I agree, unless an engine is pushed to it's thermal limits and beyond, fossil oil will suffice. I liked Mobil 1 when I used it, but saw no real benefits over the life of the engine. My wife just retired a Saturn with over 270k on the clock, and the engine is the best part of the car, never a click, clatter, or tick under the hood. All it had was whatever 5w30 was available, and regular changes at 5000 km.

 

I really like Mobil 1 5-30 when its towing season ... cuts my oil temp about 15 degs over fossil oil.

Other than that regular oil changes help get the water, gas, and sluge out of the engine ... i think any oil brand is good as any other for regular driving.

 

I gotta believe that oil preference is alot like any other prejudice...not easily rationalized or explained, but passionate.
The engineers who designed the motors and spec'd them, know what they are doing, and as long as the oil used, meets those minimum requirements, at the proper level, and changed at the required intervals...all will be fine.
Its only Americans who fall for the marketing and branding BS.
My favorite story is about my boss, smart guy, but odd at times. He bought a new Camaro with the v8 in 95, still hasnt changed the oil yet. Same oil same filter. 50k plus miles...no problems. Thats Minnesota summers and winters on it.
When I asked him why an intelligent guy like himself would do something like that, he replied, he wont be the guy holding the title when the issues start, and how its a waste of money to maintain a vehicle, when the price at time of sale will be the same for a well maintained car as an abused one.
Hes right. Ive spent lots of money and time maintaining and repairing vehicles over the years, and always end up selling at the same price a beat up one would go for. No one pays extra for a well maintained vehicle. They just look up the wholesale price, and thats what is offered. Thats what I do when i buy.
My 2 cents

 

I was reading this thread and thought I'd share my own oil story. In h.s. and college I had an '87 Ford T-Bird. In college when the car reach around 90,000 miles on it, it developed an oil leak. It would lose about a quart of oil a week. Well, once I realized the leak rate and so forth, I quit changing the oil in the car because...in my warped college student logic...there was no oil in the engine that was more than 5 weeks old (it had a capacity of 5 quarts). For the next 60,000 miles, I would put a quart of oil in the car every week and never changed filters. I put every brand and weight of oil made into that engine. Never had a problem with it. At 150,000 miles, I sold the car to my brother who then drove it for several years before selling it to somebody else. Good car. I also found out that you can put dang near anything in the power steering reservoir and that works too. Gear oil, brake fluid, motor oil, etc. Good times.

 

Hondabuster that's a great story and a lot of truth.

I was **** about changing the oil in my cars every 3k but now I'm up to every 4K.

My sister went 60k miles in her Sentra before the 1st oil change and it ran fine till she sold it with 90k+ miles but it did start smoking when it had a little over 100k miles.

I run 15W-40 Rotella T in my tranny and 5W-40 Rotella Synthetic in my engine of my 450R and I run 5W-40 (RS) in my VTX.

 

Did I type that? I didn't but I'm in 100% agreement with you there montyh. I would rather run bulk oil than a bad airfilter. I would rather run oil that had 15,000 miles on it rather than a bad airfilter. A bad filter will take out and engine faster than you can say ohhhhhh sheeeeeet.
I had a guy come into a shop that I worked at once. Same story. He leased his car. Said he never changed oil in his cars!!!! This one bit him. The "tar" in the case plugged up the pump screen and bang went the crank!!!! He said he saved more then he spent though. I believe him.
I agree. One of these days they are going to have "Honda 300 oil only"!!!! Or Raptor 700 oil ONLY. Ect, ect........ That way the manufactures will be assured of that extra 5 mill/ year!!!!

Back to the question at hand.
I have never had an oil related failure..........ever. I make just as much power as anybody and more than most. Some engines I use syn, most I use regular old dino oil. It's inexpensive and cost effective. More $'s for other go fast things!!!

Good topic Chilly.

 

In a modern vehicle if you use the grade and type of oil recommended by the manufacturer and change it at the recommended interval (and do the other maintenance per recommendations) the rest of the car will most likely fall apart around you before the engine quits. It's not uncommon for me to see cars and trucks running around with well over 200K on the odometer and on the original motor. They aren't burning much in the way of oil and run ok but the car itself may be pretty beat up. My own pick-up has 280K on it and runs fine. Had to do some inside engine work (seals leaking) recently unrelated to lubrication and had a chance to inspect the engine internals and it looked in remarkably good shape. First internal work I've ever done to it by the way. Good compression on all the cylinders and just normal oil usage. I just changed my oil every 3 months or 3k (usually-I'll admit I've let it go waaaay long a time or seven since 1989.)

Say what you will about vehicles today compared to the "good old days" but the engines and cars for that matter produced now are much much better. A vehicle with 100k is hardly broke in these days and has years of use left. Back in the day you were having to do major engine work at 30k and a car was pretty much junked at 50 or 60 K.

Nope, they don't build 'em like they use to. They build them better. Much better.

 

I only use Amsoil, because thats what ive always used, and i havnt had any problems. Also, i believe the stats they have up on their website (www.amsoil.com) It shows Mobile 1 right behind Amsoil in most categories, which would give me my second choice of oil. My understanding is its not the oil breaking down, its the contaminates being made that effect engine wear.

 

I think there's a predilection to use the same brand that we've had "success" with over the years. I've always used Castrol products, never had any failures, so I'm partial to them now. One exception was the Mobil 1 I used in my Cavalier a few years ago. I started using it from new, hoping that the dreaded GM piston slap would stay away. After 20k it sounded like a diesel idling, so I guess synthetic wasn't the answer to that problem. Ask me what I think of most GM products sometime, and I've run them for years up til now.

I do believe that an engine that has run with dino oil for most of it's life should be kept on it, and not changed to synthetic. Is there any factual proof that I'm right? Not that I'm aware of, just my own feeling. Plus the added cost of synthetic has swayed me somewhat. Don't misunderstand, I do believe that synthetic oils are far superior to any dino oil, and have real benefits in cases of extreme conditions. I just don't think that my driving habits and weather conditions warrant the use of synthetic oil.

V2 said: My understanding is its not the oil breaking down, its the contaminates being made that effect engine wear.

I think you're right, the only problem is that as the oil goes through it's life, it is subjected to forces that "shear" the oil molecules to a smaller size, as Montyh mentioned. I'm also sure there are technical terms to better describe that process, but those will do for this discusiion. We're talking about "viscosity breakdown" as Castrol referred to it a few years ago. So, an oil that started out as a 40 weight may be reduced at the end of it's life to a 30 weight or less, if you consider the dilution process as unburned fuel goes past the rings, etc. And oil DOES get dirty, it cleans the inside of the engine as it runs, as we've discussed. The filter will remove particles down to a certain micron size, the rest get passed through and go back to the engine. Anyone know if the majority of ATV oil/filter systems are full flow or does some get bypassed as the filter gets dirty? If so, then wear accelerates as the filter gets dirty.

So, my philosophy is to do regular oil changes, too soon is better than too late, use a decent grade of oil, and keep an eye on conditions. A lot of short trips under cold conditions are textbook condensation builders, and wet or dusty weather doesn't help either.

 

I have been running 15-40 in either Shell Rotella T or Chevron Delo whichever is available in 6 gallon cases at big box store. But most of my driving/riding is in Calif with temps well above freezing.
Many years ago I was using Castrol 20-50 year round and one weekend I could not get XR600R dirt bike started until sun came up and warmed up motor. So I missed first loop bacause of wrong oil for the temperature.
Once when using 15-40 Chevron Delo in KTM dirt bike tranny I dumped tranny oil when hot and then forgot to refill. Rode bike twice for about 200 miles with only oil that did not drain out and had no issues. Kept bike for another year and never had to work on tranny or wet clutch.
Many motorcycle oil markerers like to hype the viscosity breakdown differences. Motorcycle Consumer News actually ran tests of many different oils in a Goldwing. They tested oils before and after running to mfg recm oil chg interval. My conclusion was that viscosity of multi grade oils do not have significant breakdone untill over 5000 miles. So in changing at 5000 miles there was no proven advantage in $6.00 motorcycle oil vrs $1.50 Chevron Delo 15-40.
In dirt bikes and quads I change oil at about 500 miles and I change filter every other oil change. In Cummins, in gasoline van, and in Honda road bikes, I change oil and filter every 5000 miles. In 2 stroke Banshee and KDX220 trannys I change diesel spec 15-40 usually once a year.
I have 277K on 95 Dodge Cummins 3/4 ton and still do not need to add oil between oil changes and can get 20 mpg.