I'd like to start a thread for the discussion of Motor Oil aka Engine Oil

any other threads on the subject could be added to this area , possibly with a addition on Oil filters . 

As a retired oil man I still have access to much information and still enjoy reading and discussing the subject with others.

 

Thoughts ? Comments ?

clean new Engine oil makes for the best hand cleaner.....................old school tip from a 20 year diesel tech, don't want to make it a habit with all the chemicals in it but in a pinch or when heavily soiled with soot or ground in crud, works as well as the best hand cleaner on the market!

 

 

 

Or is this not the type of discussion you wanted Skellyman???????  

I heard it cured acne too , or is that a old wives tale ?

clean new Engine oil makes for the best hand cleaner.....................old school tip from a 20 year diesel tech, don't want to make it a habit with all the chemicals in it but in a pinch or when heavily soiled with soot or ground in crud, works as well as the best hand cleaner on the market!

 

 

 

Or is this not the type of discussion you wanted Skellyman???????  

 

 

 

 

So your old enough to remember the Phillps 66 T.V. add where the station owner used Trop-Artic to clean their hands too ?

I found those old cans of oil with the piercing spout to be pretty user friendly.

Nope never saw any of those commercials but we also do not have any Phillips 66 stations in the area I am aware of either, plus I grew up on a farm where we only had 3 over the air stations until we got a big ol sat dish in the late 80's.

 

 

I actually learned that trick from an old tech I worked with who was about to retire when I was just getting started.  If you have black diesel engine oil and or exhaust soot that doesn't wash off with any soap the detergents in engine oil always did the trick.

I myself have always used Castrol in every thing i drive from my mom's 06 Mazada 3 to my 01 dodge 2500 V10. At one point i was told to use Rotella T 15W-40 in my V10 the original owner had used castrol for the first 130k changed it every 3 months/3000 said it never used a drop i used the same for the 36k i have owned it same rotation of changes but, one month i used the before mentioned Rotella T and in about 1500 miles it used a total of 6 quartz of oil had to add more every day so after only 2000 miles i went back to Castrol 15W-40 hasn't used a drop since. And i only use Valvoline Blue jug 15W-40 In my 01 24 valve Cummins it's great stuff uses about half-a-quart every 3 months or 5000 miles but, i only drive it about 400 miles a month give or take nowaday's. I also run a quart of Lucas Oil stabilizer ever oil change. My grandfather always said any time you switch brands after using one kind for a long time it will begin to burn more to which i belive is true after the Rotella T incident but that stuff is like water IMHO lol

Myself I've been using Mobil products from the the local oil provider. Mobil 15w-40 in the diesel, Mobil 10w-30 in the gasoline stuff.

 

I see things from a different perspective. As long as the oil meets or exceeds the requirement it should really matter on the brand name a whole lot. Like for our diesels they require CI-4 15w-40 for oil. Then today the current oil is CJ-4. Might have to switch up to lighter viscosity for the super cold northern states. So all the battles about synthetics and petroleum, brand names, etc. just doesn't mean a whole lot as long as the grade and viscosity is correct you should have much problems.

I decided to try a different brand than I usually use when I did my last oil change.  I swapped over to  Schaeffers supreme for a try. I will say it got noticeably quieter after the change, and it seemed to stay cleaner (not instantly black) for a little longer.  I intend to send a sample off to the lab after about 5k miles to see how its doing.  I was hesitant to give it a try but they have a pretty good following and have been around in the oil biz for a minute.  

So your old enough to remember the Phillps 66 T.V. add where the station owner used Trop-Artic to clean their hands too ?

I'll bet the  guy in the ad  had  a lit  camel  in his mouth,  another one  behind his ear??

 

 

As  for me,  I'm  a   Conoco  fleet  15w40  guy.   I  run it in  EVERYTHING..    cars,  pickups, tractors,  4 wheelers,  motorcycle..

..... I don't own anything  such as my daughters'  Dodge intrepid,  with the  2.7 ....    tiny  little  galleries  are   synthetic only.

Edited August 9, 201410 yr by rancherman

As a snot nose kid I ran what ever was on sale and could pay for. But about 40 years ago I started using Castrol in all the gassers I had, without any problems. But from watching the mega buck equipment at work running on any brand name oil that met the required specs, I noticed they would run 24/7, those that were put together right, for up to 2 years when they did a turn-a-round and replaced / repaired the unit as needed and ramped it up again. (I will mentioned we had to switch each pump for one hour each week to verify the spare was ready and on standby.)

 

Not sure if it really matters what brand name oil you use, but more towards if the oil meets specs.

I use full synthetic in everything now, and it meets specs, and still no issues. 

Currently up to 20k intervals on both the truck and TDI using Schaeffer's and still well within acceptable parameters. Now I could go much further than this and I may try with the TDI because she puts so many miles on it but at the 20k mark for the truck is about what I put on the truck in a year's time.

Edited August 11, 201410 yr by diesel4life

Currently up to 20k intervals on both the truck and TDI using Schaeffer's and still well within acceptable parameters. Now I could go much further than this and I may try with the TDI because she puts so many miles on it but at the 20k mark for the truck is about what I put on the truck in a year's time.

 

 

Now that you pic'd my interest , what oil filter are you using ? 

What change interval are you doing for oil filters ?

Donaldson ELF for the Dodge every 10k miles. The truck uses no oil so the only makeup is when the filter is changed.

I'm actually contemplating going the 20k mark as they are rated for 15k but filters are cheap in the scheme of things.

One person I need to get on this thread is Dorkweed that ran 84,000 miles on a single oil change with cheap ol' Walmart oil.

wow 84K on one oil change.. awesome.

i stick with Valvoline. and the thought that dirty oil is what wears out the engine. carbon, the stuff that turn the oil black, is what diamonds are made from. my theory is that dirty oil is like sand paper. so i change mine 7500K or there abouts with Valvoline.

i use the best filter i can get from a local "truck shop" fleetguard of number i forget. i'm going to order the LF9028 here in a week or two.,

My wifes Civic uses the 0-20 stuff i tried the Honda brand, valvoline, Mobil 1, next is castrol GTX. honda oils gave her 28 mpg average, vavloline was 32, mobile 1 is 33, those MPG are several tanks for the life of the oil. her car tells here when to change it as well. best one was mobile 1 at 8900 miles worst was Honda at 6700 n some change. her 2012 has 86K on it. we go through some fuel and oil.

 

on the older engines right before a change i add some ATF for a few 100 miles. it's highly detergent and will clean the insides out great. learned that from my grandpa. 95 years old and never had an engine let go on him. built several race engines. i trusted him. after tearing a SB 289 down for an over haul at 500K it was still very clean inside.

Which begs the question why do people dump their oil at such an early rate...

IIRC Dorkweed has a bypass oil filter. That kind of extended service wouldn't be possible without one, not if you value your engine anyway.

As I said I can go much further than 20k but choose not to for a few reasons. I could easily go this distance with dino oil as well but choose synthetic because they are much better for your engines overall health. There is a reason new vehicles have switched to synthetic or at a minimum a synthetic blend. And with the price I get Schaeffers delivered to my door going my interval is a break even point with one UOA per year vs sticking with dino and dumping at 10k intervals.

Here is a old TDR oil testing results...

 

https://mopar1973man.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=17565

Edited February 12, 20223 yr by Mopar1973Man

MIke, are those old threads in the archives anywhere??

Mike must be "fire-fighting" or he would've  answered my above question.

 

 

 

Yeah, I ran  my current truck;  MightyWhitey, for over 80,000 miles without a "COMPLETE" "oil and filter change out!!!

 

This goes back to CF era................and I've been banned from there.....................for telling the "truth" IMHO anyhow.

 

 

 

Yeah, I went probably better than 4 years without a complete  oil change out!!!   WITH YEARLY OIL ANALYSIS!!!!!!

 

 

I was running a MotorGuard TP bypass.  And whilst running this set-up, I was using WallyWorld SuperTech 15W40 engine oil.

 

I would change out the TP and add about 1qt. of "make up" oil upon each TP change.  My change out interval being about 2500 miles or so.

 

Still;  with my frequent TP changes, I was still oil "ahead" in savings via doing the "math'!!

One quart every 2500 miles comes out to 32 quarts over 80k miles. That is equivalent to 2.6 oil changes over 80k miles, or an oil change every 30,760 miles (roughly).

Still pretty good, but no where near what was claimed originally.