|
|
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,786
Hard-core CEG\'er
|
Hard-core CEG\'er
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 1,786 |
Originally posted by skrilla187:
So we should be using 5W-30 instead of 10W-30?
Holy crap. 10W oil in Michigan??????
-Auto Mak or-
-Experiment or
-Station Wagon or-
-Computeriz or-
I have a foot that is bigger than a foot.
SuperChipFOR SALE
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 980
Veteran CEG\'er
|
|
Veteran CEG\'er
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 980 |
Originally posted by Kokosmellian:
Originally posted by skrilla187:
So we should be using 5W-30 instead of 10W-30?
Holy crap. 10W oil in Michigan??????
He's in the UP too... 
2000 Mystique LS
Duratec 2.5L MTX
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,693
Hard-core CEG'er
|
|
Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,693 |
Originally posted by ancientsanskrit:
Jim-
Out of curiousity what oil do you use?
Most of the life of my SVT was on Mobil Drive Clean (dino) that was changed every 3,000 miles. At about 185,000, I switched to synthetic and 5,000 mile changes. I buy synthetic on sale. Mobil 1 was $4.00 a quart. I found Valvoline Max Life synthetic for $2.00 a quart and bought all they had (enough for two changes). Today I bought 6 quarts of Penzoil Platnum for $1.99 a quart, but I already have 6 quarts of Mobil 1 on the shelf to use first.
I feel that neither Valvo Max synthetic or Pennzoil Platinum are quite up to Mobil 1, but both are still excellent, and for $2.00 a quart it is way beyond good enough for a 5,000 mile change interval. Any of the three could probably go 10,000 miles with no trouble.
If I can't find such exceptional prices, I will probably go for Mobil 7500. It is a synthetic blend and can be found frequently for about $2.00 a quart.
Jim Johnson
98 SVT
03 Escape Limited
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 78
CEG\'er
|
|
OP
CEG\'er
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 78 |
OK Jim, you say Valvo and Pennz are not as good as Mobil 1. Could you elaborate as to why you think that? Altho there ain't nothing on sale around here that I am aware of the cheapest price I seen for synthetic is $4.48 a qt for "Q" (AKA Quaker State) and $4.52 for Pennzoil. Mobil 1 is $4.99.
One thing I don't quite unnerstand is it was stated that with synthetic I could use 0W40. HMMMM, that makes me wonder about what is synthetic really. I mean with regular oil I should (and do) use 5W30, but with sythetic I can use 0W40; meaning that since sythetic is artificial it is OK to go higher (40W), than to stay at 30W. Interesting.
Elraido states it could be my injectors; so that adds another log on the fire as to what might be wrong. For now I am going to NOT make any rash judgments until I change the oil and see if anything else makes noise.
I decided to wait until Friday or Saturday to get oil. In this way I think I will have a good answer as to what to purchase.
Later Pepse.
'95 Mystique LS Young America, Moonlight Blue, V-6 ATX, LOADED.
REMEMBER: Always fasten your seatbelt as it makes it harder for the aliens to suck you out of your car.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,505
Hard-core CEG\'er
|
|
Hard-core CEG\'er
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,505 |
1999 Ford Contour SE Zetec with 137k miles.
AIM Name: ContourAlf
Yahoo IM: Contour_Freak
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,867
Hard-core CEG'er
|
|
Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,867 |
Originally posted by Pepse:
according to a worker at Advanced Auto, I could blow a seal or 2 since synthetic oil increases oil pressure.
Wow. Complete BS. At least you knew to get a second opinion.
If anything, synthetic would have better flow properties at startup and when cold, which would reduce your oil pressure with no ill effects whatsoever.
Function before fashion.
'96 Contour SE
"Toss the Contour into a corner, and it's as easy to catch as a softball thrown by a preschooler." -Edmunds, 1998
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,867
Hard-core CEG'er
|
|
Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 3,867 |
Originally posted by Pepse:
I never have been real picky about what brand of regular oil I use; to me "motor oil is motor oil". Altho if I go synth I am not sure what I'll get. I know, most people will say Mobil 1, but that's obvious, since its been around the longest and so on. But I gotta justify in my budget that spending $30+ dollars every 3000 miles is cost effective.
I've always used a 5k interval, and technically I suppose I should be on the "severe" 3k schedule based on my short commute to work.
I switched to synth at around 50k, and had my oil analyzed at 60 or 65k. My numbers were not as good as some people on here, but well within the range where I'm confident that my engine was still being protected.
Unfortunately, I don't have an analysis of dino to compare.
I don't know what kind of driving you typically do. Is it the type of stuff that's hard on an engine?
Also, just reading your post above, it sounds like budget is of significant concern. While synthetic oil is technically "better" than dino, I'm not sure it's really worth it to you if your main problem is a bit of harmless ticking from your engine's top end. Dino can and will protect you nearly as well as synth in normal driving conditions.
Oil analysis is a good idea, too, but to get the data you need will cost you $30 a pop. Might want to do one or two early on to get an idea of what your change interval should be, and then check it every couple of years.
Hope I'm not just rambling, here.
Function before fashion.
'96 Contour SE
"Toss the Contour into a corner, and it's as easy to catch as a softball thrown by a preschooler." -Edmunds, 1998
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 652
Veteran CEG\'er
|
|
Veteran CEG\'er
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 652 |
I use 5W-30 in the winter and 10W-30 in the summer time. I change every 3000 miles. My friend changes his oil every 2000. That seems a bit of a waste.
Champagne 1995 Ford Contour LX R.I.P. - 7/11/06
V6 2.5L 24v DOHC
Oversized System
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,693
Hard-core CEG'er
|
|
Hard-core CEG'er
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,693 |
Originally posted by Pepse:
OK Jim, you say Valvo and Pennz are not as good as Mobil 1. Could you elaborate as to why you think that? Altho there ain't nothing on sale around here that I am aware of the cheapest price I seen for synthetic is $4.48 a qt for "Q" (AKA Quaker State) and $4.52 for Pennzoil. Mobil 1 is $4.99.
One thing I don't quite unnerstand is it was stated that with synthetic I could use 0W40. HMMMM, that makes me wonder about what is synthetic really. I mean with regular oil I should (and do) use 5W30, but with sythetic I can use 0W40; meaning that since sythetic is artificial it is OK to go higher (40W), than to stay at 30W. Interesting.
Elraido states it could be my injectors; so that adds another log on the fire as to what might be wrong. For now I am going to NOT make any rash judgments until I change the oil and see if anything else makes noise.
I decided to wait until Friday or Saturday to get oil. In this way I think I will have a good answer as to what to purchase.
Later Pepse.
It's in the base stocks, or the base oil used for blending. The oil industry breaks down base stocks into 5 different catagories. Groups I and II are slightly different grades of dino oil that have been refined (seperated, cleaned) from ordinary crude oil. Up until a few years ago, all conventional oils were group I or II.
Group III goes through a different cleaning process, using water. Sometimes called "hydro-cracked". Some sort of molicular structure alteration takes place. Actually this is sometimes referred to group II+ as well as group III, depending on who is doing the processing. This was pioneered by Chevron, and is used by them and their other brand, Texaco. Chevron calls it "iso-syn", but sells it as conventional oil. Conoco has licensed the process from Chevron and uses it on Conoco and it's other brands, Union 76, Phillips, and Kendall. Conoco also supplies it for Motorcraft. Conoco calls it "clear base". Conoco refers to it as "synthetic blend", so it probablly is a group II and group II+ or group III blend. Penzoil is also licensed for the process. Pennzoil calls it "pure base". I don't know which of their other brands also use it (Quaker State and Wolf's Head) Pennzoil is currently owned by Shell. I don't know wht process or blending stocks Shell uses. Mobil (and it's partner Exxon) also use a similar if not the same process. Mobil is the biggest single supplier of group III blending stocks for other oil companies. Mobil does not consider group III to be a synthetic.
Group IV is also known as PAO (or POA, I get it mixed up). It is most definitely a synthetic process. At one time, most every oil company that had a synthetic oil use this. Castrol determined that group III could be called synthetic and reformulated their synthetic to use group III base stocks. As an aside, you cannot judge an oil purely on the base stock used. The additive package is also critical so that how the oil actually performs overall is really the most important thing of all. Mobil sued Castrol over what they thought was misleading to the consumer, and Mobil lost. Castrol Syntec is usually of this blending. An exception is so called "German Castrol", made in Germany and labeld in small print on the bottle. In the US it comes in 0W30 only and other than the made in Germany small print looks the same as made in USA 0W30.
Group V base stocks are ester oils and also a catch all for all other base stocks that don't fit into another catagory. Red Line is an example of an oil company that uses mostly ester based oils. Amzoil also uses a lot of ester on most blends.
Since Castrol won the lawsuit, other oil companies sometimes also use group III blending stocks for the "synthetic" oil. Valvoline is one of them.
The new Penzoil Platinum is sort of a unique case. It is a new base stock. As such it fits into the group V catagory as the catch all "everything else". It's actual performance is somewhere between group III and group IV.
So among the best oils by virtue of starting with the best blending stocks are Mobil 1, German Castrol, and Red Line. Torco fits in there too, but they really don't intend their product to be used for anything but racing and it does not carry API or ILSAC industry ratings.
Among the oils that are almost there, by virtue of using a base stock that performs nearly as well and using a killer additive package would be Castrol, Valvoline, and Pennzoil. The biggest difference being better pumpability when extremely cold and better able to handle extreme heat for longer periods of time.
The funniest part of this whole thing is that conventional oils have had to improve dramatically every time the API has a new standard about every 4 or 5 years. Conventional oils are carefully blended to meet these increasingly higher standards. To do so, they are using more and more group II+ and group III to blend their base stocks. As a result, today's conventional oils have greatly closed the gap toward the performance levels of synthetic. If you were to compare conventional oil of 20 years ago with todays conventional oil, you would see that today's conventional darn near is synthetic oil.
Also sort of funny, Mobil Clean 5000, their lowest priced "conventional" oil is group III. If it had a Castrol label on it, it would be call "synthetic".
Finally to directly answer your question, Mobil 1 is group IV, and both Valvoline and Pennzoil are made of something slightly less, but usually are priced as though they are the same.
Sorry about the "brain dump".
Jim Johnson
98 SVT
03 Escape Limited
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 78
CEG\'er
|
|
OP
CEG\'er
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 78 |
Big Jim, both of your replys are great. My driving habits mainly consist of M-F, to work and back; 15 miles one way at freeway speed, in my case about 68 to 70 mph. Sat. or Sun., casino run; casino 1 is 75 miles one way most of drive is freeway. Casino 2 is 95 miles one way, 90 miles freeway and interstate. So, if anything the car does warm up abit. Now due to your talk I can justify synthetic and probaly go about 4K to 5K before changes. And I would probably get an oil analisys around 3K to 4K. I am thinking that due to your analisys on oil I would be better off with Mobil 1 or German Castrol, when you consider the grouping of the other oils. Like you say in most cases I would be paying synth price for a lesser grade. It was stated that why change because of a few ticks? They are da*&^d annoying. And since there would be various improvements by switching to synth it will be worth the shot. Besides if I want a ticking in my motor I'll try to get another Ford Capri with the 2.6L V-6; solid lifters  . Oh, like I said, I needed to justify switching to a synthetic oil and I feel I have the justification with your ramblings Big Jim. Thanx. Later. Pepse.
'95 Mystique LS Young America, Moonlight Blue, V-6 ATX, LOADED.
REMEMBER: Always fasten your seatbelt as it makes it harder for the aliens to suck you out of your car.
|
|
|
|
|
