What is your engine oil?

[ocb_dave_ocb]

Castrol 5w20

[chisoxjim]

Originally Posted by arteegee

Thinking about switching my JD-Kohler to syn at 200hrs. I have a few half-quarts lying around.

The oil change on my John Deer lawn tractor was pretty easy, I think it took about 25 minutes to drain the factory oil, switch out the oil filter, and add 1.5 quarts of Mobil 1, 10w30 synthetic oil. Now I should only need to change the oil one more thime near the end of the summer. I had to get the factory oil out after just 8 hours of use according to the manual and the tractors MM. Next service is due @ 25 hours.

[25 Year Honda Owner]

Originally Posted by shovelhd

Interesting. I have a JD-Kawasaki liquid cooled that I run straight 30W in. Maybe I should switch to 10W30 syn instead.

BTW it is a 1995 345 model with ~600 hours and runs great.

I have been running Castrol 10W-30 in both mowers and Honda tiller with no problems. BTW, with the price of gas like it is, I had no idea how much gas a 2-cyl Kohler burns. I have bought over $30 worth of mower gas this month!

[weatherman]

Originally Posted by Lattamet

Right now, I am using conventional oil. My truck has reached 18K already.No problem yet. They said that synthetic oil is better. Is it true?

I use Mobil 1 5W20 like many others here on the ROC. If I could say that I notice any appreciable difference since switching to synthetic oil, I would be lying, but after having done a fair amount of research, I know it is better for my engine, so I just pony up the extra $$. Just my .02 cents worth. If you have time, there is an excellent article about oil which includes A LOT of good information. The article is 13 pages long, but just going through page 7 will provide you with all you need to know.

The url is: Oil

Good luck.

Jim aka weatherman

[OwnerCS]

I saw an oil review on this site that showed Royal Purple as the best synthetic oil. I Change my own oil and use Royal Purple 5W20. I pay $7.29 per quart for it. It is about the most expensive oil that I have ever seen in a parts store.

[Cajun Country Ridgeline]

At 4,000 miles many moons ago, I switched to Castrol Syntex 5-30w and found that the temp gage ran cooler. It use to almost touch the middle line and now it runs to the left of the middle line. When the MM tells me it has 15% left I go to Honda give them the oil and they get the oil filter.

Today, with almost 35,000 miles the milage is acceptable. This past Jan. made a trip and drove over 1400 miles with a total average : 21.285mpg. Had a high of 22.45mpg. Had a low of 18.93mpg in northern AR town in the Ozarks.

I did an experiment on this trip and used only premium.

This trip on Premium gas was 21.28mpg

Last trip on Regular gas was 19.08mpg over all
That was an increase of 2.205mpg using the premium, the cost was $19.83 more for the whole trip.

The Ridge performs better on Premium, but are you willing to pay the difference. Each person has to make that decision.

In August we will take another trip with four adults and all our junk, plus an ice chest in the back. If premium is below $4.75 I might try it or I will mix fillups Premium one time and Regular the next time. We will let you know how it comes out.

[OwnerCS]

Originally Posted by Cajun Country Ridgeline

At 4,000 miles many moons ago, I switched to Castrol Syntex 5-30w and found that the temp gage ran cooler. It use to almost touch the middle line and now it runs to the left of the middle line.

Hey Cajun! One of my neighbors said to tell you howdy! Like you, I noticed my temp gauge is running cooler with synthetic oil. Before I started using Royal Purple it would sit at 1/2 way (10:30) between H 12 o'clock and C being 9 o'clock. Now the indicator is positioned at the 10:00 position. I wish I had some type of laboratory equipment to accurately measure the before and after temperature change.

I can’t wait to take the Ridge on HWY 14 between Marshall and Yellville for a ridge run. Everybody with a Ridge needs to experience that road. Better yet -- in the snow.

[Lattamet]

Originally Posted by weatherman

I use Mobil 1 5W20 like many others here on the ROC. If I could say that I notice any appreciable difference since switching to synthetic oil, I would be lying, but after having done a fair amount of research, I know it is better for my engine, so I just pony up the extra $$. Just my .02 cents worth. If you have time, there is an excellent article about oil which includes A LOT of good information. The article is 13 pages long, but just going through page 7 will provide you with all you need to know.

The url is: Oil

Good luck.

Jim aka weatherman

Thanks for the info, Jim. I appreciate.

[lvcat2004]

I don't understand when people say "Oil A is better than B", yet offer no explanation, or "I changed to oil X and it drives so much better".

All these are useless statments unless it's backed by some data, and the industry standard data for oil is used oil analysis (UOA). The function of the oil is primarily to lubricate engine parts and protect them, not to make more horsepower. If your engine feels "smoother" with new oil X, it's almost all placebo effect, or perhaps you went down to lower viscosity oil, which may give you some more horsepower on dyno. However, I would recommend against deviating substantially from manufacture's recommended weight specs, unless you know what your're doing, or you are going down on cold temperature viscosity, i.e. going from 5w-30 to 0w-30 full synthtic, which is always better for the engine since most of engine wear is at lower temperature at start when oil is still viscous and can't lubricate/protect efficiently.

Having said that, what do I use?? Well, I just bought my ridgeline last week so I haven't changed, but my wife has a 2007 odyssey that also calls for 5w-20, and I use Motorcraft 5w-20 synthetic blend, it is made by conocophillips, and it's CHEAP at Wal-mart. I use it because it's a synthetic blend that is good enough for her kind of driving, and it has plethora of very good UOA data, not some chump's butt dyno.

I use German Castrol fully synthetic 0w-30 for my turbocharged car, but I'm not gonna need something like that. I would never buy an overiced, pseudo synthetic Group III+ Mobil 1, and I don't buy overpriced boutique oil such as RP or Redline...they are not shown to be any better than much cheaper major manufacturers' oils on UOA....waste of money IMHO unless your are racing and need some of their heavier race oils and such.

I'm sure that I'll use motorcraft 5w-20 semi-synthetic when it comes time to change. I would NOT use fully synthetic oil for at least 2-3 oil changes because engine parts actually need to wear somewhat for better fitting, but I think I will continue to use Motorcraft 5w-20....highly recommended. If you want to do an UOA, I would use blackstone labs, and see for yourself how good your motor oil is in protecting your motor.

If you have any performance car that calls for 5w-30, 10w-30, then your best bet is GC 0w-30, also known as German Castrol Syntec. Hands down, the BEST synthetic out there. My last UOA was simply amazing...and that was even after a track session. If they there was GC 0w-20, then that's what I'd use, but they only have 0w-30. Autozone carries it, make sure it says "made in Germany" since I've heard some U.S made ones, and they don't cost any more than Mobil 1....garbage Group III+ for Group IV/V price.....what a rip.

[arteegee]

Originally Posted by lvcat2004

If you have any performance car that calls for 5w-30, 10w-30, then your best bet is GC 0w-30, also known as German Castrol Syntec. Hands down, the BEST synthetic out there.

I wouldn't use that in my lawnmower.