Oil Recommendations

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Supercharged111

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I put "synthetic" in everything including my riding lawnmower. When I run out of my current supply of "synthetic" oil, I'm considering spending extra to buy real synthetic oil.

REAL synthetic oil (Group IV) is expensive; but here in America we can buy "synthetic" (Group III) oil made from...oil...at reasonable prices.

Our "synthetic" Group III oil (made from oil) can't be sold as "synthetic" in Europe--but America's politicians are the best that Corporations can buy. (And some of our courts are run by the stupidest judges.)



www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/29113/base-oil-groups

Thought you had to plunge for group 5 for a real synthetic? Either way I do the biggest split possible, i.e. 0W40 in trucks, to cover down year round. Smaller first number is always better. A synthetic when broken down reverts to the higher number, not the lower. I'm not sure if that differs by base stock or not, but if you've gone that far you're overdue for an oil change anyway.
 

PlayingWithTBI

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I was looking at gtx high mileage syth blend, but I hear a lot more people using mobil 1 synthetic blend. Probably gonna use Mobil 1 10w-30 syth blend next change.
I think you mean Mobil Synthetic blend not Mobil1.
 

Caman96

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IMO changing oil early and often and correct viscosity is the key. Walmart Super Tech full synthetic works for me and changed every 3k. When oil is new it’s translucent. At 3k, not so much, it’s darker and time to go. Works for me.
 

SAATR

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Rotella T6 5W40 year round. Been running it for years in my Suburban, and my pickup. The 40W gives the slightest of bumps to my hot-idle oil pressure, and keeping a 5W makes it slightly quieter on winter cold starts. And it's reasonably cheap by the gallon.

What's not cheap are actual PAO and ester based engine oils. Seal compatibility can be a concern with some of those, though I can't speak specifically to our engines. I'm presently taking care of a fleet of natural gas generators running an ester based synthetic. $100/gallon and 150 gallons per engine... A bit rich for my blood. Not as pricey as turbine oil, but steep for a piston engine.
 

User_name

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I live in Mississippi, where it's reasonably warm year round. I run rotella 15-40 in the white bottle, but I have a tbi engine with the flat tappets. The extra zinc makes me feel better.
That being said, use any oil that makes you feel good. Oil has really gotten better since the 80s and 90s. As long as you use the right weight, it's extremely hard to go wrong.

If you want a good 5w30 synthetic, I recommend mobil1. I use it in my gmt-800 with the vortec4800. The inside of my engine looks brand new. I can still see green paint marker on the heads if I put my borescope in the oil filler neck thingymabob.

But really if you plan on a 5w30 mobil, castrol, pennzoil, and supertech(Warren petroleum) are stellar choices.

Imo filters are a different story. I don't recommend getting a cheapo filter. I avoid supertech, stp, fram(orange), and those stupid acdelco ecore filters.
For filters I strongly recommend mobil1, wix, hastings/baldwin, Mann Hummel, or fram synthetic filter (I forget the exact name of the fram, but the filter it's self is brown.)
 

Erik the Awful

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I run 5W30 in WCJr, and whenever I get Roscoe running I'll run the same in it. Supposedly the quality of the oil doesn't matter much if you change it often enough, but I always use either Valvoline or Castrol because they're decent oils and available everywhere. I avoid Pennzoil and Quaker State.

I use O'Reilly's house brand oil for engine break-in because it gets changed and inspected after twenty minutes of running.

I have a good friend who's a QA manager for Mann/Wix and gives me the scoop on what matters. I'll run either of those brands, or AC Delco if I get a bargain on them. I won't run any Fram filter. Interestingly, he says the smaller filter for our trucks has a finer synthetic element. The old-style large filters run a paper filter that doesn't filter as well, but the case can hold more garbage. Get the smaller filter and change it every 5000 miles.
 

oldelpasso

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any updates after this swap?

I plan to run 10w-30 syn blend on my 91 w/ 280k miles, ~120k on a gm crate engine. I ran Castrol GTX conventional 10w-30 first few oil changes. When cold, oil guage is pegged out around 60psi, hot around 15psi (no plans to put mechanical guage on it).

I was looking at gtx high mileage syth blend, but I hear a lot more people using mobil synthetic blend. Probably gonna use Mobil 10w-30 syth blend next change. Oil is still very clean after 2k miles.
I didn't run the synthetic for very long before giving in and having a bunch of pre-existing leaks fixed (oil pan, timing cover, etc.). I forgot to ask my mechanic what oil he used after the leak services, but I will the next time I see him. I have to assume it's a synthetic since that's all I see on the shelves anymore here in CA.
 

oldelpasso

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Mechanic used Valvoline 5W-30 Full Synthetic. No issues, motor is running smooth. I'll probably run Mobil1 oil and filter going forward though.
 
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