Up until this month I always bought the dino juice at Costco on sale which a few cases of lasted me until the next Costco dino juice gas engine oil sale.
Now that Costco no longer seems to be selling any dino juice I'm looking at their full synthetics and blended synthetics for comparison purposes.
What is the blend ratio?
Not relevant, because "blended" doesn't mean what it seems to. In fact, "synthetic" doesn't even mean what it seems to.
The vast majority of "synthetic" oils sold in the US are not legal to sell as synthetic in Europe.
Hint: "synthetic" does not necessarily mean the base oil has been synthesized from monomers. Even in Europe.
--scott
What always matters to me is HOW to make a rational intelligent comparison.
Does anyone have a good reference for what important specs to look for on the jug of each container of synthetic (blended or otherwise) motor oil?
Or is all we've got the known General Motors, API and SAE certifications?
Aside from a few obvious and measurable things like ZDDP levels, and a few other things to do with the additive package you really can't.
With a newer car you can make sure that the oil meets or exceeds the manufacturer's specification for the vehicle, and that's really all you can do.
With an older car, the manufacturer's specification may no longer even be relevant. In that case, all you can do is guess, unless you want to do an oil analysis with every change.
That's all you'll find on the jug. You may be able to get a more detailed datasheet, but for instance knowing that a high ZDDP level is important for engines with flat tappets but not for engines with roller lifters is about as far as you can go with the information on the datasheet.
--scott
Thanks for taking a stab at answering the question.
I have been looking for a few days now and am slowly coming to the same tentative conclusions that all the synthetics are just fine for an old car.
The ZDDP has its problems if you have a cat which I'm sure you're aware of.
They all do. You have to go out of your way to find a bad oil as far as what I can tell from the few shops I visit (Costco, Home Depot, Walmart & AP).
Mostly I get a few cases of whatever Costco has on sale but my new metric is to now aim for full synthetic API SP by the case at less than $2.50/qt
A few cases a year does me fine. I buy the filters at the AP store or Walmart but I should buy in bulk too.
I agree. I used to do the oil analysis but it mostly tells you what you already know. Almost every oil has an API rating better than what came in the vehicle. You would have to go out of your way to find an oil that didn't meet it.
All my gas engine cars have cats so too high ZDDP is out of the question.
I called Kirkland (Warren Distribution is the blender in Omaha Nebraska).
Meanwhile I spent about an hour on the line with Mobil.
Mobil
What I did while I was waiting was pullup a random Costco Mobil 1
If it says "Extended Performance" it's high mileage (20K / 1 year). If it says "Advanced Fuel Economy" it's not for high mileage.
Basically they only gave me mostly the marketing that was on the outside. High Mileage & super blends don't meet the dexos spec. He basically said the full synthetic is better than the blends. But he said there are no rules anywhere for what constitutes what.
As an aside, he said synthetic oil finds leaks not causes them. He defended oil detergents as exposing leaks (by cleaning out gunk).
When I asked about filters he said they don't make filters. He said all Mobile oil filters are rated at 1 year 20k miles. Mobil contracts out to Mann-Hummel who also makes Wix & Purolator filters.
1-919-926-4210 (temporary covid number for Mann-Hummel) x1 product information hotline (M-F 8am to 7:30pm, Sat 9am to 5:30pm)
Impressive detective work! Thank you for going the length with this.
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