I wise man once said: For the turtle to live to an old age he must be wise. For the turtle to be wise, he must live a long time.
I think you should be called "Wiseoldturtle."
Great post oldturtle!!!!

 

I like the Amsoil here too. I use the EAoil filters and their 5w-30 and go 25,000 between oil changes. So far so good, the Accord is up to 130,000 now, so I think it is working [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]

 

For the truck (Ranger) just been using Castrol 20/50 since I got it. Usually go about 5k between changes. Got over 203,000 miles on it now, and never had any internal engine problems. Lifters clatter at idle, but they did that when I bought it. Dealer assured me it wasn't real problem while it was under warranty. As long ago as that was, I guess he was right. I do find adjusting the volume on the radio takes care of the problem. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

 

I run Shell 5W-30 in my 97 Ford 4.6 and she is due for an oil change this week as she'll turn over 163k miles. It's changed every 3k miles. I run that oil because that's what they put in it where I get my truck serviced.

Now in my atvs.....I bought a new Rancher back in Aug of 05 and by the end of the year, it was starting to smoke on the Honda oil. This machine maybe had 10 hours on it at the time. The 04 Bruin that belongs to my girlfriend had started to smoke on start-up on the Yamalube oil that was in it.
After much research, I decided to buy the Amsoil 0W-40 made for atv's and snowmobiles. I changed both machines over to the Amsoil and both machines have stopped smoking. The oil cooler fans run less and they both seem to start easier.

Shell Rotella would be my choice for a readily available oil. It's a HDEO(heavy duty engine oil) that also carries the rating for use in an Allison transmission. So out of respect to what's posted in previous posts, I don't buy the remark that it's not shear resistant. Shell's website even states this.

Now as for my V Star motorcycle, Shell Rotella synthetic works better in the crankcase as opposed to the Mobil V Twin oil I was using. The tranny shifts better without the annoying clunk it had with the Mobile oil.

To each his own....just keep the oil changed.

 

How many miles do you go between filter changes? Most of the people I know who extend the oil changes with synthetic still change their filters at the regular (3k mile) interval.
I'm considering using synthetic in my Toyota, but with the variable valve timing, the cleaner the oil the better for the actuator to work.

 

I've heard that some folk prefer to break in an engine with conventional oil, then switch to synthetic for the rest of the engine life. I wonder about this when you consider the number of performance cars that come from the factory with synthetic, such as Corvette, some BMW's, and Porsches. I don't think it makes a lot of difference, does anyone know if they make any recommendations in the owners manuals? (I'm not likely to see the manuals for any of those cars unless I steal one.. lol)

 

Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer....anybody use in car, truck, atv or other???

 

Hmm, seems to me I've seen a video clip that shows the extent of foaming that Lucas causes going through a geartrain. I think their intent is to make the oil adhere better to moving parts, which it does, but it also causes other problems, specifically in engines that need an un-aerated oil supply, such as the Ford Powerstrokes for example. I'll see if I can find the site again and add a link.

 

[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img] I almost put it in our 06' powerstroke today.......what about the other big diesels cause I put it in a industrial cummins

 

I'd check with the folks at Ford before I used it in the Powerstroke, as I recall it affects the way the injectors work, they need a relatively foam-free supply of oil to work properly (hydraulic principle).

I personally don't use oil additives, some do give an actual benefit, others are purely snake oil (pardon the pun). I doubt it will hurt the Cummins, but again, check with them if you can.