I use Wix or Baldwin exclusively, but purchase by the case so the price is good. For years I used Chevron Delo, then Delo Isosynthetic. Now using the Costco/Kirkland HD oil, but will check into the link above regarding that oil.

I was always taught that it didn't really matter too much what brand of oil you used, just always use the same one each oil change.

Another one I was told by a PGE (Pacific Gas & Electric) fleet mechanic was that when they did oil changes, it was every 1,000 miles, new filter and 1 quart of oil. This was a long time ago.

Like the OP I have a Jeep in my fleet and use the Platinum plus full synthetic with OEM filter.

BUT I do 2 things differently than what’s in the manual (putting flame suit on now)

I don’t run water (0W-20) in my engines but instead run 5W-30 in the Jeep and religiously change the oil and filter every 5K miles. The last oil analysis I had done came back with “stellar results” according to Blackstone.

On my Porsche I run the recommended 0W-40 Mobil per factory specs.

I’m waiting on the change oil light to come on in my Tesla…;-)

How do you get LiquiMoly oil for free?

quote:

Originally posted by sigspecops:
How do you get LiquiMoly oil for free?

FCP Euro offers free lifetime replacement on almost everything they sell. Yes, including fluids.
Buy oil from them, use it (5k miles for me), send the used oil back and they credit my account for the purchase price.
I buy 2 5 gallon jugs at a time and qualify for free shipping.
Cost me $15 to ship it back to them for my credit. Order my next oil with the credit. Rinse wash repeat.
After 2 oil changes it’s free aside from return shipping.

I have no freaking clue how they do this but they do. They are in Connecticut so they must sell the used oil or something.
Been doing it for 2 years now and still baffles my mind.
https://www.fcpeuro.com/page/lifetime-guarantee

Both my current vehicles take 8+ quarts per oil change.
Return shipping is $15 and a filter is $7. $22 full high end synthetic oil changes!
Easy peasy. I have Fumoto valves on each vehicle. So I just keep my jugs run the hose into the old jug and drain.

Did all my differentials and transfer cases with LiquiMoly just not hit my 30k on them yet to send that back.
Getting ready to do the Suburban transmission so I’ll use LiquiMoly ATF 1800 from them as well.

I won’t use anything but Toyota WS fluid in the Tundra transmission so out of luck on that one.

Chowser told me about it a couple years back and I figured he was nuts.
Back then they used to actually put the money back on your credit card now it is just store credit which is fine.
PayPal used to have free return shipping but that’s gone as well.
But $27 a vehicle for the oil change does not hurt my feelings.

Been using Amsoil for almost 25 years, and Blackstone Labs. I let the analysis tell me when to change the oil instead of old wives tales and stealer service departments. I have always used synthetic for better protection, especially in performance vehicles that see heavy corner use via twisties and track, but also for extended OCI’s. Less work, and less $ wasted doing lab analysis.

I've been in oil & gas for 28 years now and all of my coworkers have used synthetic and premium oil filters with 7500 to 10,000 mile changes. When I first started, the extended interval oil change additives and filters weren't on the market and they were doing the 7500 to 10000 mile oil changes with regular synthetic and a premium filter. I was part of the 7500 mile or 1-year crowd. Drove a 2000 Silverado for 13.5 years doing it, zero engine troubles in that time, moved out of the county and sold it to a buddy, he drove it 4 more years trouble free, and sold it for more than he paid.

Now, I use extended interval synthetic and extended interval premium filter. I only drive about 9000 miles a year, and I change once a year. My truck was manufactured in March 2016 and the engine is going strong.

Lubricants is not the part of the business I'm involved, but lube plant engineers have been in my engineering group twice. I've been able to visit lube plants twice and they are pretty interesting places.

quote:

Originally posted by Fly-Sig:
There are many YouTube videos of various filters being cut open. There are some big differences in materials in important internal parts, like the anti-drain valve and how the internal filter material is glued.

^^ THIS ^^

I was already buying premium filters, but it made me feel better about it. Pretty shocking differences in the internal materials even within the price points of the same brand.

It's not just oil and filters they take back.
I recently did a brake job on my bmw (pads and rotors in back and pads in front). Sent back old stuff and got store credit (post office must really hate me for using flat rate boxes, rotors are heavy).

They really don't expect that many people to ship stuff back. People think the post office won't take oil, they do. Also back when paypal was doing free return shipping, that was great. Now it's just whatever the cheapest method I can ship back is what I do.

Getting ready to do our spring oil changes.

quote:

Originally posted by Prefontaine:
Been using Amsoil for almost 25 years, and Blackstone Labs. I let the analysis tell me when to change the oil instead of old wives tales and stealer service departments. I have always used synthetic for better protection, especially in performance vehicles that see heavy corner use via twisties and track, but also for extended OCI’s. Less work, and less $ wasted doing lab analysis.

Same here. I push all of my oil changes to 10k and even my F250 to 12k-13k at the recommendation of blackstone. Not a single issue in 15+ years.

quote:

Originally posted by MRBTX:
Well, this is a gentlemanly oil/filter thread. Usually there’s rock throwing’ and name calling by now. I like Rotella T6 5w-30 multi vehicle and oem Yota filters in my Tundra.

I’d put Rotella T6 on my cornflakes for breakfast if it weren’t more expensive than milk. Love that stuff. I run it (T6 5w-40) in all my diesels and my old boat.

the dealer just put 5W30 Penzoil in my Gen 4 Runner, oem filter. another dealer would usually use a blend at my request, but this new dealer I'm going to must be old school, plus they're not crooks like the other dealer

quote:

Originally posted by TomV:
I was always taught that it didn't really matter too much what brand of oil you used, just always use the same one each oil change.

Another one I was told by a PGE (Pacific Gas & Electric) fleet mechanic was that when they did oil changes, it was every 1,000 miles, new filter and 1 quart of oil. This was a long time ago.

Using the same oil every oil change is utter nonsense . And what's with the 1,000 mile oil change interval ? You're getting some really bad advice .

I think in general, oil is oil

it all comes from the same source - the ground

I think the biggest differences are in the additives between brands

I could be wrong, I'm just a dumbshit engineer

The more expensive oils are going to have the additives to sustain extended drain intervals and/or conditions such as towing, plowing and idling.

If you want to make life easier, go with a Fumoto valve. When I was changing oil once a month due to a monthly round trip drive from El Paso to Tampa, the Fumoto came in very handy. Car is a 1.5l GDI turbo. I guess some would say those motors are hard on oil. I used various brands such as Kirkland, Mobil, Amsoil and Pennzoil. Filters were anywhere from FRAM Extra Guard to Mobil 1 to NAPA.

Changing at the correct intervals seems to matter more than what you're putting in there as long as it meets factory specs. Not sure I can be convinced that Amsoil with 8,000 miles on it can protect your engine more than fresh Super Tech.

I'm one of the early BITOG members when the site was first launched. The OP's question comes up rather often over there.

The general answer is that a filter which can filter less than 30 microns is ideal. That gives the best wear protection and that typically means a filter that probably costs $10 or more, sometimes less.

If the oil meets spec, any of them that do is fine. These days you have to work hard not to find one that it's fully synthetic. Just by synthetic within the grade called for in the OM and you'll be GTG.


That said, the oil and oil filter selection are also dependent on your use. If you have severe use, such as towing or only around town with short trips where the oil doesn't get up to sustained temps, then your use is severe. In those cases, changes at 3k are highly recommended and at that interval, a high quality filter isn't all that important but stick with the syn oil.

The premium oils are designed for longer intervals and so are the filters. I ran one car purely on the highway and ran it to 10k before changing it. The UOA said I could easily have gone to 12k.

In my vehicles I run the Fram Endurance, Titanium or Ultra, along with Castrol, M1 or whatever else is within spec at Walmart.

quote:

Originally posted by smlsig:
BUT I do 2 things differently than what’s in the manual (putting flame suit on now)

I don’t run water (0W-20) in my engines but instead run 5W-30 in the Jeep and religiously change the oil and filter every 5K miles.

My Subaru owner's manual says 0W-20, but in other countries the exact same engine calls for 5W-30. The US manual does allow for 5W-30 in situations when 0W-20 isn't available, for a few miles.

So I ran 5W-30, as do many other Subaru owners. It quieted down the engine noise and it stopped consuming oil. One of my regular drives is up over a mountain pass on the highway, which means running downhill about 7 miles with the throttle at idle, so it was high vacuum and sucking the thin oil past the rings.

I believe the 0W-20 (and 0W-10) are solely for fuel efficiency. They'll do anything to eek out another tenth of a mpg to meet government requirements.

 
I like and use Royal Purple filters in my 2010 Tacoma.

Why not get decent oil and decent filter? While good oil is more expensive, it isn't going to break most of us.

Allow me to offer a little info, from the perspective of a formulator, and a company that provides engine oil additives to everyone.

The qualification tests for any licensed oil are extensive and expensive. Any licensed engine oil meets tests you would not believe.

There are numerous YouTube exposes of engine oil filter quality. No need to restate these here.

It is fairly simple. Premium engine oils use better base oils, better additive packages, and protect better than the standards require. Buy with confidence. But, remember that all engine oils meeting a license designation meet or exceed tests that cost millions of dollars.

The price difference between Mobil 1 and Walmart SuperTech is best viewed as a difference amortized (so to speak) over 10K miles. Is $30 a year really going to break you? You waste $30 in tips paid to woke pizza delivery drivers in three months.

Bingo right there. This is what I do. And don't use extended drain intervals just because you can, unless you don't really care about your engine. Especially if you like to run your vehicles a long time with routine and extended maintenance. If you haven't done it, you would be surprised how well older vehicles run if you maintain them better than most people do. Why are most cars around you late model vehicles ? Because most of those people aren't interested in maintenance. If you are like that that's fine. But if you asking about oil and filters, chances are you're not like that. So if you don't take your wife to taco bell on a date, they why are you spending taco bell money on maintaining your vehicles ? You get what you pay for.