Which Engine Oil Do You Use?

I use Pennzoil in all my vehicles and always have, I'm in the car business and have always heard story's from my mechanics buddies which they felt was best, and it always was Pennzoil or Valvoline, with Mobil 1 & Quaker State as well. I am hearing alot about this Royal Purple but its pricey stuff, also there is a Lucas Oil additive that is supposed to help lubricate better :D
 
I've never used synthetic oils in any of my cars. As I've heard similar bitch fests about the synthetic/non-synthetic arguments.

My grandfather regularly used Penz in his cars, but I found that once you go with Penz you have to stick with it, as they tend to put a resin on the parts and when you switch to a different oil - it brakes the parts. This may be an old wive's tale, but I have found it to be somewhat true.

I use Valvoline High Mileage oil. I have an '86 Buick Riviera that still runs. It's coming up on 146K miles and drives fantastic. The 3.8L V6 gets about 23 mpg, which I wish was better with gas being $3.50/gallon in my neck of the woods these days.
 

ChuckFaze

Closed Account
Just last night I was reading a couple of guys on a Forum concurring that Piss was better than Mobil 1. :surprise: WTF? :eek: Where do these guys come up with such exaggerations? I mean, it's one thing to have a preference, but such ridiculous assessments makes it impossible to remotely entertain taking their reviews seriously.

Another guy claimed that after he put in the new Castrol Edge with Titanium, his car's engine started making so much noise that he thought that it was gonna fall apart I guess. I find it extremely difficult to believe that if you stick with the same viscosity ... simply changing brands would cause THAT much of a change so as to have your engine go from a normal smooth running to almost wanting to fall apart.
 

ChuckFaze

Closed Account
Erika, are you sure that when that Lube place dude referred to "the Good Stuff," he was still talking about oil? Maybe he had already switched over to talking about his favorite alternative cigarette. :rofl2:
 
20 W 50 Castrol in my car, in my oldest bike W 60 Harley Davidson.
 

Facetious

Moderated
Basically anything that is on the market is good motor oil, yes, even the store brand labeled stuff . . after all who do you think refines it in the first place? A reputable refinery, that's who.

Anyhow, I typically use a 50/50 ratio of pure synthetic and conventional motor oil . . 10w - 40 whatever.

Trust me, the older you get the more you see how well marketing works in this world. It's all equally as good as the competitor, Mobil, Quaker State, Castrol, Pennzoil . . . it's all good no matter whether it's synthetic or conventional oil...
of course you'll likely get twice the mileage between oil changes when using 100% Syn, but you'll be paying about 40% more for the oil.
 

Jagger69

Three lullabies in an ancient tongue
I've been a Valvoline guy for decades. The best standard engine oil there is for my money.
 

ChuckFaze

Closed Account
Anyhow, I typically use a 50/50 ratio of pure synthetic and conventional motor oil . . 10w - 40 whatever.
Let me see if I have this correct.
So you're NOT talking about using a Synth Blend, but rather, you literally pour in say 2½ quarts of Synthetic motor oil and 2½ quarts of Conventional motor oil?
 

ChuckFaze

Closed Account
Out of curiosity, Jagger, do Valvoline and Havoline have any connection?
I wondered that the other day since they have that same "voline" suffix if you will.
 

Rey C.

Racing is life... anything else is just waiting.
I've used Castrol since I bought my first car after college. Why? Because it was the recommended brand for the car that I bought... and because Castrol sponsored the Jaguar Le Mans team back then. See, advertising works. :D I still use Castrol Syntec in the high performance cars that I have and standard Castrol in the regular vehicles. Especially in turbo applications, I wouldn't use anything but synthetic, whether it was Castrol, Mobil 1 or another top synthetic brand. Replacing a turbo and the engine internals can easily hit $10K. Why scrimp, trying to save a couple of bucks when you're risking that much? But once you go to synthetic, you need to stay with synthetic.

As for "feeling" a difference when you go from one brand to another, if you can actually feel something from the driver's seat, you probably have a very serious/terminal issue with your engine already. In a pure racing engine, you might pick up some hp by going from one oil type to another. But no one drives on the street with a $90K Cosworth turbo engine in their car.

One thing I have noticed though, Mobil 1 seems to be the most popular brand among the high performance crowd. IMO, that's mostly down to marketing though. I've never seen a *reliable* study that proved that Mobil 1 was better than Castrol or that Castrol was better than Mobil 1... or any of the other major brands.
 

ChuckFaze

Closed Account
Hey, Rey, my Isuzu Rodeo has a $90,000 Cosworth in it.
Okay, so that's BS. :rofl2:

But, seriously, that was an interesting, solid assessment / feedback that you put together there. :thumbsup: It was great to read a firm positive review of Castrol Syntec and Castrol in general for a change after reading predominantly negative reviews regarding Castrol Syntec on various Forums. And it was also good to hear that it wasn't just a short good history with Castrol, but rather YEARS now. I feel better now about having tried Castrol Syntec for the first time last month.

I think you made some great points with your last paragraph:
Rey C. said:
One thing I have noticed though, Mobil 1 seems to be the most popular brand among the high performance crowd. IMO, that's mostly down to marketing though. I've never seen a *reliable* study that proved that Mobil 1 was better than Castrol or that Castrol was better than Mobil 1... or any of the other major brands.
I concur that no doubt marketing and the fact that - Wasn't Mobil 1 the 1st Synthetic Oil - is what is behind Mobil 1 owning the largest market share in the Synthetic Oils War.

I too have yet to see a reliable, convincing study that proves either Mobil 1 or Castrol Syntec or any other Synthetic Oil is better than all the others. I've just seen plenty of accusations, allegations, braggings and claims.
 
I've used Castrol since I bought my first car after college. Why? Because it was the recommended brand for the car that I bought... and because Castrol sponsored the Jaguar Le Mans team back then. See, advertising works. :D I still use Castrol Syntec in the high performance cars that I have and standard Castrol in the regular vehicles. Especially in turbo applications, I wouldn't use anything but synthetic, whether it was Castrol, Mobil 1 or another top synthetic brand. Replacing a turbo and the engine internals can easily hit $10K. Why scrimp, trying to save a couple of bucks when you're risking that much? But once you go to synthetic, you need to stay with synthetic.

As for "feeling" a difference when you go from one brand to another, if you can actually feel something from the driver's seat, you probably have a very serious/terminal issue with your engine already. In a pure racing engine, you might pick up some hp by going from one oil type to another. But no one drives on the street with a $90K Cosworth turbo engine in their car.

One thing I have noticed though, Mobil 1 seems to be the most popular brand among the high performance crowd. IMO, that's mostly down to marketing though. I've never seen a *reliable* study that proved that Mobil 1 was better than Castrol or that Castrol was better than Mobil 1... or any of the other major brands.

Rey C's a rich boy. How much you guys wanna bet he's worth billions...
 
I've used Castrol since I bought my first car after college. Why? Because it was the recommended brand for the car that I bought... and because Castrol sponsored the Jaguar Le Mans team back then. See, advertising works. :D I still use Castrol Syntec in the high performance cars that I have and standard Castrol in the regular vehicles. Especially in turbo applications, I wouldn't use anything but synthetic, whether it was Castrol, Mobil 1 or another top synthetic brand. Replacing a turbo and the engine internals can easily hit $10K. Why scrimp, trying to save a couple of bucks when you're risking that much? But once you go to synthetic, you need to stay with synthetic.

As for "feeling" a difference when you go from one brand to another, if you can actually feel something from the driver's seat, you probably have a very serious/terminal issue with your engine already. In a pure racing engine, you might pick up some hp by going from one oil type to another. But no one drives on the street with a $90K Cosworth turbo engine in their car.

One thing I have noticed though, Mobil 1 seems to be the most popular brand among the high performance crowd. IMO, that's mostly down to marketing though. I've never seen a *reliable* study that proved that Mobil 1 was better than Castrol or that Castrol was better than Mobil 1... or any of the other major brands.

Rey C's a rich boy. How much you guys wanna bet he's worth billions...

:elaugh:
 
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