idanity

for higher mileage, i always prefer oil (dino-blood) for a few reasons.

most important to me, is leaking.
real oil will clog up small leaks and holes and basically gum around the gaskets.
synthetic will clean it all up w/its detergents and possibly get a small leak to look bigger.

but the viscosity is much better for synthetic, which is why i use 20-30 or straight 30weight. (CASTROL).

Some oil is terrible, (like quakerstate), other is great (mobil1).
and
i can also say slick 50 did save my old celica engine when i put a dime size hole in my oil pan (in MEXICO) and while i notice the car getting hot, i checked the oil, filled it (and watched a huge friggin puddle emerge), while it just ran right through the engine, and onto the cement.

then drove it to the beach, and drove it back through ARizonas desert (when it finally died 5 hours later) (*yes, 5 hours through the desert during the day without any oil)(my g.f. was crying cuz the heater was on full blast, and the vents melted, my foot got burned, i had to use a cane to depress the pedal)

anyways
long story (later) short, real oil w/slick 50. or 4 quarts of slick 50.

langzaiguy

I don't know how much of that I can believe....

FredTJ

And dino clocks up oil passages and creates a lot of varnish and gum.
Yes, synthetic will clean it up.
Adding to the clogged up problem seems a pretty silly way to "fix" things instead of fixing the leak(s), assuming that one has a leak.

Wow, you should really try and inform yourself about engine oil.
Why SPECIFICALLY would you think that 20W30 or straight 30 is any good at all for your engine ?




All I can say is, wow........



infiltrator worte:
What does the heat have anything to do with it, especially the 20W part ??






Fred

FredTJ

Mostly none





Fred

jcfb

Well, I've heard all sorts of stuff. Pretty much any major brand name of oil is going to be fine for your truck. A bad oil isn't going to get an approval.

As far as the Quaker State being bad, I have heard that it is slightly thinner than the actual rating, but that's not bad, it's just different. It isn't as though you will run the oil and your engine will explode, or die, or gum up.

Dino oil will keep an engine with a slight leak from leaking. I have 150,000 miles on my truck, I run synthetic, and I have 0% burn-off in between oil changes. I have a Corolla with 150,000 miles, switched to synthetic, wondered where the oil was going! It doesn't burn it, but the oil seems to just disappear. It gets annoying, so I may switch back. Although, I have 3 high mileage vehicles running synthetic, with no burn-off between oil changes, and one that does use oil.

I'd say pick an oil that you feel comfortable with, one that fits in your budget, and then use it! Change it at the required interval and don't stray too far from the recommended weight that is stated in your owner's manual.

If you really want to get picky, check out bobistheoilguy.com.

bmxican59

simply run 10w-30 petroleum oil. replace half a quart of oil with half a quart of lucase oil stabilizer. also a trick I have learned is to run a bigger oil filter. just make sure the seal and threads fit good enough to make a seal that wont leak. a bigger oil filter provides better oil flow with more efficient filtering. It will also give a little bit more life to your oil although I would recommend changing it at normal intervals anyway.

seafarinman

When I worked at Jiffy Lube many moons ago, I went to the Pennzoil lube school, and the only thing that I took away from that is that I should use the thinnest oil that I can get away with i.e. 5W-30. The rationale behind that is that the oil when cold has the viscosity of a 5 weight, which means faster pumping from oil pan on startup. This means 1/2 the dry start time of a 10W-X, 3 times faster than a 15W-X, and 4 times faster than a 20W-X. The only other issue is that dino oils are only marginal at best at being multi-weight, and that synthetics are better for that reason. In addition, the synthetic oils will work for longer service intervals without breaking down so you can go longer than the API recommended 3,000 mile oil change intervals. There was actually an article in Popular Mechanics magazine that seemed to show that with proper oil *filter* change intervals and topping off when needed, you could run synthetic oils up to 10K-15K miles. I don't do that because of the hassle and mess involved with changing the filter, and just change the oil as well. I do use the Lucas product in my oil though.

FredTJ

Before anyone pushes the Lucas stuff too heavily, I would highly suggest reading Bob the Oil Guy's site, especially the testing related to the Lucas Oil Additive.




Fred

deserttoy84

I run 10w30 or 10w40 castrol GTX in just about everything

idanity

i owned a 81 datsun station wagon, w/piston slap. 1st car, 300 bucks and drove for 2 years

a mechanic said, just drive it till it dies, and if you want to keep the slap from sounding bad, use straight 50 weight (which i did, and also 60 (racine) valvoline)..


that worked, and the car stopped leaking too. sold the car for 700 after i used it for years, and cleaned it up (and got a dent).
since then, ive become a fairly decent shadetree mechanic, and do take car of my cars/trucks, but then. when i had 30 bucks in my bank, regular oil saved the day more than once.

also
i read.
once you start using synthetic, you should stay w/synthetic and not return to regular.

some engine gaskets do NOT like synthetic oil and may start leaking.

and you can believe everything i say has happened did happen, and also my opinions are just that, opinions. i didnt write a book about oil. but i do have my personal experience (sofar)

and if others that informed me were incorrect, well, im naive too.
either way.
seems a lot todo about oil

we all need it
we all use it
its so different and convoluted.
and
it was probably much easier when our grand fathers had 3 choices,

buy a few cans, d.i.y.
pay a mechanic.
or
just not do it at all.