microgard Select is (in my opinion) a far better filter than the Fram. The Microgard Select is a current darling of BITOG, while Fram's reputation has been pretty shaky around here of late. So, a large plus for O'Reilly on the filter component of the package.

Final verdict (at least for me): If you're getting a 5W-40 Euro oil and a filter and you are able to bide your time until a proper sale comes up (which is pretty often), the O'Reilly pkg deal is very competitive with WM (and in my opinion, probably a slightly better deal).

Of course, WM can have sales too, as can AMZN, etc. And I'm not necessarily saying I would buy the O'Reilly (I currently have plenty of good Euro oil), just making the point that if you look at the larger picture, it may not be such a bad price (and might even be considered a good price).



Thanks to all for your input. I think we can now say that the O'Reilly house brand Euro oil has now been fully discussed on BITOG!

If you are shaving every penny on your example...you can shop QS Euro 5w-40 on eBay. There are sellers that drop ship from WalMart for as low as $20 a jug. There is a seller right now at $20.84. They come and go...but reappear all the time...and as a buyer there is no risk, as you always get your money back if they don't deliver, or send the wrong item. I still don't get how they make money, but people here have posted they have ordered various oils at great prices off eBay and it typically comes from WalMart.

 

[Jim Rogers]

If you are shaving every penny on your example...you can shop QS Euro 5w-40 on eBay. There are sellers that drop ship from WalMart for as low as $20 a jug. There is a seller right now at $20.84. They come and go...but reappear all the time...and as a buyer there is no risk, as you always get your money back if they don't deliver, or send the wrong item. I still don't get how they make money, but people here have posted they have ordered various oils at great prices off eBay and it typically comes from WalMart.

Agree with everything you posted and, as I said, I'm unlikely to buy this O'Reilly oil myself. I posted my price analysis because, like @JavierH19 , the price seemed to me to be so high on this oil compared to brand-name oils at WM, I didn't understand why anyone would buy it.

So, just sharing with him my analysis that showed that the regular package deals that O'Reilly offers (with a far superior filter basically for free) puts the O'Reilly oil in a much more competitive position on a "WM regular price -to- O'Reilly multiple times a year package sale price" basis. Not saying it makes a strong case for O'Reilly, but it does appear to make it far less nuts to go the O'Reilly route than would appear at first glance.

As I'm retired now pre-Social Security (and thus now trying to basically live on basically zero income for the next three years!), I'm definitely trying to shave literally every penny I can. But I've been doing far better than either the WM or O'Reilly deal I listed above-- here's how:

I jumped in (along with you) on the Euro L AMZN deal at $14.13/5qt jug. I'm pairing that with the Pentius UFXL 12pk for $19.26 in the recent AMZN deal. As you probably know, these Pentius filters are high quality, silicone ADBV, and suspected to be the same as the Microgard Select filter, and they are getting very good reviews here on BITOG. And with the AMZN deal, they were $1.61 a piece!

So, rather than the O'Reilly or WM combinations above (that are in the $30 range for 5qts of oil + silicone ADBV filter), I'm getting absolute top tier oil (Euro L) and a top-quality silicone ADBV filter for:

$14.13 + $1.61 = $15.74

So, about half the price of those other deals, with a better filter than the one in the WM example, and a better oil than the one in the O'Reilly example. Now, that's cost effective-- cheaper than a single jug of ST 5W-30!

As I indicated above, I generally don't ask questions here because I'm clueless as to what oil products to choose for my vehicles-- I think I'm doing great with my choices. The reason I explore things like store-brand alternatives and ask questions here when I get stumped is that I use these rabbit hole excursions mostly as a mechanism to learn more about the topic.

For example, in this O'Reilly brand 5W-40 rabbit hole dive, I unexpectedly learned something about why the Pennzoil store on AMZN may have a good reason for occasionally blowing out Euro L at such a ridiculously low price (and thus answering your question about how they make money with such low prices).

That knowledge came from search about Omni and running into this post by @Foxtrot08 where he gives a very good reason as to why a company like Pennzoil might occasionally be selling their Euro L at a loss:

If they committed to Lubrizol / Afton / Infineum / etc. that they’re going to buy, hypothetically, 30 million gallons worth of PCEO engine oil additive a quarter. And they have to buy matching base oil, or utilize it (assuming they refine their own) - they’re under contract to buy it.

Thus, instead of paying contract penalties for not accepting it. It would be better to take the momentary loss and blow out a bunch of product at cost. Or close to cost.

As if they don’t fulfill their contract with the additive / base oil venders, the next go around for purchasing negotiations, they will have to face that and might not have as much buying power.

So if you’re making a deal for 30 million gallons of base oil and it’s (random number) 5.00 gallon. But if you failed a contract, next time it could be 5.10 a gallon then.

So you would make 10 cents less per gallon on all your products sold.

Or you could blow out 2m gallons worth of product at cost, or at a minimal loss, and make that 10 cents on the other 28 million gallons. Just a hypothetical example. It’s why national account and oem volume is so important. It’s guaranteed volume. So they’re willing to basically break even on it. But they’ll make money on other things.

Volume is king. Because storage is expensive. It gets costly to store millions of gallons of product.

So, nothing weird or nefarious about that rock-bottom price we got on AMZN-- probably just a business decision on their part.

As I said earlier, if this (and the Pentius filter sale) only happens every 18 months or so, I'll be set for ~$16 high quality oil changes for the rest of my life!

Anyway, this is why I go down these rabbit holes. I learn a lot, and it helps me not only to find low prices, but to understand why they are low and to understand exactly what I'm getting for that low price.

So, this thread is definitely not about shilling for O'Reilly-- just trying to learn more and sharing my results with others.

 

[f355spider]

So, nothing weird or nefarious about that rock-bottom price we got on AMZN-- probably just a business decision on their part.

I understand how the Amazon deal works, it is directly with Pennzoil and distributed through Amazon. I never thought there was anything odd about it.

The eBay deals are much different. The sellers are typically out of the country and orders fulfilled by WalMart....I don't get how a random guy in the Phillipines or Malaysia can get a deal on oil, and sell and deliver so inexpensively. Pennzoil Euro L 5w-30 can be found as low as $22 or $23 a jug (when buying two each) on eBay as well.

Oil filter "deals" don't factor in for me, as I only use the OE or OEM filter found at the best price online or local car dealers.

 

[SR5]

That product brochure shows A3/B4-16, or 2016 which is outdated. It should be 2021 with a few minor revisions after.

Also they talk about "mid-SAPS technology" yet A3/B4 is a full-SAPS oil, and the data sheet shows SA = 1.3 % which is full-SAPS.

 

[factorytuned2012]

In my continuing study of Euro oils, I see that O'Reilly has a store brand of 5W-40 A3/B4 and I'm not seeing any mention of it here on BITOG.

The pic of the back of the bottle shows all the approvals present and accounted for:


View attachment 250808




However, the linked product brochure shows the MB specs to be 229.3 and 226.5 (not the usual 229.5).



View attachment 250809

Searching around a bit, I see that there does exist a 226.5 standard; it's for shared engines with Nissan/Renault vehicles, and it seems to be at least similar to 229.5 (e.g., same 3.5 min HTHS).

I understand that the price of this oil is high compared to premium brands carried at WM, but I buy a fair number of parts at O'Reilly and am often searching for something to which I could apply my rewards points and wondered if this might be a good option.

So, any thoughts on this oil in general?

And, more specifically, given that the bottle (or at least the pic of it on the website) shows 229.5, you think the 226.5 is a typo? Or maybe the pic is out of date and it really is 226.5? Or is it that 226.5 vs 229.5 is not important?

Appreciate anyone's thoughts!

Some people just have to be more spendy on name brand oils. Makes them feel they’re pouring superiority. But I get it the in-house brands aren’t priced good either. Only house brand that can really be had at a fair price is the NAPA brand when it goes on special. Everyday low price super tech and Kirkland but watch out for Kirklands sale that’s a score.

 

[factorytuned2012]

NAPA FS EURO $5.11 Qt