change oil brands..

"Cal" wrote in news:HJkPg.11968$ snipped-for-privacy@southeast.rr.com:

There's absolutely no reason not to and probably no reason to.

I like Valvoline but I have no reason to think it will lubricate any better than what you're using.

To me, reasons to change brand would be price and/or availability.

There's plenty of people here who will tell you their brand of oil is WAAAAAAY better than your brand which "really sucks" but I've yet to see an engine damaged by a particular brand of oil.

Stick to a major brand (the Havoline you're using is just fine), change it on schedule and you'll be fine. I find it very hard to believe that your friend's engine sounds much different than it did, most engines will sound a bit quieter when old oil is replaced with new.

As for synthetic vs dino oil, either will work just fine.

Go ahead and switch, if you notice a difference than stick with the new brand.

BTW, there is a SEVERE penalty for starting up the dreaded "Oil Thread" on usenet, you'll have to send large sums of money to everyone here to atone for your sin......

============================================================= Summary and everything you need to know about motor oil:

"Oil is good, have some in your engine." =============================================================

Heh, I use whatever they have 6 quarts of. The parts store never seems to have enough of one brand for what I need. I switch oil brands regularly, but never use synthetic. Seems as long as I change on 3000 miles its perfect.

Paypal me my share of the dough!

Troy

I am a firm believer in the semi and full synthetics. They are superior in every way to dino spit.

That being said there are plenty of guys here who have gone 200-300k using dino with no problems.... they key is regular changes. But for whatever it's worth the extra cost is justified for my piece of mine

For years I've used whatever the 'house brand' of oil was. For years it was Kendall, then Shell, then Exxon. They now offer Coastal as their 'house' brand although I've never tried it.

If you want to know who actually owns your favorite brand there is a listing available from the American Petroleum Institute of all the brands they certify. The 18 MB PDF file is 215 pages long.

Cal proclaimed:

I've regularly mixed them for decades...on engines that typically go well over 100K before the first maintenance and that was on the brit engines. The american, german, and japanese engines have gone well over

200k at the least before touching. If you are a bit nervous, try mixing the two over the next coupla oil changes. If you don't plan to go the longer oil change intervals of a full synth, consider a synth blend.

Change to a full synthetic and you'll loosen and get rid of every ounce of sludge pretty quickly. One thing that full synthetics do very well is keep things squeaky-clean where it counts. If the only thing holding that engine together is sludge, you're in big trouble.

From what I've read, regular petroleum lubricants are all pretty much the same, so buy what's on sale. Synthetics are in a whole different class, so don't compare apples with oranges.

And please, no 'Oil Wars' here. I like the expensive M1 synthetics and change it every 8 weeks. I can afford it, and the results are impressive. Y'all do what you want with your own ride.

I seem to recall that there was concern about the possibility of increased oil usage.... just during that first change period

That was 30+ years ago and I don't recall anyone I knew claiming it happened.

Usually when an old engine starts to run too quiet, it is on it's last legs and about to blow up. I start shopping about then.....

I 'certainly' wouldn't buy one like that, especially if it's being abused like you mention by the person thinking he doesn't need to change his oil now.....

Any fool that boasts about engine abuse thinking it is a good thing, well....

You have 150K on it. If you do switch, let us know the results please. Any old engines I have seen that got switched turned into pincushions and leaked oil everywhere.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail >

I, like most in this group, don't have any problem switching between most oil brands. The biggest thing is to do regular oil changes every 3000 to

3500 miles. I am a firm believer in synthetic oil. I've changed it in a company car after 7000 miles and it feels slicker on my fingers than petro oil does after 3000. I would advise you to stay away from synthetic blends if you are going to push the miles between oil changes. I have yet to see a blend tout it's % of synthetic. If you put a teaspoon of synthetic in a gallon of oil,... you have a blend. A damn useless one, but a blend! I make my own blend of 3 qts Valvoline (or Havoline or Castrol or Exxon....etc) 10/40 and 3 qts of Mobil 1 10/30. Years ago when I started in the auto parts business the prevalent opinion was that Quaker State and Pennzoil, which are/were Pennsylvania Crude refinements, had higher contents of parrafin wax and tended to sludge up an engine. I have not used either one in over twenty years and doubt that either uses exclusively Pennsylvania Crude these days. My 2 cents worth.

Charles Ervin

81 DJ5L 140,000 miles 84 CJ7 100,000 miles 92 YJ 225,000 miles

I changed to Mobile 1 synthenic at 189,000 miles on my 1994 YJ. I changed all the oil fluids to synthetic and it runs great. I have

213,500 miles now.

I believe that's an urban legend.

RJ

What about the allegedly high "fly ash" content in these brands?

;^)

Earle