Stocked up on Chevron Supreme 5w-30

mikep · Mar 29, 2003

Was at Wally World yesterday and they had a fresh supply of Chevron Supreme 5w-30 on the shelves for $1.07/quart. I picked up enough for two changes in my wife's '96 Taurus. The Taurus has seen only two brands since we purchased it in '98.....Castrol GTX 5w-30 and Motorcraft 5w-30. The car is driven 80% local short trips (school bus stop, supermarket, gym, etc) and has had regular 3000 changes.

My plan is to change to the Supreme and drain after 1500 miles then change again and run 3000 miles and send a sample in for the Blackstone/Dyson analysis. I'll be using Supertech or Motorcraft filter(I already have one of each).

Mikep

Al · Mar 29, 2003

Definately good stuff. Are yoiu considering the 10W stuff for summer?

mikep · Mar 29, 2003

Wasn't planning on switching to the 10w. I'm not sure the weather here warrants it. We may get a month of temps into the mid - high 90s but not usually for an extended period of time. If I were down south I would certainly move to the 10w.

Do you think the 10w is warranted here in northwest, NJ?

Mikep

Al · Mar 29, 2003

Well the synthetic is definitely good all year around. Dino 10W is good for 0F so you should be good for all except for Maybe Dec, Jan and Feb.

Bror Jace · Mar 30, 2003

Mikep, I can tell you right now that you'll get good results with Chevron Supreme (either 5W30 or 10W30) and 3,000 miles, especially following a short-duration drain.

Are you trying to prove something ... or are you going for a "trophy run?"

If you are trying to prove something, go 3,500-4,000 miles before changing your oil and having a sample tested.

If you're going for a trophy run ... good luck.

I wonder if they'll have that stuff around here? I'll have to hit up all the stores, They rarely have 5W30 on the shelves of Walmart .. and it doesn't last for more than a week.

--- Bror Jace

Touringpro · Mar 30, 2003

For all you Chevron Supreme fans that live in areas with Kragen/Checker/Shucks Auto Parts Stores, they're currently running a coupon special on the stuff: $.69/qt. with mail-in rebate.

Otherwise, Costco always has it in 5W-30, 10W-30, and 10W-40 for about $11.00 a case.

mikep · Mar 30, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by Bror Jace:
Mikep, I can tell you right now that you'll get good results with Chevron Supreme (either 5W30 or 10W30) and 3,000 miles, especially following a short-duration drain.

Are you trying to prove something ... or are you going for a "trophy run?"

If you are trying to prove something, go 3,500-4,000 miles before changing your oil and having a sample tested.

If you're going for a trophy run ... good luck.

I wonder if they'll have that stuff around here? I'll have to hit up all the stores, They rarely have 5W30 on the shelves of Walmart .. and it doesn't last for more than a week.

--- Bror Jace

I'm not trying to prove anything at all other than to get an idea of how well the Chevron Supreme performs. I've never used it before and based on all the favorable reports I've read here I figured it was a great buy given the price to performance factor.

I only thought of doing the 1500 mile drain to minimize any residual effect of the motorcraft oil that has been in for the last two fills. The the standard 3000 mile interval witha fresh supply of the Chevron. I'm really not iterested in extending the drain interval on the wife's car. She does way too many short trips where the engine never gets to full operating temp and puts so little mileage on that it often takes 4-5 months just to make it to the 3000 mile mark. The vehicle is a 1996 and it just turned 60,000 miles.

I'm open to suggestions as to how I should change my plan. The only thing I really won't consider is extending out past 3000 miles for reasons already stated.

BTW....I looked for a VOA of Chevron Supreme 5w-30 but didn't see one. I'd be more than happy to send a vo sample to someone if they wanted to post the lab results here.

The Chevron bottles say they contain Echosyn....what in the world is that? Is this stuff a blend or group II, II+ ?

EDIT: perhaps going to 3500-4000 miles is an option. Looking for suggestions based on the type of driving I mentioned.

Mikep

[ March 31, 2003, 09:49 AM: Message edited by: mikep ]

dagmando · Mar 30, 2003

Is Chevron much better than say Mobil Drive Clean that is always $1.09 at Wal-Mart when everything is else is $1.60?

M Smith · Mar 30, 2003

Sorry to replow old ground, but ... for some reason the local Wal Mart can only seem to get the Chevron Supreme 10W-40 which I'm not interested in using. No one else in this two horse town stocks the Chevron Supreme 10W-30. The the local AutoZone carries the Texaco Havoline 10W-30. Haven't you guys decided that the Havoline 10W-30 (NOT the Equilon stuff) is the same stuff as the Chevron Supreme Iso-Syn 10W-30?

Whimsey · Mar 31, 2003

Gee, Bror Jace, your comments are a bit on the "rude side" for Mikep. He mearly points out that he is going to use Chevron Supreme 5W-30 and change the oil the first time @ 1500 mi to purge the previous oil and continue to use and change the oil @ 3000 mi afterwards due to the use of the vehicle. I don't think he's trying to "prove" anything or go for the "trophy run", whatever that is. I really hoped that we could have honest discussions on this site without unwarranted personal digs.

Whimsey

mph · Mar 31, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by Whimsey:
Gee, Bror Jace, your comments are a bit on the "rude side" for Mikep.

FWIW, I read it as support for Mikep's choice of oil. I think a "trophy run" means an attempt to get a trophy for the best oil analysis results we've seen.

Bror Jace · Mar 31, 2003

Yep whimsey, mph was right. I was just joshing mikep a bit. ** Note the smiley graemlins **

mikep, I'm never sure what everyone is looking for when they test their oil. A handful of the tests in the "used oil analysis" section show that Chevron Supreme holds up as well as or better than any conventional oil ... and even puts a few "synthetics" to shame. So, I just don't think you are going to prove anything new by running it for 3,000 miles. I can all but guarantee you will get very good results ... but you should get excellent results with just about any oil and 3,000 mile intervals.

Oh, and there's nothing worng with going for a "trophy run" ... for braggin' rights ... as long as people are honest about their ppm counts. Actually, it sounds like a fun contest.

--- Bror Jace

mikep · Mar 31, 2003

FWIW, I didn't take any offense at Bror's post (caught the smiley). I understood what was meant by trophy run but I can assure you that is not my intention. Like Bror said, nothing really to gain there for anyone especially since most of you folks do look to extend drain intervals. So my results at 3000 wouldn't really be of much use to many of you.

I still would like opinions/confirmation/rebuttle that given the type of driving I mentioned, extending past 3000 miles not a good idea (as I understand it) or OK to try?

Mikep

Whimsey · Mar 31, 2003

Please accept my apologies Bror.

Bad week, I guess I'm "touchy"

. Again, sorry about that.

Whimsey

mikep · Mar 31, 2003

Hey Whimsey....I'll buy ya a beer sometime!

Mikep

Bror Jace · Mar 31, 2003

No offense was taken in any way. I just thought it might be helpful if I clarified what I meant.

mikep, test if you want to. I think Chevron Supreme is an outstanding oil and an embarassingly great value at $1.07/$1.08 per quart. As I said before, if I wasn't so stuck on premium oils (synthetics and blends not available at WalMart) I'd be using this stuff. As it is, I buy it for Dad's Mercury Grand Marquis. Although I'm having difficulty finding it around here. 5W30 disappeared months ago and even 10W30 and 10W40 are getting scarce.

The description of your driving does not seem particularly severe unless the short trips involve starting the car and then shutting it down after only 5-10 minutes (never getting fully up to temp) ... especially in cold weather. In such conditions, acidic contaminants and unburned fuel build up quickly.

Still, with 3,000 mile intervals, they'll be flushed away before they can cause much trouble.

I welcome a few more good Chevron tests posted in the UOA forum ... but I'd rather see someone using Pennzoil out of bottles. It should be just as good as Chevron but I'd like to see actual tests results backing this up.

--- Bror Jace

novadude · Apr 1, 2003

I'd like to see some ChevronTexaco Havoline analysis. I want to know once-and-for-all if this is the same as Chevron Supreme.

Havoline is more available in my area.

mikep · Apr 1, 2003

quote:

Originally posted by Bror Jace:
unless the short trips involve starting the car and then shutting it down after only 5-10 minutes (never getting fully up to temp) ... especially in cold weather. In such conditions, acidic contaminants and unburned fuel build up quickly.

Still, with 3,000 mile intervals, they'll be flushed away before they can cause much trouble.

--- Bror Jace

That is exactly the type of driving my wife does with her car. 1 minute to the bus stop, 3 minutes to the supermarket, 2-3 minutes to karate school, and so on.

I think I'll stick to my original plan and do the 1500 mile change then a 3000 mile drain and send in for analysis. If the analysis comes back and recommends increasing the drain interval then I'll try it.

Thanks for the info and suggestions. If Chevron only made a 5w-20 for my truck I'd be set!

Mikep

Roger · Apr 1, 2003

Novadude: I wanted to know if Chevron and Havoline were the same oil too, since their technical data sheets and msds sheets were worded identically and lead you to assume so. So I wrote and asked. Here is what they said:

"Thank you for contacting ChevronTexaco. Chevron Supreme and Havoline are not the same oils. Even though they are different products, both the Chevron Supreme and the Texaco Havoline give comparable performance. Between the two we sell
more Texaco Havoline."

Glenn E. Asauskas Lubrication Engineer

ChevronTexaco North America LubeTek
9401 Williamsburg Plaza Suite 201
Louisville, KY 40222-5092

I picked up a bunch of the Havoline stuff during the recent Target closeout and will eventually have some tested in a Nissan Altima KA24DE engine, but it'll be awhile. It will provide an interesting comparison to all the great Chevron UOA results recently posted for the same Nissan engine by Johnk. I suspect the 2 oils will yield similar UOA results. Interestingly, they are the only brands I was able to find that specifically claim to pass the Nissan KA 24E manufacturers' performance requirements...for what that's worth. Sold me!

[ April 01, 2003, 09:59 PM: Message edited by: Roger ]

Bror Jace · Apr 1, 2003

"If Chevron only made a 5w-20 for my truck I'd be set!"

They do:

http://www.chevron.com/prodserv/nafl/auto/content/motoroils.shtm#csmo

But good luck finding it.

--- Bror Jace

Stocked up on Chevron Supreme 5w-30

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