12 quarts mobil 1 synthetic, various grades $30, ymmv, instore.

Most factory specs say it's normal.

I think it's crappy piston rings.

Whatever the case, just keep checking the oil - and add as necessary.
The age old question....Are they any additives that have any benefit? OR are they all Snake Oil?
 
No one said it didn't. But if you think that scenario he is describing is "severe duty" I got a bridge to sell you.
Separate from the oil discussion, but my co-worker (with nearly identical driving habits) wrecked his engine.
The manufacturer (I believe it was a Ford) diagnosed the problem to be coking of the intake valves.
They determined that the coking only happened because of the incomplete startup thermal transient due to his repeated short drives to and from work every day. (e.g. this was not a chronic problem for them)

I have to confess that it wasn't until I got into the Aerospace industry that I gained an appreciation for just how big and important an issue LCF (low-cycle-fatigue) types of analyses/failures are.
 
The age old question....Are they any additives that have any benefit? OR are they all Snake Oil?
Seafoam seems to be pretty decent. Chevron techron bottles most definitely are the good stuff. A lot of lucas products I've tried do their job pretty well. Just my experience and ymmv. :)
 
I have recently been buying Quaker State synthetic. I never considered it but it is quite a bit cheaper than M1 or Castrol.
 
They probably recommend 15k or 6mo.-1yr whichever comes first.
I haven't checked manuals in years, so that could be the case. All I know is that my cars in the south do need more oil changes than in the midwest. But the cars in the midwest need more corrosion protection and general looking over.
 
My two cents. I've run what ever synthetic is on sale at the time and have never had any issues with the engine dying before the rest of the car. They may leak oil badly but when it calls for 4.5 quarts I just dump the 5 quart jug in and by the time its due an oil change its about half a quart low. (I know several of you just cringed but /shrug) That said if I didn't already have excess oil for all 4 of my cars I'd jump on this.
 
Oil's detergents and other molecules break down. Like how tylenol sitting for a year does.

Tylenol doesnt stop working after a year, thats just how far out they tested it for efficacy. It costs money to keep a drug sitting on a shelf for 5 years before it gets tested. Oil sitting in a sump for a year doesnt magically lose its lubricating properties. That would mean all the oil sitting on store shelves would have an expiration date.
 
Definitely not synthetic blend. Mobile super is the synthetic blend. That is not this stuff. I bought the 5w-20, says full synthetic right on the box. Here's the product page: https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants/for-personal-vehicles/our-products/products/mobil-1-5w-20

Every single product in that picture is full synthetic.

Here's the synthetic blend: https://www.mobil.com/en/lubricants/for-personal-vehicles/our-products/products/mobil-super-5w-20/

You're right!

Thats my bad. I could have sworn that those grey ones were the blended synthetic. I even remember reading about that it was misleading customers.
 
Tylenol doesnt stop working after a year, thats just how far out they tested it for efficacy. It costs money to keep a drug sitting on a shelf for 5 years before it gets tested. Oil sitting in a sump for a year doesnt magically lose its lubricating properties. That would mean all the oil sitting on store shelves would have an expiration date.
That oil is still in sealed containers and has not been exposed to moisture, combustion byproducts and acids produced in a normal ice.
https://www.consumerreports.org/car-maintenance/things-to-know-about-oil-changes-for-your-car/
Oil degrades over time, per cr.

As for the cost of keeping a bottle of Tylenol around for testing, it must be insurmountable. wink
 
Tylenol doesnt stop working after a year, thats just how far out they tested it for efficacy. It costs money to keep a drug sitting on a shelf for 5 years before it gets tested. Oil sitting in a sump for a year doesnt magically lose its lubricating properties. That would mean all the oil sitting on store shelves would have an expiration date.
And similarly, used oil which is exposed to particulate and chemical contaminants that reduce the life if the oil additives also has a shelf life, even when sitting in the sump. ;)
 
My commuter car uses the 0-20 high effeciency stuff. I picked up one of these couple weeks ago. My car also only uses 4qt of oil, so this is 3 oil changes for me....$10 an oil change (+filter) for high effeciency oil is good in my book.
 
Can we get a tldr; on the amazonbasics oil testing?
It was fine which is why I picked up 5 jugs when it was on sale for my different cars. That said if you haven't already watched the video you should as he does a good job of editing so there isn't any wasted time.
 
If you are finding that youre "using" oil in a lot of cases its your PCV system sucking oil in from the top of your valve cover. If you look on the inside of your intake manifold/runners and find that there is oil/oil residue then this is whats happening.

You are literally sucking oil into your combustion chamber like a 2 cycle engine. Lots of engines do this and the side effects of this can destroy your engine.

Thank the EPA.
 
Tylenol doesnt stop working after a year, thats just how far out they tested it for efficacy. It costs money to keep a drug sitting on a shelf for 5 years before it gets tested. Oil sitting in a sump for a year doesnt magically lose its lubricating properties. That would mean all the oil sitting on store shelves would have an expiration date.
Typically, medication has an expiration date based on the half-life of the chemicals that provide the desired effects of the medication. At the expiration date, that medication COULD only be 50-80% as effective. If you knew how the manufacturer determined the expiration date, you could dose accordingly. However, manufacturers learned that people throw away things after their expiration date, so it would appear that they arbitrarily create dates to maintain demand. This is an interesting read and refers to a study where the government was trying to determine if shelf life could be extended (https://www.drugs.com/article/drug-expiration-dates.html).

Oil on the other hand consists of about 95% of a mix of long-chain hydrocarbons which don't degrade on the shelf. The additives too are pretty inert chemically but could absorb water form the air over time. In an unused, factory sealed container, engine oil (even ones with additives) should last years if not decades.

Although living in a high-humidity area isn't considered severe duty, it could result in absorption (mostly by the additives) of more water compared to a dry environment. This would result in increased rate of breakdown of the additives (meaning the desired properties of the oil would be reduced) and increased wear at the surface of the metals during oxidation of the water. However, the breakdown of the actual hydrocarbon chains (the stuff providing the lubrication) is significantly more affected by heat and contaminants versus humidity "contamination". I don't know if I would base my oil change strategy on relative humidity. Your "humidity" should not contain salt at an appreciable level to be absorbed by engine oil. I am pretty sure if those levels were present, you would feel it in your body before your engine (this is pure speculation on my part).

That said, unless you are a barbarian, your oil gets recycled and is used to make other things. Also, use of petroleum for lubricants is insignificant (0.5%) compared to other uses like fuel and manufacturing (remember many materials are manufactured from petroleum). So oil changes have an almost imperceptible impact on the environment. Well, other than the fact that they keep my car going and that uses lots of gas. That said, the cost of oil changes over the life of a car is pretty minimal compared to the catastrophic failures associated with crappy oil at high boost. I change mine every 3500 miles (Ford says 10k miles - f@*# them) for the insurance it provides me.
 
Yeah, seafoam can help but don't overdo it.
Oil ring slop is always an issue, hence engine builders staying busy for people that run their cars on a track.
Worst is QC problems on service duty trucks that'll pop up.

Taking a car for a long highway run is important, luckily that's easy during lockdown.

I saw an oil pan gasket leak when I had my gfs car in the air for a tire rotation yesterday.

I'll deal with that and get into the next thing.
 
If you're interested in long life synthetics, it's time to move on from mobil one, et al and on to Amsoil. I've run redline, royal purple and both of these are great too. But nothing is as ridiculously good as the amsoil long life stuff ($14-$20/qt stuff last time I bought). I've run this stuff with their filters for literally years. It's the very best in oils ime.

Schaeffer's is even better. Made from fresh crude. Not like brown recycled oil products. It has plenty of zddp.
 
Schaeffer's is even better. Made from fresh crude. Not like brown recycled oil products. It has plenty of zddp.
Interesting. I'll check them out in more detail when I get a chance. The zddp is interesting to hear about because I know the Porsche guys were talking about this a lot when Mobile 1 changed their formula about 10 years back. (has it been that long!?!)
 
I've been using Rotella T4 and Delo for a while and it's the best (Shell and Chevron, respctively). Granted, this goes mostly towards trucks or older cars but as soon as I started using it my engine told me how happy it was. It is diesel oil but it's way better for gas engines, too. It's made to withstand more impurities. Just providing another perpective. "Cheap" oil is not good. Not saying this is but corners should never be cut if you want your car to last a while. I, personally, would only use Mobil1 in an emergency.

EDIT: Both oils I mentioned are NOT synthetic (There are synthetic variants but I don't use them). They're 10-45 weight diesel oil. Anything high rev'ing should not use them. Mine are all in older Land Cruisers. 1989 and older. Moral of the story...it depends on the car you're putting it in.
 
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I've been using Rotella T4 and Delo for a while and it's the best (Shell and Chevron, respctively). Granted, this goes mostly towards trucks or older cars but as soon as I started using it my engine told me how happy it was. It is diesel oil but it's way better for gas engines, too. It's made to withstand more impurities. Just providing another perpective. "Cheap" oil is not good. Not saying this is but corners should never be cut if you want your car to last a while. I, personally, would only use Mobil1 in an emergency.

EDIT: Both oils I mentioned are NOT synthetic (There are synthetic variants but I don't use them). They're 10-45 weight diesel oil. Anything high rev'ing should not use them. Mine are all in older Land Cruisers. 1989 and older. Moral of the story...it depends on the car you're putting it in.
I actually have one car that could use that grade api oil, so I used these too. These are pretty tough oils for what they are. Again, not for every car. In fact, you need to check what api grades your car calls for because not all oils (even of the same weight) meet the api specs for all vehicles.
 
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Department 10 is automotve stuff from Dept 11 always gets mixed in and going back to work Dept 11 after you thought it was done.
I'm trying to get out of stocking but desperation suppose to be on floor cleanup.
 
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