Which cheap oil for extended OCI's? LOL

[speedygonzalez]

Hehe I know it's kinda silly to ask for a cheap oil for eOCI's, but here's the scoop:

My aunt owns a 1985 chevy pickup with a 350 small block. The engine was replaced with a new or rebuilt engine about 5 years ago or so.

Problem is she's kinda having money issues, so she never changes the oil.

Inevitably, about once a year I end up changing it for her, and sometimes it's out of my pocket.

I'd love to put Amsoil in it, but I am not sure I can afford it, I mean I don't even put that in MY car!

So the question I have: What is the best choice for a cheap oil, that I only change once a year?

I normally use Valvoline 10W30.

From what I've learned here, I think Penzoil would be a better choice.

I've also been tempted to just buy a case of chevron when it's on sale for .49/quart after rebate. That way I could change it twic a year on the cheap.

We live in Eastern Washington State (Desert), by the way. It gets down to 0 (And sometimes a little lower) in the winter, and up to 110 in the Summer! Cold and hot both!

Thanks everyone!

 

[Mr Nice]

"I've also been tempted to just buy a case of chevron when it's on sale for .49/quart after rebate. That way I could change it twic a year on the cheap."

That would be your best bet if you are on a budget.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

I would suggest Rotella Synthetic for this scenario. It should stay strong for a year, is reasonably priced and has a good viscosity index for both hot and cold weather. If it didn't get so cold I would have suggested Conventional HDEO. PCMO may be fine it dependent on your aunt's duty cycle(does she go 2 miles to the grocery and back or does she go 20 miles when she starts the truck? ) is not that bad, but your weather sounds rough. I have shyed away from recomending Fleet oils because of lack of fuel economy but for cases wear noone may check it for a year such as your aunts this may be an appropriate way to assure she doesn't run 3 quarts low.

 

[vronline]

Mobil 1 in 5 qt. jugs at WalMart... ~ $21 or
Pennzoil Platinum in 5 qt. jugs... ~ $19.

 

[Mr Nice]

Speedy,

Do you have Advance Auto Parts in your area ??

They are closing out 15w40 Delo in quarts for 79-99 cents. Delo can easily last 1 year OCI's

 

[Auto-Union]

Supertech 2x a year and leave the filter on. If you are only going to do 1x a year, a HM oil would be a good bet. Shoot for some free MaxLife.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

quote:

---

Originally posted by speedygonzalez:
I've also been tempted to just buy a case of chevron when it's on sale for .49/quart after rebate. That way I could change it twic a year on the cheap.

---

Twice a year .49 cent Chevron.
Twice a year $2 Supertech filter

 

[Gary Allan]

I'd also recommend the RTS for this situation. Surely up to the one year mark ..even with some issues. You'll have to buy two gallons (typically) ..so you're looking at about $29 for the oil.

 

[Bullet]

Since your doing the work, change it about 3 xs a year with a buck a quart oil that you find on sale with ST filter. Oil change for under $9.00.

 

[speedygonzalez]

Yeah she uses it about 5-6 miles each way to work and back.

It gets cold there ya, and hot in the summer.
She also does check it, and adds oil, I am not sure exactly how often. (She's just bad about getting it changed).

And I live 4 hours away across the mountains, so I can maybe do it twice a year at most.

Bad thing about mobil1 and PenzPlat is that I would also need some oil for her to add with. She normally picks up penzoil, I guess at the gas station or some other store.

Would this Rotella be too thick for the winter?

 

[Bryanccfshr]

The grp III RTS should be fine for winter and she can top off with regular Pennzoil and it won't hurt anything. At least she's topping it off. If you can get to it twice a year then regular pennz in the yellow bottle would be fine. The short trips and cold weather would worry me going a full year.

 

[goodvibes]

I think that with those driving habits, the cheapest that you can find and chane it more often. She's dealing with condensation and fuel dilution.

 

[UncleS2]

Speedy, I'd just change it twice(or thrice if you can manage it) a year with cheap oil & filter. If you can get Chevron Supreme for $.49/qt, that sounds like the way to go. That's an excellent dino oil, btw. Maybe even leave a few extra quarts with her for topping up.

Get a Supertech filter, or catch Purolator Premium Plus on sale(or anything else except Fram!

),use the Chevron oil, change it out for her & sleep the slumber of the righteous!

 

[memo]

I would just buy a case of wally world super tech oil and a ST oil filter. It's about $7 a oil change, give or take a little depending on state taxes, but if her engine uses a little oil, then she can just add oil when she needs to from the case.

If money is this big of a problem, then maybe you could throw in some extra cash for the extra oil for when it needs to be added to the engine.

6 months is about the max you want to go on regular oil tho, so if not super tech, then whatever oil is on sale, but throwing a few more dollars at oil might prevent bigger problems that cost a lot more money. Aside from UOA, regular oil can start to gel from being 6+ months old. No one should ever try and push non syn oil farther then that, they are only asking for trouble.

 

[Vilan]

Extended drain = synthetic.

Cheap = Supertech.

Conclusion = ...

But if you can get 49 cent Chevron in there twice a year, that's my pick.

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

What is the yearly mileage? I'm guessing something like 4K to 5K miles a year. RTS 5W40 would be the ideal oil for this. I run this in my Turbo Caravan and change it once a year, about 5000 miles. If it were mine, I'd buy a gal. of RTS and a case of bargain dino, 5W30, 10W30, 10W40, whatever is on sale, it doesn't really matter. Run the RTS plus the dino to fill the CC, use the rest of the case for adds. Tell your aunt to put the empty oil bottles back in the case so that the next time you change it, you will know how many qts. were added. My guess that she will add 3 qts. between changes. good luck.

Wayne

 

[Iain]

speedygonzalez wrote:

quote:

---

......It gets cold there ya, and hot in the summer.
She also does check it, and adds oil, I am not sure exactly how often. (She's just bad about getting it changed).

And I live 4 hours away across the mountains, so I can maybe do it twice a year at most.

Bad thing about mobil1 and PenzPlat is that I would also need some oil for her to add with. She normally picks up penzoil, I guess at the gas station or some other store......

---

A solution to that is start her personal oil stash for her. After oil change leave a few quarts for later top-off. Also, get a log-in account for her here so she can see what she's missing.

 

[Gary Allan]

I kinda got the impression that "cheap" was in lower case here ..and that EXTENDED DRAIN was in the upper case.

Now you can look at it as a sign that you need to visit the relatives more often and go CHEAP ..but if your own life makes that a bit pressing ...then lean to the EXTENDED end of it.

Regardless of your good intentions, you may not make it back as often as you need to. Life's just that way.

 

[Blake Sobiloff]

Folks, don't forget the usage pattern here: frequent short trips. Short trips == low oil temps, even in 100+ dF weather, so I wouldn't recommend a 40-weight oil. Chevron Supreme 5W-30 should do quite nicely year-round for a one year OCI, assuming no mechanical issues with the engine and that 30-weight oils are manufacturer recommended.

Speedy, I'd recommend a UOA on the next oil change to make sure there isn't a coolant leak and to see how well the current oil is holding up to the usage pattern. Cheap insurance--if Auntie can't afford oil changes she sure won't be able to afford (another) new engine.

 

[Lazy JW]

quote:

---

Originally posted by speedygonzalez:
Yeah she uses it about 5-6 miles each way to work and back.

It gets cold there ya, and hot in the summer.
She also does check it, and adds oil, I am not sure exactly how often. (She's just bad about getting it changed).

And I live 4 hours away across the mountains, so I can maybe do it twice a year at most.

Bad thing about mobil1 and PenzPlat is that I would also need some oil for her to add with. She normally picks up penzoil, I guess at the gas station or some other store.

Would this Rotella be too thick for the winter?

---

SuperTech 5w-30 Synthetic with a SuperTech filter.