Originally Posted By: bbhero
CT8 I agree with you in saying that any oil made by the big guys and a number of the small guys will serve anyone's car just fine. That is a fact. And that in terms of longevity it does not make a difference as long as things are handled the right way. Again, right on.
Having said that... There can be some difference in how a vehicle sounds with different oils in them. My lady's Camry I put in oil made by Pinnacle. That dag on car motor sounded rackety and unusually loud with that in it. So bad... It was taken out in short order. Got some Valvoline Maxlife Full Synthetic and put that in there. The car ran much, much quieter on that by a large margin. You would have had to have been Helen Keller NOT to have noticed that difference. It was that obvious. I would tell anyone with a 97-02 Toyota Camry with the 2.2 liter motor not to run a oil made by Pinnacle. Unless they enjoy lots and lots of noise. Is Pinnacle a bad product though?? No. Absolutely not. For whatever reason it just ran unusually loud in that car. Another example of an oil that would be on my no go list for a certain car is Royal Purple 5w30. It got to where it ran spooky loud in my Altima 3.5 VQ. My car had never, ever, at any one time before or since sounded like it did that day. It was taken out and replaced with Castrol Edge gold bottle 5w30. Back to normal. Now I have run Mobil Super Synthetic 5w30, Havoline Pro DS 5w30, Havoline DS 5w30, Mobil Super 5w30, Motorcraft 5w30, Valvoline Maxlife Full Synthetic 5w30, Castrol gold bottle 5w30, Castrol Magnatec 5w30, Castrol Ultraclean 5w30, Valvoline white bottle 5w30, Warren oil 5w30, Lubrigold Dexos approved 5w30, Pennzoil Ultra 5w30 aka the old time one, Pennzoil Ultra Platinum 5w30, Pennzoil Gold 5w30 in that car. Only Royal Purple API SN 5w30 had a time where it sounded really loud and jacked up. Of those I have run in there some have been a bit quieter than others. But not a very big difference enough to be bent around the axle about it. If someone had a 3.5 VQ I would recommend in this order what I felt like ran the best in it #1. Castrol gold bottle 5w30 #2. Valvoline Maxlife Full Synthetic 5w30 #3. Mobil Super 5w30 #4. Valvoline white bottle 5w30 #5. Havoline Pro DS 5w30 #6. Mobil Super Synthetic 5w30 #7. Castrol Magnatec 5w30 #8. Castrol Ultraclean 5w30 #9. Havoline DS 5w30 #10. Motorcraft 5w30. Now all of these will enable the car to run a very, very long time if changed out in a reasonable fashion. And likely zero difference if one were to run just one of them for the life of the car. My list is based upon a combination of how quiet these oils run in that motor, how well mpg held up throughput a run, and how well performance held up throughout a run. If I based it off one just aspect of how quiet the car ran on them then there would some changes in that order. So, if someone comes on here and asks what oil to run in a 3.5 VQ I would say the field is mostly open really. I will say I know I've recommended Havoline Pro DS 5w30, Castrol Magnatec 5w30, and Valvoline 5w30. I do that due to a) my observations b) price considerations c) availability. Now Havoline Pro DS 5w30 is not quite as available as it used to be so now that would possibly not be one I'd recommend because of lack of availability. Unless that person lived somewhere it is available. One thing I will say is that the "conventional" oils are all very, very well made by the major oil producers. Mobil Super 5w30 ran very quiet in my 3.5 VQ (in fact just about the quietest I have run in my car) and at $14.47 at Wally World is a very good deal. I'm glad I tried it out. Heck, I just remembered I ran Super S 5w30 in my car as well. It did very good too.
Anyhow, just my thoughts but I do think some products do run a bit differently or better than others. Now, do I have a multi million dollar lab, staff for tearing down motors, equipment to weigh parts within 0.000001 gram spec, a spectrometer etc etc to prove one is better than another?? Ahh that's a negative on that. But I do have my own observations. That's all 99.999% of any of us have anyway.
Not trying to give you a hard time here. Not at all. Just thinking about how I think about things and the process behind it. You know about the EIB network I'm sure. Well for you I have a new title. The BIB. That would stand for... Best In Brevity. One thing for sure... You do that better than just about anyone on here
A good point bbhero. Even with all the oils meeting specs and certifications, sometimes a oil just doesn’t work in a particular engine. I’ve experienced this with M1 many years ago on a Mitsu 1.8 4cylinder. It was noisier than usual. I have no explanation why. I switched back to Castrol and all was quiet. Maybe that engine would have ran forever on M1 but I prefer a quiet engine.
