Top 5 Conventional/Dino Oils?

[mark pruett]

Ok.. due to financial pressures(3rd year grad student on loans) I can't really afford to buy synthetics at $20/change, but I can afford conventional oils at about $7.50/change.

So after doing a lot of looking on the board, I've noticed that there are a few highly regarded conventional oils- Havoline, Chevron, Pennzoil, etc...

What I'd like would be a top-5 list of commonly available (in the US) conventional oils so that I can get one of them regardless of whatever's on sale.

 

[ryansride2017]

By commonly available I'm assuming you mean oil you can buy at Wal-Mart.

1. Pennzoil
2. Chevron/Texaco
3. Castrol GTX

I can't list anymore than that. That's not to say Valvoline, Quaker State and Mobil are not adequate, but I think you can go slightly longer with your drain interval with one of the oils listed above.

 

[sbc350gearhead]

The conoco/motorcraft oils, seem to do well also.

 

[greasezerk]

Whats up with QS?

 

[sbc350gearhead]

quote:

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Originally posted by greasezerk:
Whats up with QS?

---

Unfortunately, Nobody around here seems to use it, so there isn't much info available concerning QS's performance.

 

[Mystic]

I think that ryansride2017 is correct-it is hard to list more then three.

1. Chevron
2. Pennzoil
3. Castrol

There is some evidence that Mobil Drive Clean is pretty good, but there is not universal agreement on this. There seems to be very good agreement on the part of most people that the three oils listed above are very good. If you want to stay with conventional oils you can't list blends or synthetics, but Schaeffer's blend looks extremely good.

For somebody living in a very cold area, a synthetic oil like Mobil 1 would be good in the wintertime. You could use a conventional oil the rest of the year.

 

[Robbie Alexander]

Good question. The best will be more than you can pay. But in that price range I would consider a diesel/fleet oil... maybe a Delo 400 or a Delvac 1300 or other similar products... Some like Mystic others Shell Rotella, still others other oils.
How old is the car and is it burning oil>?

You can pick almost any Name brand Dino oil, and go man----y M-an----y miiiiiiiiiiiiiillllllllllles before you have to worry about anything.

You could also consider a flush every 20-30K or every 7-10 changes. But the main thing is to take care of all the other things, like new Gas caps every two years if you have a late model car, and cap and rotor changes when needed, Egr cleaning or filter changes if you have them, things like this...keep up with the little things and let the other things like what brand oil you use wait... just keep the oil clean!

 

[Jelly]

I'm a student too...feel your pains!

My top conventiona/mineral/dino oils:

15w-40's:
Mobil Delvac 1300
Chevron Delo 400
Pennzoil Long-Life
All other weights:
Chevron Supreme
Pennzoil

 

[GROUCHO MARX]

For the first change, I'd go with the free Max-Life. Then I would go with the Pennzoil or Chevron Texaco unless more free oil turned up.

 

[SteveD2]

I'd have to say penzoil and chevron are the top two too, although around here penzoil is nearly 2 bucks/quart and chevron is only a buck...

 

[Motorbike]

quote:

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Originally posted by sbc350gearhead:
The conoco/motorcraft oils, seem to do well also.

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Yes they do and here is a couple more to add to this list of low cost oils that seem to rise above the rest .

Phillips Trop Artic Turbo 10w-30 with Moly and very high TBN - 13

Mystik 5w-30 - 10w-30

http://www.docs.citgo.com/msds_pi/591119.pdf

 

[novadude]

Havoline.

Best bang-for-the-buck in an oil you can readily find. Chevron is tough to find in some parts of the country. Around here (and in western PA), Wal-mart seems to be the only place that carries it.

 

[haley10]

Ryansride and Novadude

GTX, Havoline, Pennzoil.

Everywhere and watch for sale prices.

Don't assume Wal-Mart has the best prices. They don't!

Havoline doesn't do the big sales promo's like Castrol and Pennzoil, so they are consistantly cheaper.

 

[mark pruett]

quote:

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Originally posted by Robbie Alexander:

How old is the car and is it burning oil>?

---

8 years old (1995) Ford Ranger with a 3.0L Vulcan that doesn't burn any Mobil 1 in 5000 miles. Seems like it burned 1/2 quart of dino between changes- volatiles boiling off, I guess.

Manual calls for 5w-30.

 

[Bror Jace]

ryansride2017 summed it up best for me but others had good suggestions, too.

I'd add Schaeffers 100% mineral oils to the list but the selection of weights is limited and the cost-effectiveness isn't as good as their synthetic blends.

--- Bror Jace

 

[mark pruett]

Thanks, fellas. My local Wal-Mart and Autozone have both Chevron and Havoline, as well as Pennzoil, Phillips and Castrol.

I'm just buying whichever's on sale in the future!

 

[batterycar]

quote:

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Originally posted by mark pruett:
I can't really afford to buy synthetics at $20/change, but I can afford conventional oils at about $7.50/change.

---

Oh please. You probably spend $50 a month on beer. And don't try to deny it! I used to be a student.
(just kidding)
OK seriously, how much difference is $13.50? That's only one tank of gas. No big deal. You burn through ~10 tanks of gasoline/$135.00 every 3000 miles. And, if you stretch you oil change intervals, you can actually break even:

9000 miles
==========
Conventional = 3*7.50 = $22.50
Synthetic = 1*20.00 = $20.00

I run synthetic and I run it 10,000 miles... it just makes more sense to me to do that than to Jiffy Lube Oil every 3000 miles. And the synthetic oil protects the $20,000 I invested in my car, so it will last well past 300,000 miles.

[ January 20, 2004, 05:37 PM: Message edited by: batterycar ]

 

[mikep]

I'd also have to go with Chev/Havoline, GTX and/or Pennzoil. I am a bit surprised that nobody mentioned Citgo Superguard. I think it has turned in pretty darn good results from the few UOA reports I've seen. Also seems to have a decent add pack.

Mikep

 

[therion]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mystic:
[QB

There is some evidence that Mobil Drive Clean is pretty good, but there is not universal agreement on this. There seems to be very good agreement on the part of most people that the three oils listed above are very good. If you want to stay with conventional oils you can't list blends or synthetics, but Schaeffer's blend looks extremely good.
[/QB]

---

My friend used the 5w-30 driveclean and he told me this morning (15*F) that his engine was really hard to start and was "sluggish", he said it made screaching sounds inside.. NOT GOOD!

 

[csandste]

"My friend used the 5w-30 driveclean and he told me this morning (15*F) that his engine was really hard to start and was "sluggish", he said it made screaching sounds inside.. NOT GOOD!"

Not picking on you, but picked this up because it's the most recent example of anecdotal evidence.

Fact is, that's mostly what this board is-- interesting but anecdotal. Quaker State is the second largest selling dino out there but no one here uses it, so it goes unnoticed. As far as I'm concerned, most SL dino oils work perfectly well with a 4000 mile change cycle. If you lengthen things out, I'd go with a synthetic. I'm not even convinced that Mobil 1 is noticably better than (gasp) those lying, group III pigs at Castrol.