New Oil Study

[blynzoo]

Take a look at this Engine Oil study. It compares the performance of three automotive and two "motorcycle-specific" engine oils. I think you will find the results interesting. Spectro oil did the WORST of all the oils, even $1.99 Castrol GTX.

Check it out!

 

[falkofire]

so I went with a good choice..which this board basically made for me in going with the mobil 1

 

[Micah]

Equally important is that if you are going to use a Full Synthetic oil, you must still change your oil every 3000 miles. Even full synthetic begins it's breakdown after the first 500 miles - and loses around 20% of it's viscosity after 2500 miles.

Yet, I still know a handful of jackasses that will use full synthetic, and then wait 5000-9000 miles to do an oil change. Their logic is that if you spend twice as much, it should last twice as long. I've tried showing these people charts and studies on webpages that show the breakdown of oil, but they refuse to get it.

On the other hand, these are the friends of mine who are leasing BMW's and LEXUS's and won't be putting more than 20,000 miles per year on their cars - in a 2 year lease. I just feel bad for the poor schlep who buys their cars after they are "certified" by the dealership.

 

[blynzoo]

Equally important is that if you are going to use a Full Synthetic oil, you must still change your oil every 3000 miles. Even full synthetic begins it's breakdown after the first 500 miles - and loses around 20% of it's viscosity after 2500 miles.

Yet, I still know a handful of jackasses that will use full synthetic, and then wait 5000-9000 miles to do an oil change. Their logic is that if you spend twice as much, it should last twice as long. I've tried showing these people charts and studies on webpages that show the breakdown of oil, but they refuse to get it.

On the other hand, these are the friends of mine who are leasing BMW's and LEXUS's and won't be putting more than 20,000 miles per year on their cars - in a 2 year lease. I just feel bad for the poor schlep who buys their cars after they are "certified" by the dealership.

Actually, and of course I cant find the article now, some synthetic lubricants can go for 100,000 miles. They are pure PAO's (a synthetic lubricating agent found in most synthetics) and cost about $60 a quart. AMSOIL has the highest concentration of PAO's, and also retains its viscosity at a much higher rate than even Mobil 1. I was finally convinced by an independent study, I will actually be changing my oil (switching to AMSOIL from Mobil 1) according to the owner's manual (every 7.5K) instead of every 3k, as I have done my whole life for all my cars. AMSOIL Europe has several OTR drivers who have literally logged over 100K in their trucks with only filter changes. The days of the 3K oil change are coming to an end. Just buy a top quality filter and change that regularly (I do mine every 5K). In the end it is actually cheaper to buy AMSOIL and have a longer drain interval than to buy cheaper oil every 3K. I became a "dealer" for AMSOIL by paying a Sam's Club / Costco like fee, and getting a 30% discount, which actually puts a quart just above Mobil 1.

 

[Micah]

Amsoil - AMWAY - Alticor - Quixtar - Confederated Products - ETC. Not for me. I have read about the oil, looks to be pretty good. But I think I will stick with Mobil 1. For one thing, hit up Google and type in :

Amsoil test

then click on Groups to check discussions. Seems to be alot of people doubting. Read a few discussions - more than a few people debating on their, and all the people who stick up for Amsoil, are the distributors and Amway sales people.

Now do the same search for Mobil 1, go to google and type in:

"Mobil 1" test

Go ahead and click on the Groups button, take a look. There are still plenty of debates, but the people who stick up for it - are the people who use it.

Good luck with the AMSOIL thing though - if the discount works for you - more power to you. I just get my oil at Walmart for $4.50 a quart.

Another fun thing - take a look at all the sites that hold the Amsoil research, then run a whois lookup on who the sites are billed to. Well, it's mildly fun if you are a geek anyway. lol

I know my friend who does Quixtar uses Amsoil and with his "membership" he pays $85 for a case of 12 Qts. I can buy Mobil 1 in a 5qt container for about $17. Some quick math pulls that at $3.40 for the Mobil 1, and about $7.08 for the amsoil. So, even if you leave your oil in twice as long as I do - I'd still be saving money.

But you said you are going to leave your oil in for 7500 miles, so you might just save a few pennies. Plus if nothing else, you will be spending at least half as much time as I do every year with oil changes.

And that $20 you spend per year for your "membership" - I'll spend less than that on boxes of disposable latex gloves to keep my hands clean when I am changing my oil. So I guess you could call that even.

Just my $0.02

 

[Stealth5]

thats alot of words

 

[Micah]

it is alot of words - but I can back them up. If you wanna see a quixtar rep shut up fast - start doing DNS registration lookups on the websites holding their references and charts on "savings".

It's a classic pyramid MLM company - I'm not disputing their product so much as their marketing strategy. Imagine if you had a friend who wanted to sell you everything at "his price" or "a discounted price" - yet profited on everything he sold you. Now imagine that same friend pesters you to convince all your friends that they should buy from you, while you can buy from him.

Yeah, call me crazy - but I would rather work for a living and enjoy my free time. Anyone who has a friend involved in MLM will agree that they can't stand the repeated sales pitch.

 

[blynzoo]

And that $20 you spend per year for your "membership" - I'll spend less than that on boxes of disposable latex gloves to keep my hands clean when I am changing my oil. So I guess you could call that even.

Just my $0.02

Well put. And just more opportunities to say hi to your car.
Incidentally, the cost per quart for me is about 4.30 for AMSOIL.
Mobil 1 is a great oil, I have used it since it came out.

 

[uclap5]

meh, ill just stick to my cheap castrol gtx.

besides, they said they tested the castrol gtx in a car engine and after...

"Just for comparison sake, I also tested the viscosity drop of the Castrol GTX automotive oil after use in a 1987 Honda Accord automobile. At 3600 miles of use, the Castrol GTX showed a relative viscosity of 91.8 percent. "

thats sounds good enough for me.

 

[Micah]

Yeah, that sounds ok - how much cheaper is the Castrol GTX? Is that a full synthetic?

 

[fastdrvr23]

Yeah, that sounds ok - how much cheaper is the Castrol GTX? Is that a full synthetic?

It's regular oil. I think it's about $1.14 here at Wal-mart. My g/f put about 75,000 miles on her 98' civic lx with that oil, and had no problems with 7,500 mile intervals. Good oil, although I was still confused as to why honda recommended such a long interval, and why my g/f wouldn't let me change it at 5,000... :shrug:

 

[Micah]

Oh, I thought it was a full synthetic. I think I will stick with Mobil 1, basically, I am doing my own independant test for myself. Had this car since it was new - going to keep using Mobil 1 - and see what happens. I'm at about 16,700 miles. Haven't had a single problem.

 

[blynzoo]

I think all oils are getting better. One interesting thing is that there was relatively the same % of suspended particles in synths and dinos. I think the next big step HAS to be in filters. Our oils are getting absolutely amazing, but we are still using mostly paper-element filters, some with plastic valves, even plastic springs. There are some GREAT filters out there, but they are great relative to the competition. If we could find a filter element that trapped the very, very minute particles but did not restrict flow, it would be a blessing. One solution is to just use a bigger damn filter relative to the amount of oil and necessary pressure. I am confused as to why this has not already been done (on the part of the manufacturers).

Make a tighter filter, but larger to accomodate for the restriction placed upon the lines.

 

[Turbo Matty P]

To be 100% accurate even Mobil 1 isn't a "full" synthetic. The oils you buy retail that are synthetic are still made from base oil stock. They just add synthetics chemicles. There are 9 different additives in oils. Each one performs certain tasks like heat dissipation, detergant, anti-foam and so forth. The only 100% synthetic (man-made) oil I know of is Royal Purple. I've been using it in my 03 MSP and it works great. I notice a much faster time when building oil pressure on startup. Also, the oil feels much cleaner and cooler after hard driving. To add some credability to what I'm saying I should let you know I'm an ASE certified mechanic at the southeast's largest "quick lube" Express Oil change. We do more oil changes in one month than most quick lubes do in a year. I've also used Mobil 1 in my 312whp Taurus SHO and it also worked really well. Just wanted to add my $.02

 

[funnylittlman]

What year SHO?

Oh I love the ones w/ the Yahmaha engines... they are the bomb!

Oh and to add to this, there are numerous studies on oil and viscosity test. The whole moral of the story is regular maintenence on your vehicle w/ regular oil changes (whether that be 3,5,7.5K). The whole point is that you guys aren't waiting till the oil is completely gone (and burnt up). I know guys that just add oil to their vehicles (they run, but it's not pretty).

Everyone has their preference....

It's like gasoline. I know some people who won't go to certain brands... (i.e. only using Shell or Mobil)

It does sound like you all are taking good care of your cars!

 

[blynzoo]

Good point. RP is THE STUFF, I love it. There is a retailer nearby on Gasoline Alley Rd. that sells their products.

And while there is some base oil stock in synthetics, it is not the dino juice that does the lubricating, that is done by PAO's. (In which we are in agreement, I am sure)

 

[Turbo Matty P]

We are in agreement. My Taurus was a 1990 3.0L Yamaha w/ mazda 5spd tranny. Guess what was the first thing to break on the car? All SHO's are yamaha engines though. It's a Ford block, yamaha heads, intake and exhaust. Also, guess who made the new 6 engine? Ford and Mazda. The block is a 3.0L Ford Duratec block supposedly de-stroked to rev higher. I'm not sure if thats true, because they both seem be very comfortable around 7K rpm's. On a side note my Taurus didn't hit fuel cut until 9.5K and that was due entirely to the fact the water pump couldn't keep up. If I could've found someone who could make an all electric version of that water pump, I'd be pretty untouchable. Still a lot of fun to pull up next to a camaro SS and roast the rubber all over his windshield.

 

[funnylittlman]

Hm.. the 1st thing to break.. would it be the pulley belt on the S/C?

 

[funnylittlman]

Oh also,

I thought the newest version of the SHO, the V8 version, was totally made by ford?

 

[Turbo Matty P]

nope, no supercharger. All motor (and a little help from N20). All three SHO motors were Yamaha made. 89-91 3.0L 5-spd, 92-95 3.2L 4-spd auto 5-spd, 96-99 3.4L V8 4-spd auto <~~~ WORST SHO EVER. That V8 was horrible. If they had just kept the 3.2L block added 2 extra cylinders to it, they would've had a badass car on their hands, instead they tried redesign the intake to accomodate the horrible bubble shape Ford used on the Taurus. when my car was new in 1990 Car and Driver did a comparison test on it and the only "reasonable" car that was faster was the Corvette.....by .1sec. Not too shabby. It was also quoted on the cover "The best car you can buy for under $50,000" That's a pretty big claim!