Who doesn’t love an oil thread? I found myself looking at my various containers of oil in the garage and thinking about my habits in that regard. Nowadays I do all of my own changes for the three cars we have that still use it, the other two are EVs so thankfully that chore is off the table. Still, for the last almost forty years I’ve regularly been considering which oil, which filter, how often, and to DIY or pay someone else to do it.
Oil’s been considered one of the most important aspects of vehicle maintenance, but is it really? Or more specifically, does it really matter WHICH brand/type of oil you use? Of course using the correct weight/viscosity of oil is generally important, and you should adhere to some sort of defensible schedule, but does one brand really make a noticeable difference over another? Or, in other words, when is the last time you’ve known first-hand (so not your cousin’s neighbor’s pharmacist’s son four states away) of an engine that stopped running due to not using a particular brand of oil or filter, assuming that there was in fact oil in the engine and it was changed at least semi-regularly? For me, that would be never, i.e. a complete non-issue and yet I’ll admit to still being sucked in to the marketing at least a little. So let’s take a look at my habits as of late and then I’ll ask you which is your favorite oil and why?
The vehicle with the current longest tenure in the Klein fleet would be the 2015 Jeep Wrangler (linked here) equipped with the 3.6l V6 Pentastar engine. We’ve had it for almost eight years (the record!) and it currently has 77,470 miles on it. We used to take it to the dealer to change the oil and filter as there was usually a coupon for the service (they had a handy 3-pack for $99 which seemed like a good deal), but once we realized that the poor design of the oil filter housing just resulted in a heavy money-stream to Stellantis dealers if they slightly overtorqued the cap (see my own Tech write-up of the repair procedure here), we stopped doing that and brought it all in-house, never mind that I can do it quicker that driving there, waiting for them to do it, and driving back. Changing the oil in the Jeep is simple in that you can get under it without raising it and the filter is a cartridge type accessed from above.
Our dealer used Quaker State Synthetic oil so that’s what I kept using, I buy it in 5-quart jugs at WalMart and the factory MoPar filter as well. Quaker State seems like an underdog in the consumer oil market and I like underdogs… The recommended weight is 5W-20 and usually it’s around $22 for a 5-quart jug. Since the Jeep has now crested the 75,000 mile mark I’ll be transitioning to the “high-mileage” version of that oil, using up what I have of the regular and supplementing with the high-mileage at the next change and then just using that going forward. I assume there is some benefit to doing so, and the price is the same. Looking at my records the last time I changed the oil was last August at 72,325 miles, I’ll likely wait until August again which will make it a closer to 6,000 miles and a year between changes. The trip computer says the oil is still at 40% so no worries there.
Next up would be the 2005 Jaguar X-Type Wagon with its 3.0 V6 engine. This one was purchased three and a half years ago around Thanksgiving with just over 168,000 miles, many of them neglected ones judging by the slightly ominous noises from many of the rotating assemblies. Yet the engine ran smoothly and developed plenty of power (after we did some basic maintenance and solved a few surprisingly simple issues), and has kept on doing its thing with little intervention. It’s my son’s daily driver, but he is a master at getting his friends to drive so it only (only!) has a hair under 180,000 miles on it as of this writing, thus averaging around 3500 mainly local miles a year, which sets it up perfectly for an annual oil change during the holidays.
Since it’s British it gets a regular change of Castrol GTX synthetic 5W-30. The oil cap recommends Castrol, although I realize that’s due to Castrol likely paying Jaguar money for every oil cap that says so on it rather than anything else. This oil, like most basic synthetics, says it’s good for up to 10,000 mile change intervals, we’d likely not change it more often than annually as long as it is used for less than that amount of miles per year. We used to use the High-Mileage version of Castrol Edge but I didn’t see it the last time I needed some, however now it seems to be back in stock, it’s apparently good for 15,000 miles or a year, which is a distance it’ll never cover in a year again, but again I like the High-Mileage aspect and the car certainly qualifies so will likely switch back this winter.
The actual job kind of sucks as the car is pretty low, so at least we need to get the ramps out, and then the filter is near the front of the engine but somewhat tucked away and invariably ends up spilling oil all over the front exhaust downpipe. Overall it’s on par with almost every other job on this car, i.e. generally simple conceptually but always more difficult to perform than it needs to be although as far as oil changes go it’s similar to many other vehicles, i.e. not too difficult but not even remotely designed to be as easy as possible for the DIY’er. As with the poor design of the Pentastar’s filter housing on the Jeep, I don’t fully believe this to be an accident, but rather a sop to dealers to keep a steady continuous service income stream coming. Or perhaps I need to loosen the adjustable band on my tinfoil hat a little.
Our last vehicle is the most recent addition to the fleet, the one that I drive mostly (and furthest), a 2015 Subaru Forester. After experimenting with various other cars in the fleet over the years and watching multiple videos on YouTube (especially ProjectFarm), I’ve come to the conclusion that the WalMart SuperTech house oil is likely the same as the Costco and Amazon self-branded lubricants and that they perform pretty much like any of the name brands but for a few dollars less.
As such, I’ve been using the WalMart SuperTech 0W20 Full Synthetic (manufactured by Warren Oil, the same company that makes the Costco and Amazon oils) and recently switched over to the high-mileage version for the same price as the car now has almost 82,000 miles on it. While the oil is considered fine for 10,000 mile intervals, Subaru recommends no more than 6,000 miles with full synthetic and I find that over the first 2-3000 miles after an oil change it doesn’t use any oil, but by 4,000 miles it tends to be at least half a quart low. This is a little odd, but maybe there’s something about the age of the oil that makes it more conducive to get used up (not something I’ve seen in other engines while using the same oil). I tend to watch it pretty closely and then change it as close to 5,000 miles as I can depending on my schedule and trips mostly as it’s easy to remember based on the odometer; last week I changed it a little early as I had to drive 2,000 miles in very hot temperatures between then and now.
Even though the Forester has decent ground clearance the oil drain plug is recessed above a shroud so it also needs the ramps for good access, however the filter is top mounted and changed from above which makes it relatively tolerable with zero spillage.
Looking around WalMart it’s obvious that Full Synthetic oils are barely more expensive than non-synthetics and I like the fact that I can stretch the intervals to be far less of a burden by using it over the old conventional oils. The SuperTech Synthetic costs $18.68 for 5 quarts, and even something “fancy” like the Mobil1 I used to use in my previous Porsche and the turbo Audis is under $25 for the 5 quart jug. They even carry the sort of boutique-ish (or is that more cult-like?) Royal Purple at $37 and change for synthetic, although the highest price I found for a more common name was a Valvoline Synthetic at just under $30, with most of the others in the low to mid $20s.
Conversely, the non-synthetics weren’t really much cheaper with the SuperTech conventional oil still a hair over $16 for 5 quarts which doesn’t really constitute any savings especially if it then causes one to change the oil more often.
The other part of the job is of course the oil filter. I’ve had many sleepless nights agonizing over which filters to use over the years (well, maybe not sleepless nights but you know what I mean). When I was a wee lad of course Fram was the good one (and a huge orange Fram is apparently still the one to use underhood any vintage Ferrari at Pebble Beach during the Monterey Historics). Nowadays Fram seems to have a bad rap at least for their common ones, at least as far as the internet is concerned, but they are probably just fine as well, and far better than the toilet paper roll stuffed in a canister that I know a friend in high school used on his old domestic beater.
Back when I was on the Euro-train it was a tossup for me between the European-made Mann, Hengst, and Mahle as to who made the best filter. Nowadays I almost always just use the car manufacturer’s factory filters, especially since at least our local WalMart actually stocks many of the most common ones from MoPar, Ford, Honda, and Toyota as seen on the bottom shelf above.
In the Jeep’s case, the Mopar MO-349 is a cartridge filter that WalMart sells for $8 online to pick up in store. The Jaguar, since it was created during its Ford ownership period, happily calls for the Ford Motorcraft FL-400S, also at WalMart and most online retailers for under $6. Subaru seems to have changed their suppliers a few times lately but online reviewers seem to swear by the Made In Japan factory filter that you can’t get at a U.S. dealer but easily can on ebay or enthusiast sites, in my case I got a 6-pack for right around $30, so $5 each. Cheap and easy, I have no idea if it’s really better but it doesn’t seem any worse while being a little taller with more volume than what is normally spec’d over here…
So, which oil (and filter) is your preferred brand and how often do you do the dirty (job) under the car?
My dad started using Mobil 1 in 1978, when he bought a new Super Six equipped Aspen wagon. He used it ever since. His Aspen lasted over 250,000 kms.
Thereafter, he used Mobil 1 on all his cars. I followed suit. I had a Chrysler 2.2 litre, go over 350,000 kms from new. Using Mobil 1. Every car had long engine life. We both later, switched to Mobil 1 filters, as well.
Perhaps more than any benefit, I feel the reduced wear during cold starts, was the greatest advantage to synthetic oil.
Synthetic oil works well in hot climates, too, but cold weather viscosity is definitely its primary claim to fame.
Well, here we go. Opinions about oil and filters are like bellybuttons and posterior orifices, everyone has one.
My personal opinion is that new oil is better than old oil, so we got that out of the way.
For motorcycles I like Shell Rotella T6 5W-40 and original equipment filters. Rotella is less expensive than specialist motorcycle oils, and has extra zinc in it. Others have warned me about wet clutch damage but I’ve never had a problem with multiple motorcycles.
Cars, I like whatever brand name is on sale at Canadian Tire and usually a mid grade Fram filter. 5,000 km for conventional and 10,000 km for synthetic. As Scott from the Vehcor YouTube channel says “The manufacturer does not care if your engine blows up out of warranty”
I first used Mobil 1 synthetic on my ’72 Matador as it approached 50,000 miles and sounded a bit “noisy”.Have used it exclusively ever since.I am NOT a DIY!
I’ve also been using the Quaker State full synthetic from Walmart, as it seems to be the cheapest of the name brands. I see a lot of complaints about Quaker State on Internet forums because of things that allegedly happened 50 years ago, but I never had any problems with it, then or now. (The only name brand I did have trouble with back then was Kendall, but I’m sure that’s irrelevant to whatever is put out in Kendall bottles today.)
Quaker State and Pennzoil were formerly bitter rivals in Oil City, Pennsylvania, but today they’re both owned by Shell and come out of the same Shell (Motiva) refinery in Texas. I doubt whatever slight differences between the two justify Pennzoil’s higher price so I just go with the QS. My 2009 Malibu is now at just under 149,000 miles.
For the filter I just get the AC recommended in the Chevy owner’s manual, also from Walmart.
Everyone has their opinion on oil and when to change it. Remember reading in a car magazine years ago an interview with an oil engineer on when to change oil. He said that oil lasted longer and that it could be changed at longer intervals. When asked when he changed his oil, he said 3k miles. Old habits are hard to give up!
VW recommended Castrol full synthetic (can’t remember weight off hand) for my ’07 Rabbit so that’s what I used. My ’19 Golf uses 0W-20 full-synthetic that meets the VW 508 00 specification (or whatever the most recent spec that succeeded it is). I’ve haven’t changed the oil myself in this car so don’t know whether they still prefer Castrol, though VW’s own TSBs have a long list of compliant oil brands. I’ve used VW’s filters.
In my older cars that didn’t specify synthetic, I mixed 5w30 half synthetic (usually Mobil 1 or Castrol Syntec) and half conventional (usually Valvoline). I usually changed the oil myself with my older cars because of a big cost savings, and making sure it wasn’t overfilled (why is this so common?) But with full synthetic it costs only slightly more to have someone else do it, if I take advantage of service coupons and offers.
Chevron synthetic blend (all “conventional” oils are synthetic blends today) from WM in car and truck with cat converters. Chevron Delo 400 in the air cooled VW’s. It does not get cold here, so the main advantage of full synthetic, flow in arctic temperatures, is a waste. Why Chevron? I’m a stockholder, and they are the only company that makes every ingredient in the jug themselves.
I ran Rotella in the ’00 New Beetle TDI, at 10,K intervals. No issues at ~215K miles when I sold it in 2013, and it made it another 7 years or so before my son (coworker with the guy that bought it) reported it finally died.
In my early driving years, I used Havoline, in the paperboard cans, no less. Still have the pour spout out in the shop. After the industry switchover to plastic bottles, I used Pennzoil for a number of years, and then switched to Mobil 1 full synthetic, which I still use to this day.
I’m not too particular about filters (used Fram most of the time for many years), but usually look for the Mobil 1 filters if available today. My ’21 RAM Classic has the Pentastar V6, and probably uses the same cartridge filter as Jim’s Jeep. The 1950 8N uses a cartridge filter, and I still buy the Fram C-3 for it.
I don’t think I’ve ever used an oil change service (DIY guy here). I have a set of QuickJacks for the ’18 TourX (originally purchased soon after I bought my former ’17 Chev SS), and while I can squeeze under the truck on a creeper, I usually do drive the front up on ramps to give me a bit more clearance.
I’m a skinflint from the get-go but fell under the Mobil 1 spell when I was young. Used it staring at 3,000 odd miles on my 93 Achieva with an AC Delco filter every 7,500 miles. Still sounded like an old sewing machine after 93,000 miles and burned oil. More bad design than wear maybe – Quad4 curse? After reading the Motor Oil Bible 20 years ago, I started to dig deeper. I currently use Walmart Syntec and Fram filters in our 2011 CRV, 2003 Accord and 2004 TC. The company I work for hauls bulk oil and Warren is a customer – product is made at ExxonMobil, bottled by them. After running 124K on mineral based oil under the dealer service (purchased the car from a neighbor) and 140k on Syntec, the Accord displays minor cam wear and only uses/leaks a quart every 2k. My son is trying Mobil 1 Advanced Clean in it now. My superstition has me only running Valvoline VR or Castrol in my 74 Norton. Some years ago, I had a buddy who was an engine designer. His advice was “use a name brand synthetic – our teardowns show little or no wear with proper service intervals” Don’t ask how many times I lend my advice in the oil isle at Walmart -many folks don’t have a clue.
Good to hear a mini update on the Jag.
For me most of the fleet gets Motorcraft Synthetic Blend 5-30 and the FL-820s filter. I buy the oil at Walmart and that is where I used to buy the filters too, however they have raised the price considerably in recent years. I found the Master Pack (10 in a box w/o individual packaging) intended for use by shops was available at Rock Auto I purchased one of those the last time I needed filters.
All of the V-8s do wear oil caps that specify 5-20 but they were designed for 5-30 which was specified on earlier versions or other applications,
The Hybrids do get the 5-20 and 0-20 they specify, blend and full syn respectively and of course a Motorcraft filter.
As far as intervals go for much of the fleet it is usually once a year whether it needs it or not. The trucks and toys rarely see over 3k per year and I have been known to stretch it out to 18 months or more when I see that it has gone under 1k since the last change.
I’ve never tried any of the high mileage oils despite the fact that a lot of our vehicles have well over 100k on the clock and one with over 200k. When they were first introduced they mainly touted that they would “condition seals” and what not, and I didn’t see a need on a nice dry engine. But I had to look up their current marketing, I was surprised to see that Castrol is touting their “phosphorous replacement technology” which is supposed to reduce the likelihood of catalytic converter damage. The van with over 200k definitely is burning some oil, so I might just consider it for the next oil change on it.
Ohboy, the dreaded oil thread, sure to blow up and create many butthurts .
Don’t pay much attention to my thoughts on this, most folks never drive nor keep their vehicles long enough to tell .
Fully synthetic oil beats the pants off any dino oil so the main thing is price and weight .
If your auld crate doesn’t burn/leak/use much use the thinnest oils, they get up and circulating faster and if the fully synthetic they pretty much stop the engine’s wear cycle dead in it’s tracks .
I don’t much shop at WallyMart but if there’s that much of a price break I’ll give them a look .
Now I’m off to d=read the comments and chuckle .
-Nate
I wonder what the rationale is behind using Fram filters in old Ferraris worth millions since Fram has had one of the worst reputations in the industry. In the past, they were known for using cardboard inside the filter which would detriorate and clog up the oil passages, resulting in catastrophic failure.
Even today, they have higher end filters with ‘additives’ which simply doesn’t sound like a good idea.
Of course, Fram has one of the better (if not the best) selections of oil filters for just about any ICE ever made, so maybe that, alone, is why you see them on exotics. But, to me, I’d be looking for another oil filter manufacturer.
There’s really only one choice for me if you want to put off the shelf oil in an OM617 turbodiesel. Shell Rotella T4 Ultra Heavy Duty 15W-40 with a gigantic Mann canister filter I have to order. It’s expensive but it’s good stuff.
I immediately jumped on the Mobil 1 bandwagon when they first arrived on the scene, back in the days of metal cans that required a spout. Of course, there were alternatives made from animal lard which gave any kind of non-dino oil a bad name. But Mobil 1 has been my go-to ever since.
There was a legal challenge some years ago in which a judge upheld Castrol’s contention that refined dino oil could be labeled as synthetic. It’s for that reason I simply don’t trust so-called synthetic oils other than a few brands that are ‘true’ synthetics: Mobil 1, Amsoil, and Royal Purple, with the last two being quite expensive.
With that said, there’s an upper tier of semi-synthetics that are quite good for a low price, with the best in that category being Motorcraft.
So, when a bottle of oil says ‘synthetic’, while I would assume it is better than conventional dino oil, I always wonder if it’s actually a full synthetic (like the aforementioned brands) or a refined oil that’s simply legally able to be labeled synthetic due to a court case.
Finally, because of the increased viscosity of synthetic oil, it can be detrimental in some cases. Mine was using it in an RX-7’s rotary engine. The rotary seals were not as tight as piston rings and, even though it was brand-new, thanks to immediately using synthetic oil, I had to add a quart every thousand miles afterwards. If I’d used dino oil to seat the rotary seals properly, that wouldn’t have happened.
Whatever’s cheapest and most expedient.
As I’ve been saying for decades now: show me a modern engine that failed specifically because of a lubrication issue directly related to either the type of oil or the change interval being excessively long. Cars get junked because some component that is the weakest link fails, and it’s not worth replacing/repairing. Modern engines (unless they have a design/material flaw) will inevitably run 300-400+k miles. But who keeps a car that long? And the automatic transmission (unless it’s certain bullet proof ones like in some/many Toyotas) will undoubtedly fail before then.
I just changed the oil in the Tracker we keep down in Port Orford; it’s been three years, or longer, if the guy selling it to me was lying about it just having had an oil change before I bought it. It has 230k miles on it; the oil level was still almost full before I changed it.
I change the oil in the other cars at varying intervals, depending if I remember when the last change was. Stephanie’s TSX recently went over 11k miles because…out of sight, out of mind. But the dipstick was still full. My 20 year old xB never uses any oil either. The van’s Pentastar 3.6 gets changed at semi-reasonable intervals, although I’ve stretched that to 10k miles once. I’ve just stopped checking my oil level; they never go down more than a hair. Maybe it’s my long oil change intervals? 🙂
If one of my engines fails due to excessive oil change intervals, I promise to let you all know that I’ve been wrong all these years.
Use whatever oil, but if you’re DIY and you don’t own at least one of these, you are almost certainly experiencing a greater than necessary level of misery. They’re currently out of stock most everywhere and for good reason!
I started using Mobil 1 synthetic in the nineties when I worked at an auto parts store. One day an older gentleman came in to the store and told me he had worked in a lab during World War II and that he tested newly developed synthetic oil against conventional oil. He recounted how the mechanical wear on engines running synthetic oil was drastically reduced. Ever since then I’ve been using synthetic oil in my high mileage cars to keep them alive without fail.
I run that Walmart SuperTech in all my cars, I run the synthetic diesel 5/40 in my high mileage VW golf diesel, have been for years, the last 300’000km, it’s a 1/3rd of the price as shell rotella. There is nothing wrong with no name oil, it has to meet all the same specs. With oil I think sometimes you DONT get what you pay for. Cars aren’t picky, they just want some sort of clean oil
Like Paul, I’ve been using whatever brand of oil is the most reasonable when I need it. The weight is all I’m concerned about.
For filters, I have been using WIX. No real reason, other than years ago during my part-time fleet manager gig, there were about a half-dozen Dodge Stratii with the 2.7 that is known for being a sludge monster. However, these all had over 100k with no issues and had had WIX filters since new. That’s the only real reason I can offer and it may not even have any correlation.
Intervals? 5000 miles on the VW and the new one purchased last November, which just had its first oil change last Friday. The van has been well over a year but less than 2000 miles, so it’s good for a while yet. The ’91 Dodge? Hell if I know when I last changed it, but the oil still looks good, so I’m not too fizzed about it.
The Ford and Dodge don’t use much oil, but the VW will after about 2000 miles from an oil change. What Jim said about his Forester is quite familiar sounding.
I’m breaking in an expensively rebuilt Chevy 409 right now and everyone involved from the builder on down has specified WIX, which I had never even heard of during my long absence from DIY work, for quality control reasons.
15w/40 full mineral oil and new spin on filter just went into my Hillman, engine has done 5000 miles since rebuild and that was the grade recommended by the machine shop who built it.
5w/30 full synthetic goes into my HDI citroen every 20,000kms along with a new tiny filter cartridge, which ever brand is on special, that car is very easy to do oil changes on it lifts to the handy service height at the touch of a button 5.2 litres is an inconvenient amount but it is what it is
Our two daily drivers have FIAT 1.4L MultiAir engines which require 5W-40 oil, a somewhat uncommon grade. I’ve settled on Castrol 5W-40 Euro oil as it can be had for a reasonable price, and either a Wix or Mopar filter. I change the oil at around 6K (FCA says you can change it every 10K but since “MultiAir” means “electro-hydraulically activated intake valves”, I’ll err on the side of caution to keep the oil good and clean).
Given the filters are on the front of these engines and come out from the top, I’ve recently discovered the joys of vacuum fluid extractors and sucking out the oil through the dipstick tube, negating the need to go under the car. On these cars you have to jack them up and take the whole engine splash shield off to get to the one-time-use drain plug. The extractor cuts oil change time down by ~2/3rds.
Volkswagen calls specifically for Castrol Edge full synthetic and that’s what I put in my car. It is 5W-30, so not as thin as the oils that, say Honda, uses.
The stated interval is one year or 16,000 KM but since I only drive about 5,000 km a year I am not unduly worried about damage from a lack of oil changes.
When I take my car in for service, I want a full service. That means rotating tires and checking the brakes. This is one of the main reasons I no longer do oil changes myself.